North Iceland

Loves

Where I Stayed: Hótel Reykjahlíð

Restaurant: the Restaurant in the hotel was superb

Shopping: There were several cute shops in Akureyri

Museum: Glaumbær, where you can see original turf houses, some dating back to the mid-18th century

Church: Akureyrarkirkja (which was designed by the same architect–Guðjón Samúelsson–who designed Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík)

Historical Site: Dimmuborgir

Experience: Whale watching in Húsavík–we went with North Sailing, and I highly recommend them. They are the only company to have turned old oak schooners into sailboats. We got to see puffins, got super close to the whales, learned a lot about the controversial subject of whaling in Iceland.. and though we ran out of gas, and the sails weren’t really catching enough wind to get us back to shore, a separate little boat came out to deliver gas, warm hot chocolate, and treats for all of us on board.

Food(s): Skyr (my first official taste of both the homemade and the store-bought kind)

What to Know

North Iceland is home to Europe’s most powerful waterfall, Dettifoss; excellent waters for whale watching; Hvítserkur, a rock dragon that looks like it’s drinking from the water; and Námafjall, the geothermal area complete with bubbling, boiling mud pools.

Why Go?

Not only is North Iceland beautiful, but it offers so much to see and do. I was there during the summertime, which meant that I got the full experience of the midnight sun, totally losing track of the day and realizing it was 11pm and perhaps time to get some dinner! I’ve heard that it’s also a fantastic place to experience the Northern Lights, so I guess I’ll just have to go back and see it for myself!

Things to do

There are so many things to do in North Iceland that it’s hard to remember:

• whale watching in Húsavík
• walking around Akureyri, the capital of the north
• bird watching at Lake Mývatn
• driving around the Vatnsnes peninsula, where you can see Hvítserkur; the huge seal colony; Borgarvirki, a fortress from the 10th or 11th century
• see Goðafoss, the waterfall of the gods, and Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Europe
• hike 1378 feet (or the equivalent of about 13 flights of stairs) up Hverfjall and take in the view of the Mývatn area
• take a walk through Dimmuborgir, which, in Icelandic legend, is said to connect Earth with Hell
• relax at the Mývatn Nature Baths, which is essentially a smaller, less populated Blue Lagoon
• walk around the geothermal area–see the incredible colors the sulfur creates, check out the boiling mud pits, and see steam rising from the pits of the Earth

Details

I had a wonderful time in North Iceland. I’d say it was my second favorite area in the country (after the South). There really wasn’t a dull moment on the entire trip–between hiking up extinct volcanoes, walking through the gates of Hell, seeing waterfall after waterfall, and watching puffins, humpback and minke whales this close to the Arctic Circle, I’d venture to say were gone every day from about 8am until 11pm without even realizing it.

One particular night, however, was almost a comedy of errors. We stopped back at our hotel to drop a few things off before venturing off to find something for dinner. Where we stayed there were only three food options–the restaurant in our hotel, the restaurant in the hotel across the street, or the N1 gas station/grocery store food. Luckily for us (or so I thought), we had this handy GPS that had a tab for restaurants. So, we located one that the GPS said was about 25km away, and we set out to find it. We’re going along our merry way when the GPS instructs us that we need to make a left. I look and see that there’s not actually a road. Not even a makeshift trail up the side of this incredibly steep hillside. Alright, let’s skip that and let the GPS reroute us. Finally, we think we’re headed on the right track. We’re going down some incredibly beautiful back roads–I notice houses built into cliff-sides over water, the sun is at that perfect height for casting a gorgeous summertime glow on everything, the greens are perfectly green, and the water is glistening. Pull over to snap a few shots before going to the restaurant (about 5km away at this point). Back in the car, the GPS informs us that we’re at our final destination. I look up, and much to my dismay, it’s a barn. Not a restaurant that we just spent an hour looking for (did I mention that the GPS gave us a birds-eye account of how far the distance was–not the actual distance traveled?). So, bellies rumbling, we essentially made a U-turn and headed back the way we came, and stopped off for some gas station hot dogs and Cool American Doritos for dinner. At least we managed to see some awesome countryside and truly authentic Iceland on our little misadventure.