PRIVATE SNÆFELLSNES TOUR

This day seems to have a different feel to the other day tours and the memories and experience you take away with you are of wild, dramatic coastlines and natural history, with the abundant birdlife, open vistas, geology and possible sightings of seals, dolphins or even whales from the shoreline.

 

Starting in Reykjavik, we head north for around two hours until we reach The Snaefellsnes Peninsular. The rest of the day will then be spent exploring many of the features around the Snaefellsnes coastline.

 

This sparsely populated, mountainous  region is home to some of the most dramatic landscapes  in Iceland.   Snaefellsnes has a little of everything that Iceland has to offer with snow capped mountain ranges, sheer coastal cliffs, incredible ancient lava flows, small picturesque fishing villages  and cold blue arctic seas teaming with wildlife. The peninsula even has it’s own small icecap.

 

Our first stop takes us to Arnarstapi, a small fishing with a very small working harbour set amongst impressive black basalt rock pillars and coastal cliffs with a host of noisy bird colonies.

 

A little farther along the coast, we stop at the dramatic black sand beach and lava flows at Djupalonssandur, which were shaped and formed by massive ancient lava flows from Snaefell volcano and erosion from powerful ocean currents. This was also the site of an old fishing station and where the beach still has remains of a ship wreck from a 1940’s trawler, giving it an almost eerie feeling.

 

Then, we'll head around the western tip of the peninsula, an area where there is literally no human population, where the open, desolate landscape is home to several small volcanic cones before stopping at a beautiful small beach at Skardsvik.  The beach here is of golden sand, which is a rare feature in Iceland and very different to all the black sand beaches found in the country. 

 

Our drive from here takes along the north coast of Snaefellsnes, where, due to colder waters, the fish and thus birdlife are in even greater abundance.  Passing a few small fishing villages we stop at Kirkufellsfoss waterfall with clear white waters and a spectacular view of Kirkjufell mountain, made famous by it’s unmistakable cone shape.

 

After driving through the small fishing town of Grundarfjordur we make a stop at a nearby bridge crossing the mouth of Kolgrafafjordur  to admire the sheer beauty of the bay and surrounding mountains offering amazing photo opportunities.  If we are lucky we may see either seals, whales, dolphins and an abundance of birdlife.  The waters in this area have huge amounts of fish and as the tide washes in and out under the bridge we are sometimes lucky enough to spot wildlife which depends upon the fish as it’s food source.

 

Our last stop will be amongst the surreal lava fields at Berserkjahraun before setting of on our journey back across the peninsula and home to Reykjavik.

 

To add a little more adventure and learn more about life in the area, you can add an extra stop at Bjarnarhofn shark museum, a small family run museum to learn about how the famously smelly rotten-shark is made but also learn about the history and lifestyle of remote fishing communities in the past.  The entrance fee is 1,200 Icelandic krona   (Approx €9 per adult. Children 15 or younger are free)

 

Each stop will last between 15-45 mins.