Iceland Travel Blog / Part 2 / Stokksnes to Húsavík
Studlagil Canyon - Well worth a visit if you like driving down very rough tracks.
Welcome to part 2 of my 2023 trip around Iceland!
The link to part one of the trip is below!
Time for part 2 of our trip around Iceland, if you haven’t seen part one then I’d recommend heading back and taking a look first!
This section of our trip starts in Stokksnes after a very windy night of very little sleep, we are heading east around the ring road for our trip, lots more to see and do so lets get into it!
I’ve also written a blog on Icelandic Travel Tips, which is a good place to start if you’re planning your own trip.
Day 4
Our 4th day on the road in Iceland and our sleep schedule is well and truly swapped around.
We started our day at about 5 a.m. with a visit to the nearby Viking Villiage which was a film set for The Witcher and then hit the road heading east!
Hvalnes Lighthouse, Nykurhylsfoss
Our first couple of stops for the day were a little drive on the ring road, starting so early we saw about 3 other cars for the entire part of this trip which was great!
We stopped at the Hvalnes Lighthouse, but pretty much stayed in the camper as it was so windy, the views were stunning, but we soon hit the road and drove on to Nykurhylsfoss.
Also known as Sveinsstekksfoss, Nykurhylsfoss is a smaller waterfall where it was said a kelpie used to live and drown the local people before being driven away by the local people.
We sorted some breakfast and coffee here and took a bit of a rest before getting back on the road.
Petra's Stone Collection
The next stop was the fantastic Petra's Stone Collection, in Stöðvarfjörður. A quick note if you are visiting this place does close for the winter so check opening times.
This amazing collection of minerals and precious stones was all collected by Petra over many years. She would hike up into the mountains to bring the stones back, sometimes hiding good samples till she could get back up there and retrieve them.
The museum is now run by her children and is well worth a stop on the way around.
Egilsstaðir + Vok Baths
Our 4th day on the road ended with the first in a long line of geothermal pools and spas with a stop at the lovely Vok Baths near Egilsstadir.
After our refreshing dip, we drove back into town to camp at the Egilsstadir Campsite which I’d rate as one of the best we stayed in. It also had its own pub which was great to grab a very expensive beer at the end of the day.
Day 5
Litlanesfoss + Hengifoss
We started off early once more and headed out from Egilsstadir Campsite and drove down to do a nice early hike and see a couple of waterfalls.
Starting early meant we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves and by now we were really thinking that we did the trip in this way as it’s so much better avoiding the crowds.
The hike up the hill leads by a gorge and passes Litlanesfoss waterfall which is surrounded by hundreds of basalt columns.
The walk then carries on before ending at Hengifoss, a massive 128m high waterfall that looks just epic.
We then headed back to the car, crossing the new footbridge near the top of the hike which means you can walk down the other side.
Seydisfjordur
We then headed off in our camper, and I feel this is the best part to say we were having a little engine trouble with Betty. Nothing too serious but she seemed to be loosing power on hills and ha da bit of juddering, we did call the rental company who said it was all good so we pressed on.
We headed to the nearby town of Seydisfjordur, which on a map looks like a short drive, but what you don’t see is the incredibly steep road up and over the mountain into the fjord. Needless to say, the drive was sketchy, but good old Betty made it and we spent a little time exploring the town and stopping for a coffee.
Borgarfjarðarhöfn
We then chose to take the long drive to Borgarfjarðarhöfn which is an incredible puffin colony!
I was planning on some more gravel roads as that’s how it was on my last trip, but Iceland is really quickly upgrading its infrastructure, and the road all the way was paved (thankfully).
You can get VERY close to the puffins at Borgarfjarðarhöfn, so we spent a good couple of hours watching them and had a bite to eat in the new nearby cafe.
We were planning on camping nearby, but we still had a fair bit of energy in us so drove back to Egilsstadir as the campsite there was really excellent. We also had another beer, naturally.
Day 6
Stuðlagil Canyon
Day 6 started in Egilsstadir once more, and we hit the road early and drove west. Our first stop of the day was a new place for me and one that I’ve been keen to visit ever since I saw photos of it.
Getting to Stuðlagil Canyon was interesting to say the least, the paved road quickly turns into gravel, not too bad, just some slow driving, but then you turn off and the road turns into a very rough track. Betty saw us through and we made it to the car park.
It’s a short hike to the canyon and it really is just incredible, we were on our own so I took the drone up for a quick flight too.
We then headed back down the horrible track and were relieved when we joined the paved road once more.
Hverir
We kept heading east and stopped at Hverir, an otherworldly geothermal hotspot.
There are no plants here, just yellow-orange dirt with bubbling mud pits and steaming fumaroles.
Fair warning, the air here, while safe, is like breathing poison. The hydrogen sulfide gas (which is poison, and the cause of the foul smell) hits the back of your throat as soon as you get out of the car and only gets more intense as you wander around the site.
Well worth a stop, but it feels good to get back on the road and into fresh air.
Dettifoss + Myvatn Nature Baths
As we were making good time we chose to move our visit to Dettifoss up to today and headed out on the road there.
It was very busy, but we got parked up and walked over to the stunning waterfall on the west side. The views are great and the spray hits you as you gaze down into the gorge, well worth a visit and we’re glad we stopped here on this day as it gave us more time the next morning.
We then drove back for a dip at Myvatn Nature Baths, which is a bit like the Blue Lagoon, but not quite as nice. The pool is a vibrant blue, but it’s more of a public pool than a spa, I’d say this ranks the lowest among all of the various hot pools we visited.
We then drove over to the campsite near lake Myvatn for the night, got some chips from the local takeaway, and settled in for the night.
Day 7
Húsavík + Whale Watching
Day 7 was a little more relaxed seeing as we visited Dettifoss the day before. We headed out from the campsite and towards the town of Húsavík.
We stopped for a coffee and a wander around the town, before boarding a boat for some whale watching.
Húsavík is the number one place for whale-watching tours and I’d say its something well worth doing. The skipper warned us as the boat left the harbour that the swells were pretty big and a bit choppy, he wasn’t wrong and our seat at the front of the boat was the perfect spot for getting drenched by the waves (it was great)
We saw a number of humpback whales very close to the boat and a pod of dolphins, soon it was time to head back, which we were pretty glad of as the cold was setting in and the rouhg seas were taking thier toll.
We had booked a visit to Geosea, another thermal spa and hit that as soon as we got back, which worked out very well and soon warmed us up, you can also sit in the pool and look out over at the bay we were just in.
*I didn’t take any photos on the boat as the spray was huge and I didn’t want to get my camera covered in seawater - I did take the GoPro so there’s some of this part of the trip in the video
And so ends the second part of my Icelandic Travel Blog, I hope you found it interesting or useful.
If you’re planning a trip to Iceland then please ask any questions below, most of these photos were shot on my Fuji X100T, with a few on the XH2 and the drone shots on the DJI Mavic Air 2.
Thanks for reading, part 3 will be coming soon!
Cheers,
Col-
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