[Road trip in Iceland] Day 10: Hofsos, Grafarkirkja, Hvitserkur
Hofsos was one of the most prosperous trading posts in the region, thanks to the herring trade. Today, the town is super quiet, but still attracts travelers thanks to its most beautiful municipal swimming pool in Iceland.
Part 1: Travel Diary Part
2: Practical Tips
Part 1: Travel Diary
Itinerary
To access our personalized google Maps, click here
Stop 1 : Hofsos swimming pool
It’s a pool, so it’s not the same price as the spas (if you count the spas, the GeoSea spa pool is the truly most beautiful in Iceland – in my opinion), only 1000kr per person.
The pool is a bit cooler than the hot pot (hot bath) next to it (I didn’t take a picture because it was crowded) but if even a cold person like me could swim in the pool, it’s because the water is warm. And then look at this incredible view!
As everywhere, you should shower naked before putting on your swimsuit. Otherwise you risk breaking the law. You must bring your own towel, but soap is provided.
Stop 2: The basaltic columns
Right next to the pool (on the parking lot on the left), you have to go down a small wooden staircase to access these extraordinary basalt columns.
I love this kind of rock formations, resulting from volcanic eruptions.
They aren’t very regular in shape here, but you can see that the center isn’t the same color as the outside, it looks like a tree trunk in fact.
Stop 3 : Grafarkirkja
A few km away is the oldest church in Iceland. I already told you about it, I made a mistake and went to a town named after this church – in the south of Iceland. Here is the real one!
You have to open / and close the gate of a private property, then walk 5 minutes to get to this beautiful church.
Let me show you what it looks like in summer. I love buildings with grass roofs like this, it’s so beautiful and clever.
On the other side of the fjord, you can see beautiful snowy mountains
Stop 4 : Reykjafoss
Another good local plan. The waterfall is located in a farmhouse, and right next to it – a warm bath – with view to the waterfall.
The wind blows much too much, unfortunately, and during the 1 km separating us from the waterfall, we walk we walk but we are too cold. Fortunately that we do not come here only for the hot bath otherwise we would have been refrigerated.
To reach the hot bath, it would have been necessary to cross the bridge, but we give up as soon as we see the waterfall, fully satisfactory. I put here the Maps.me plan in case … The arrow indicates the parking lot.
Stop 5: Hvitserkur
I liked the picture of this rock formation, and we took a gravel road on purpose to come just here, to discover a super small rock (it is 15m high but from far it is tiny). Fortunately the black sand beach is beautiful, and the river too.
Named “white shirt”, this rock formation is said to be a troll petrified by daylight – just when it was about to do something stupid.
It is said that we see seals basking on this beach from time to time. Get out your binoculars!
Stop 6 : Seal Beach
Same thing, we were supposed to stop at a beach where there is a seal colony, but I fell asleep on the way, I indicated a bad point on Google Maps, JB drove further than expected – and when I realized my mistake, we are already very far away and don’t want to turn back on this gravel road – only one lane – where we drove in 4WD most of the time.
Here are the exact coordinates: https: //goo.gl/maps/3LQQkTcxGF22
On the way…
I still show you the pictures from Hvitserkur to Drangnes (where we are sleeping tonight) because it allowed us to go along the whole coast and have a (distant) glimpse of the North-West of the country (including the coast of Strandir – a part we have very little time to explore).
The city of Holmavik seen from afar…
More of our adventure here
Part 2: Practical Tips
Budget
- Gasoline: 7140kr (thank you gravel roads)
- Swimming pool: 1000kr/person
- Sunna’s Guesthouse(link Booking) in Drangsnes, 81€, bedroom with private bathroom, kitchen, near a free hot water spring
