Category: The West of Iceland

The west is the part of Iceland that rewards travellers who slow down. It’s close enough to Reykjavík for an easy day trip, but big enough and varied enough to fill a week if you let it. In a single region you get the Snæfellsnes peninsula — often called “Iceland in miniature” for good reason — the historic Borgarfjörður valley, the lava tube at Víðgelmir, the cliffs and seal colonies along the coast, and Snæfellsjökull, the glacier-capped volcano that crowns the peninsula.

This section covers the west the way I’d plan a trip through it myself. Snæfellsnes gets proper attention: Kirkjufell and its waterfall, the black church at Búðir, the fishing villages of Arnarstapi and Hellnar, the basalt columns at Gerðuberg, and the long beaches on the north shore where you might be the only person for an hour. Inland, my guides cover Borgarfjörður’s waterfalls (Hraunfossar and Barnafoss are easier to reach than most visitors realise), the saga sites around Reykholt, and the hot springs and pools that make this a great region in winter as well as summer.

I’m honest about how to do it. Snæfellsnes as a long day trip from Reykjavík is doable but tight — two days with a night in Stykkishólmur or Hellnar is far better. I’ll tell you which stops are worth lingering on, which can be skipped, and how the weather on the peninsula can be wildly different from the city the same morning.
Many of the operators, guesthouses, and restaurants in the west partner with me, and my newsletter subscribers get exclusive discount codes for a long list of them.

Browse the guides below and you’ll see the west properly — not just the postcard mountain.