Snæfellsnes Peninsula is said to be one of the most beautiful locations to visit during an Iceland winter. Often referred to as "Iceland in Miniature", it's home to a slew of extraordinary sights ranging from lava fields and basalt cliffs to golden beaches and glaciers. Just a few hours north of Reykjavík, this relatively small peninsula juts into the Atlantic and is the perfect day trip to soak in the diverse beauty of Iceland if you don't have a week to travel the Ring Road. With our quick three-day stopover in Iceland, this was the perfect taste of everything Iceland has to offer--and only solidified our desire to return for an even longer visit in the future!
Our day began at our Airbnb located just outside of Borgarnes, a little cabin tucked in the middle of nowhere. After waiting for sunrise, we set out around 11am and quickly realized that we would need to stop for gas or risk being stranded on the side of the road somewhere. Thankfully, there was a small self-serve station about an hour into our travels at Breiðablik, the entrance of Snæfellsnes. It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it station just off of Route 54 with a visitor center just adjacent to the station.
There'll be an entire post about gas stations, car rental, and driving in Iceland later so if you're curious, keep an eye out. We'll be sure to link it here, as well. In the meantime, you can take a peek at our Iceland YouTube video below and head to the 8-minute mark for our experience (and struggles) at the gas station.
At this point, we had could have explored the peninsula in either direction as it's one big loop. Staying on Route 54 would've first taken us to Rauðfeldsgjá Gorge, but we headed north on Route 56 to hook up with Route 54 on the northern side of the peninsula, taking the clockwise approach.
Before getting into the details, I want to note that if you were to simply drive straight through the peninsula without stops, it would take about three hours. Use that benchmark to help plan your day, especially if you're fighting the short winter days. Also, all locations mentioned in this post were free. No entrance fees required and most everything was located just off the main road. If it wasn't just off the road, it was well-marked and easy to find. We never once got lost (quite an accomplishment coming from a driver that is directionally challenged to a severe degree).
I also want to say that throughout our day we saw many tour buses, just like the day before at the Golden Circle and all throughout Norway. While doing a guided tour is just fine and, judging by the number of them at each sightseeing location, very popular, it's not our style. You'll learn very quickly (if you haven't already) that we like to plan our own days and prefer the freedom to travel at our own pace. By building our own itinerary, we're able to stop at lesser-known locations that may not be on a tour company's route or cut out places that we're just not as interested in. We can take a thirty-minute break for coffee or spend a little extra time somewhere without being rushed back on a bus. There are a dozen reasons that someone could counter me in support of guided tours and that is completely okay. I'm not here to knock day tours or convince you that there's something wrong with them. Many people don't like to plan out every step of their vacations and simply want to enjoy an itinerary built by a professional. Some people may not be comfortable driving in a foreign country. Everyone has their own preferences when they travel and guided tours are one of the best ways to do it if you're new to traveling or don't want the added stress of planning. Plan to your comfort level. We're here to tell you what worked (and inevitably, what didn't work) when we plan our days and hopefully offer some guidance if you wish to go it on your own. Again, I could write a separate post on planning trips yourself (and probably will considering we made an entire video about it), but that's for a later date.
ANYWAY, I digress. Back to the real reason you're here: Snæfellsnes. These are the locations that we stopped at (and some that we just waved at from the car window as we drove by) in that clockwise order.
Sheep's Waterfall
I'm not sure if you can technically qualify this as a part of Snæfellsnes Peninsula as it was not in any of the research I had done prior to the trip. I almost didn't even want to add it to the list because it feels like a hidden gem and the selfish part of me wants to keep the discovery to ourselves.
About 15 minutes after stopping for gas, we saw a couple of vehicles pulled over. This always piqued our curiosity when we were driving because finding unplanned locations was such a rush for us. Somehow, these stops always ended up being our favorites of the day. Turns out, it was a waterfall that cascaded into a gorgeous lake. We ventured down towards the lake probably a little further than we should have, but between the sound of the falls and the way the light was hitting the water, we couldn't resist. It was mesmerizing.
We took advantage of the serenity and spent so long looking out over the mountainous panoramic views that our fingers and toes started to numb.
Now, I'm sure someone will look at the falls and argue that there are a dozen better ones in Iceland. I'm not going to argue that. But what made it so spectacular was that it was essentially tourist-free and for a while, we were the only ones stopped there. We could enjoy the scenery without someone else pushing up against us or seeing it through twenty other phone screens in front of us. With the power of social media, it's not often to come across a place that is relatively tourist-free. Seclusion is kind of priceless these days.
I'm not going to lie, it was a bit of a hike to get back up to the car. Granted, that's coming from someone who hasn't stepped foot into a gym since my free access in college, but regardless, I think we both came close to passing out when we got back to the car.
Kirkjufell
If you type "Iceland" into Google, Kirkjufell is the first image that will pop up. It's a funny-looking mountain standing just about 1,500 feet tall and is supposedly the most-photographed mountain in the country. If you're a Game of Thrones fan, it might be more recognizable to you as "Arrowhead Mountain". The mountain looks different from every angle, appearing as that arrowhead from the south but taking on its namesake (Church Mountain) with the view from the town of Grundarfjörður.
Just across the road from Kirkjufell is the aptly-named Kirkjufellsfoss (--foss in Icelandic means waterfall, i.e. Gullfoss & Öxaráfoss). Though the falls on their own are nothing spectacular when you have a whole catalog of stunning waterfalls in the country (see previous comment about waterfalls), the two together make for some fantastic photos.
When we arrived, we were a little unsure of where exactly to park, but followed the crowd and parked on the falls' side of the road which gave us that iconic view. When you cross over the small footbridge, there's a marked pathway along the side of the falls if you wish to get to the bottom, but it was slicked over with ice so we off-roaded a bit rather than falling on our butts.
Bulandshofdi View Point
This was another "let's just stop and see" location. There were no cars here, but we quickly learned that they don't build viewpoint lots off the sides of the roads for no reason. The water was stunning at this spot and the pictures could never do justice to just how blue it was!
Skarðsvík Beach
At the northwestern tip and tucked away from the main road sits Skarðsvík Beach. This was the first location that we really had to drive a bit off-course to reach, but was still easy to find. Öndverðarnesvegur is the road you'll hop on, heading west. It's a gravel road that's just wide enough for one vehicle, but everyone was great about yielding to each other when possible in order to allow passage. Even the drive out to the beach was beautiful.
Golden sand beaches are common to many people around the world, but Iceland is well-known for its black sand. Skarðsvík is one of the few beaches of its kind in the country and though the sand and blue water may make you believe you're in the Mediterranean, the surrounding volcanic landscape reminds you that's not quite the case. We tromped around the sand in our big winter boots for a bit, once again having the place to ourselves for most of the time we were there, before heading back to the main road. There are a few more stops and sights back on this road, but we were always very conscious of daylight and had a few more places to see.
Snæfellsjökull Glacier
As much as I'd like to believe we're pros at travel and we have it all figured out, that's definitely not the case and it becomes apparent when we completely miss things like a 4,000+ foot glacier in the middle of a peninsula of the same name. We were so bummed when we realized our mistake and spent so much time scrolling through pictures and videos hoping we got the famous glacier in the background. We even tried to pick out the glacier from Reykjavík the next day since on very clear days it can be seen across the water. No such luck.
Snæfellsjökull is a volcano capped with a glacier at the heart of Snæfellsjökull National Park. The Folklore of the mountain includes many tales of trolls, mysticism and even aliens, but it's in literature that the mountain is most well-known. In Journey to the Center of the Earth, the entrance to the world in the novel is located in Snæfellsjökull. We love a good literature link!
Vatnshellir Cave
We made a stop here to inquire about a cave tour, but if we'd stuck around for the last one of the day, we would've run out of sunlight. If you have the time, it the opportunity to go into a lava tube that was created during an eruption 8,000 years ago sounds incredible! Maybe not so much for those that suffer from claustrophobia, though.
Gestastofa Visitor Center
Sure, it might sound silly to include a Visitor Center on the list, but it's mostly listed to let you know that there's a restroom inside. Trust us, public restrooms were coveted when we were drinking about a gallon of coffee every day. The Visitor Center, which is on the south side of the peninsula, also has a small gift shop and exhibits on the history and facts about the park.
Lóndrangar Basalt Cliffs
The Lóndrangar Cliffs are visible from the Visitor Center and maybe on a nice warm day, we would've walked along the cliffside to view them up close. But a warm day it was not, so we hopped in the car to drive to the parking lot next door. The cliffs are remnants of a crater that's been eroded away by the water and are striking against their oceanic backdrop.
Gatklettur
Gatklettur is located just 10 minutes' drive east of Lóndrangar in the village of Arnarstapi. The small stone arch sits on the waters and has been worn away by the sea into the near-perfect circular arch you see in the photo. It's really very visually stunning, especially with the waves crashing against the backside of the rock.
By the time we had finished here, we'd blown past our afternoon slump by a couple of hours. But, we were cold and still had a few hours' drive back to the cabin that I needed to stay awake for, so we found a nearby restaurant at Arnarstapi Center and Snjófell Restaurant and popped in for a pick-me-up. Be wary that when you're visiting in the slow season, it can sometimes be hit or miss whether restaurants are open. We seemed to run into this issue more in Norway than Iceland, but if you have your heart set on a place, do your research prior to figure out whether it will be open or not.
Also, this is a good time to mention that the food in Iceland is expensive. We paid about $5 for a coffee (which isn't abnormal) but there was a couple that came in and spent about $100 on coffee, soup, and cookies. Always make sure you pay attention to conversion rates and do the prep you need to avoid overpaying for things while traveling. We always hit up local grocery stores and get whatever snacks and food that we think we'd want to get us through the day.
Rauðfeldsgjá Gorge
Our final stop was another unplanned one. There was only one other car parked in the small lot, so of course we pulled over. We couldn't do much here besides walk around, but with the setting sun, it was rather beautiful. But guys, it was so windy. I feel like we say that often and it's not as if we're exaggerating, but we could barely even hear each other talking. Rauðfeldsgjá (Red-Cloak Rift) is a gorge that you can actually hike into in the summer to find a small waterfall.
This is by no means a complete compilation of what to see and do on Snæfellsnes Peninsula. There's so much more that this beautiful area of Iceland has to offer and if you're visiting outside of the wintertime, your list might differ. Nevertheless, be sure not to miss this peninsula in your travels through Iceland!
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