Around here
What is worth the drive, from the people who live here.
Borgarfjörður is quietly one of the best parts of the country to be based in — waterfalls, hot springs and open country, without the coach parties of the south coast. These are the places we send people to.
Borgarnes — ten minutes
The nearest town, and where you go for supermarkets and anything you have forgotten. For coffee there is Kaffi Kyrrð, which is as calm as the name suggests. To eat, the restaurant at The Settlement Centre or Englendingavík, both down by the water.
Hraunfossar — half an hour
Not one waterfall but hundreds, seeping straight out of the lava field along the river for a kilometre. Strange and quiet, and quite unlike anything else. Barnafoss is a two-minute walk further up and worth the extra steps.
Krauma — on the way to Hraunfossar
Geothermal baths fed by Deildartunguhver, the most powerful hot spring in Europe — it puts out around 180 litres of boiling water every second, which they cool with glacial water before it reaches you. Smaller and calmer than the famous lagoons, and it sits neatly on the same drive as the waterfalls.
Glanni and Paradísarlaut
Another waterfall, closer than Hraunfossar, with a short walking trail beside it through Paradísarlaut — a sheltered hollow in the lava that is popular with locals and almost never crowded. Good for an hour rather than a day.
Walking the goats at Gufuá
You can take Icelandic goats out for a walk. It sounds like a novelty and it is, but it is also the easiest way to meet people who actually live here and have stories about the countryside you are standing in.
Anything you cannot find, ask — booking@mirrorhouseiceland.is. Inga has lived in this valley a long time and will know.