Iceland Travel Guide: North Iceland Travel Route
North Iceland Travel Guide
Iceland In this article, we describe our South Iceland route. We also told about it in this article and it’s time to North Iceland!
This is a very strange geography.. Another parallel universe, like another planet. Steam emanating from geothermal springs, volcanic mountains, roads in the middle of nowhere… While the plan of our Iceland tour is not clear, even when we are not sure how many days and how many days we will stay in Iceland, we think about it. We put this; he was going to North Iceland!
Iceland’s Northern region exceeded our expectations so much…we really couldn’t have imagined this much.. The most beautiful three nights of our trip were the three nights we spent in the North.. If South Iceland will not be ashamed, we aspire to North Iceland.
Kindly about North Iceland;
Let’s talk a little bit about North Iceland first.
North Iceland route From East to West Eidar, Akureyri, You can plan to pass through Husavik and Hvamstanngi and stay overnight in Akureyri region and one night in Hvammstangi.
If you are coming from
South Iceland towards North and you will reach the north of the country in the evening, you can stay in Eidar that night and set off for Akureyri the next day.
Staying in Eidar was not in our plans.. We thought that we would reach Akureyri the day after we stayed near the town of Vik, but when the calculation at home did not match the market, we found a place to stay in the town of Eidar for the night.
Climate in Northern Iceland it’s harder, life is quieter, more expensive, and there are far fewer options to eat and drink. Sometimes you drive on the roads for hours without seeing a single car.. One can’t help but think, “If we get lost here now, sorry, our corpse will go by summer”.. Anyway, kidding. Iceland is a very safe country.
Despite all this, the things you will see are so beautiful that you never care about the above..
We went at the end of March and although the weather was snowy, the roads were quite clear.. We thought, ‘There are no people living in a radius of 1000 km, who is pouring salt here’, but we later learned that highways in Iceland are heated from the bottom.. Of course, we hadn’t thought of such a thing since we had not reached that level of civilization yet.
The nice thing about visiting these places in the winter season is that everything is covered with snow and it looks even more fantastic, the bad thing is that the few craters we want to see are completely replaced. got a white space. Still, if we come again, I think we will come in winter time.. After all, it is 1 hour to visit the craters, and it is priceless to go on a road trip by watching the white landscapes..
Accommodation Options in North Iceland
There are very few hotel options in this region, there are usually small ‘guesthouses’ and mostly furnished cottages called ‘Cottage’. We spent one night in the guest house and two nights in the cottage.. It is a very nice feeling to stay in a tiny cottage in the middle of nowhere, to wake up in the same cabin in the morning snow.. Blog on the road highly recommends!
We paid 50 Euros per room per night for ‘Eidar Gueshouse’ in Eidar. Pretty decent for Icelandic standards, rooms were good too. If you are looking for accommodation around here, we can easily recommend this place.
We stayed at ‘Stöng Cottages‘ in Stöng town near Akureyri for the second night.. Unlike the cottages we stayed in during our Iceland trip, this was a facility and even had a surprise (!). A huge jacuzzi inside the facility! While we were looking for a place to poke our heads in the middle of nowhere, you can imagine our reactions when we come across a jacuzzi… Let’s not tell the rest, happiness, tears, wine & jager drunk in 40 degrees water in the jacuzzi and alcohol mixed with the body at jet speed, throwing ourselves into our hut hard! And closing… It would be a lie if we said that we didn’t have a conversation about ‘was that jacuzzi real’ sometime in the morning. /strong> If you are going to make a reservation, you can use this link and get 15 Euros back when you stay ?
Anyway, back to the topic; On our third and last night on the North Iceland route, we chose a cottage again and stayed at Hvammstangi Cottages. This is 3-4 huts set aside in a small town.. The type of hut is the same as you can see below. Neither less nor more… We loved this place too, but it would be a lie if we said that we did not look for a jacuzzi around after the cottage we stayed in the night before(!). Here’s the link!
That’s what our stay was like.
So what did these elven eyes see in North Iceland, that’s how it was shot, Let’s talk about it a little bit.
Dettifoss (Waterfall)
We said we stayed at Eidar Guesthouse for the first night in the North. After leaving here in the morning, our first stop was Dettifoss, one of Iceland’s most legendary waterfalls.. After driving on Route 1 for about two hours, you continue on a stony road for another half an hour and you come across this huge waterfall, exactly 100 meters wide and 45 meters high.. We have to make a warning here.. It is not possible to enter this road with a normal vehicle! Don’t even try it
The waterfalls in the south were beautiful too, but Dettifoss is another fantastic. Even from here, he desires himself like a waterfall.. Iceland places itself second on our ‘waterfall top 10’ list. We’ll soon come to the winner of the waterfall.
Krafla Crater
The next stop after Dettofoss is Krafla Crater. After leaving Dettifoss, if you drive for an hour on Route 1, you will see it, it is very easy to find.
We said we were very happy to visit Iceland when it was covered with snow in winter time, we open a parenthesis here. Forget about visiting the crater! Because instead of a crater, we came across an icy pit.. We tried to imagine what this place would look like in summer by looking at the Krafla brochure we have and the whiteness in front of us.. As you can see, when we left, sadness and tears were left from Krafla. Maybe you will come across your good time, the view that came to us was this one below.
Let’s write the story of
Krafla; it becomes a crater formed by a volcano that last erupted in 1984.
Myvatn Nature Baths
We said that Iceland is the land of underground waters, so we said that you need to throw yourself into warm waters in freezing weather.. The twin sister of the Blue Lagoon Myvatn Nature Baths is right in this area, only 10 km from Krafla and the entrance price is also in the Blue Lagoon much more affordable than (40 Euros). If we hadn’t been to the Blue Lagoon, we would definitely have gone to Myvatn. It is also less touristic, more beautiful than you and the Blue Lagoon.
We leave the website here if you want to review it.
Namafjall Geothermal Field (Hverir)
Our our number one, Mars, is the strangest place our eyes have ever seen on our trip to Iceland!. In some pits water is boiling, in some pits mud is boiling.. Essentially, this is a geothermal field in North Iceland, but we call it ‘Mars’ among ourselves.. It’s our Mars, the best view of our Iceland trip. A plain boiling with magma. What else?
We honestly don’t know why this place has affected us so much.. While we were choosing destinations to visit in Iceland, when we saw Hverir’s photos, we made up our minds to go and see it, even though we couldn’t understand what it was exactly.
It’s a pretty strange place… You are stumbling through the mud, terrible sulfur smells come from everywhere.. You pass by the bubbling underground chimneys, and as if the strangeness of the sight isn’t enough, it sounds like it’s going to explode at any moment.
This is where we felt the feeling of being in another universe the most.. Maybe that’s why we liked this place the most..
footnote: be prepared for mud everywhere
Grjótagjá Cave (Grjótagjá Cave)
Game of Thrones viewers will recognize this place right away, because this is Jon Snow’s The cave where he ‘made love’ with Ygritte!. Frankly, besides the beauties we saw in Iceland, it seemed to us like a pool full of hot water on its own.. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to go and see it.
Additional Note: We had our lunch at the pizzeria in ‘Vogar Travel Service‘ right near here.. Unfortunately we had to pay 50 Euros for 1 large pizza + beer as there is no grocery store nearby.. We needed to eat something to avoid starvation and it was the cheapest (!) alternative around.. Make sure to take more supplies from the market with you.
There is also a famous ‘Vogafjos Cowshed Café‘ in the same area, but we left immediately after seeing the treatment they treated the cows inside.. We never recommend it.
Goðafoss (Waterfall)
Say hello to our favorite Iceland waterfall! Godafoss literally means waterfall of the gods. Icelanders know something that they named it that way.
We watched it for 45 minutes, photographed it, looked left and right, and after deciding that it was our favorite waterfall, we continued on our way..
Hüsavik
Hüsavik is actually a tiny village in the northernmost part of Iceland where whale watching tours (whale watching) are held. It is even referred to as the ‘Whale Capital’ of the world.
Its population is only 2100 people, and as such, it is an Icelandic town.. There are 3-4 restaurants, 1-2 guest houses, 1 market and 1 gas station in total.
Whale watching tour was also not attractive because we avoided touristic activities in Iceland… Paying 100 Euros to get on the boat and look at the whales in the sea, we don’t know… In fact, nearly 90 percent of the tourists who come to Hüsavik come just for this whale activity.
We came to Hüsavik purely out of curiosity and to see a local Icelandic town. we stopped by. It’s pretty cute, even if you spend an hour is more than enough.
We took a coffee break here, took some photos and got our supplies from the market and went straight to the hut in Stöng
. >
Akureyri
After waking up in our cabin in the morning, our first stop was Akureyri, about 1 hour away.
Akureyri, Iceland’ s largest city after Reykjavik. If we say big, it has a university and its population is 20 thousand! Istanbulites know, for example, the population of Kadıköy is 500,000.. Calculate Akureyri’s dimensions that way.
Akureyri seems too modern to us after the miracles of nature we’ve seen in the last two days.. There was a very beautiful botanical garden, but we came from Mars, the night before we found a jacuzzi in the middle of nowhere and drank wine in it, the botanical garden did not attract us at all.. It also has a famous church.
There are colorful houses in Akureyri that we like. Also, we were very happy to see Iceland’s famous coffee chain Te & Kaffi because we haven’t had a decent coffee for days.. We felt like we had found the best place to take a break in Akureyri.
And if we hadn’t had breakfast, we would have tried Akureyri Backpackers Hostel’s open buffet breakfast.. This place is like a meeting place for backpackers in Akureyri.. Now to our next visit! If you say you will stay in this Hostel, here is the place.
Bjórböðin – SPA & Restaurant
We spent the last day in the north having some fun, enjoying nature and the weather, and we made a point shot.. A SPA & Restaurant at the foot of the mountains, which we came across while doing Icelandic research months ago!
You throw yourself into the SPA set up outside in -10 degrees weather, and they bring your beer to you.. a strange feeling. You are looking at the view, there is a person, a vehicle, a house, nothing.. Hours passed while enjoying the view like this, we spent the whole afternoon here.
This is one of the things we did and strongly recommend during our Iceland trip.. There is a SPA usage fee of 15 Euros per person, and beers are around 10 Euros.
After leaving here, our next stop was Seal Beach but it was a complete disappointment.. This place is called Seal Beach, but there are no seals! You also have to spend 1 hour on the stony roads by car, in our opinion, it is a complete waste of time and there is no need.. Well, not every goal we hit will be.
After Seal Beach, we went to Hvammstangi Cottage where we will spend the night. We went to bed early as we were going to get up early the next day and take the Golden Circle route. Let’s not forget, on the last day, on the way from Hvammstangi to Reykjavik, we were caught on the radar at the town entrance and paid a fine of 180 Euros.. Don’t step on the gas at the city entrances because the roads are empty anyway, 180 Euros stuck in us.
Golden Circle, South Iceland, Reykjavik
strong> they were all very nice. But the North is different.. If you are coming here prepare yourself, you will never forget it.
Golden Circle our article will be on the blog very soon.
Have a nice trip everyone!
A separate trip to North Iceland from us take it hello! ?
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