Iceland in 7 Days - Day 6: Kirkjufell Mountain on Snaefellsnes

Our 6th day of our “in 7 days around Iceland” tour brought us from the northeastern reagion around Husavik to the Snaefellsnes peninsula, with the famous Kirkjufell mountain as the highlight of the day.

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Destination	Iceland, Ring Road and Road no. 68, 59, 60 and 54 from the Husavik region to Grundarfjördur
Where I stayed / Recommendations	We stayed at a room booked at “Grundarfjordur Guesthouse and Apartments” via booking.com – but no recommendation from our side, see below! The price of about 140 Euros for a room with ensuite bathroom was quite OK. However, the promised “Kirkjufell view” was not – despite having at least 8 unoccupied rooms “on the right side” (i.e. with the view), we (and also our room neighbors) didn’t get a room with a view. Quite disappointing, as this was the main reason for us to book this room in the first place. However, there’s no real alternative, if you’re determined to get the famous view. Just make sure that you really get it upon check-in!
Restaurants	Restaurant “Bjargarsteinn”: very good food, a bit more expensive than the average, but an unbeatable view of Kirkjufell (if you ask for a table at the window and are lucky to get it)
Things to do and see	Kirkjufell mountain Kirkjufoss waterfall Snaefellsnes peninsula: hinking in Snaefellsnes National Park
Recommendations in a nutshell	The Snaefellsns peninsula is a bit like a “Miniature Iceland” – combining the best of Iceland on the small peninsula; just two hours from Reykjavik

From Husavik to Snaefellsnes

450 km and 6 hours to drive from the Husavik region to the Snaefellsnes peninsula – our schedule for the 6^th day was quite busy.A first highlight on our way was the town of Akureyri, the second largest city of Iceland with a population of more than 18.000:

Which makes it an interesting spot for cruise ships, as seen in the picture above and below. However, due to our tight schedule of the day, we could not really explore Akureyri, but just passed through.

Beyond Akureyri, most of the way led us through a more or less unpopulated landscape, and not peppered with major tourist attractions. Still, we enjoyed the different landscapes…

…and took time to adore the main inhabitants of Iceland – horses…

…and sheep! In fact, there a a lot more sheep in Iceland than people.

Snaefellsnes

Unfortunately for us, the really great weather of our first five days changed during our east-west transfer and became a bit rainy-gray over the day. When we arrived at Snaefellsnes, thick rain clouds were covering the mountains, giving it a dramatic touch:

We checked into our hotel room and were rather disappointed: although we had booked a room “with Kirkjufell view” at “Grundarfjordur Guesthouse and Apartments”, we got a room on the wrong side of the building, featuring “mountain view”, which in fact turned out to be a view of the ugly car park and industrial area adjacent to the hotel/hostel building:

As you check in at a different place, it would have been quite complicated to go back, complain and try to get an amendment, so we didn’t bother. But: thumbs down for this accommodation!

Kirkufell Mountain and Kirkufoss Waterfall

Our first and only aim of the remaining day was the famous “Kirkjufell sight”, the view from the Kirkjufoss waterfall to the Kirkjufell mountain:

As this is one of the best-known picture postcards from Iceland, the small car park was completely full when we arrived. And the area around the waterfall was pretty crowded as well.

Anyway, the view is great, and with a mixture of sunshine and clouds you may take many different pictures like this one from the street along the shore:

or this one with Kirkjufoss:

…or this one, from the other side:

A bit of a reconciliation for the room was the dinner that we had at the “Bjargarsteinn” Restaurant just next door to the Hotel/Hostel. In the Restaurant, we got a table with a geat Kirkjufell view:

…and a very nice dinner. Even considering the high food prices in Iceland, this Restaurant was “at the upper end” of the scale, but the food was worth it.

Greetings from Kirkjufell!