The Snæfellsnes peninsula offers great beauty and mystery and is often described as “Iceland in Miniature” due to the diverse natural attractions that the area has to offer, such as beautiful mountain views, black sand beaches, rock belts down to the shore, lava fields, beautiful villages and of course the mysterious Snæfellsjökull glacier.
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Selvallafoss is a small but beautiful waterfall that is often called “The Hidden Waterfall” or “The Sheep’s Waterfall”. For two obvious reasons.
One reasons is because the waterfall is not visible from the road but it falls over a multi-step rock in the streams of Fossá on its way to merge with Selvallavatn.
Another reason is that often there is a flock of sheep resting underneath the cliffs by the waterfall sheltered from the wind.
P.s. with good will you can walk under the waterfall.
Stykkishólmur is located on the north side of Snæfellsnes and surrounded by a wonderful view of the countless islands of Breiðafjörður bay. The town origins can be traced to a natural harbor and an important trading post was formed there early in the history of Iceland. Today many old houses have been renovated and are a great splendor of the town and makes a wonderful atmosphere.
Stykkishólmur is today a service and trade center for the area and most of the people make their living from fishing and tourism.
In Stykkishólmur we are given time to have lunch.
Kirkjufell, standing tall above the Grundafjörður village, is without a doubt the most photographed mountain in Iceland. And no wonder why. The narrow top mountain with its steep and rocky hills, shaped by volcano eruptions and glaciers over millions of years,is unique and makes a perfect photo opportunity.
Many recognise the mountain as The Arrow Head Mountain from Games of Thrones.
Saxhóll is a 45 meter high beautifully shaped volcanic crater. It rises up from the moss-covered lavafields in Snæfellsjökull National Park. At the top you have a view over the tip of the Peninsula with the Atlantic ocean to souoth, west and north and the magnificent Snæfellsjökull glacier to the east.
Djúpalónssandur is an old fishing boat landing. It is an amazing black sandy beach and bay on foot of Snæfellsjökull .There are beautiful volcanic formations on the way down to the beach and further down, just before the sandy beach, there are 4 big rocks where “would be fishermen” would test their strength in the hope of getting employment on a fishing boat.
They are; Fullsterkur, Full strength 154 kg, Hálfsterkur, Half strength 100 kg, Hálfdrættingur, Weak 54 kg and Amlóði, Bungler 23 kg. Half Strength marked the frontier of wimpy and those who couldn’t lift it was deemed unsuitable for life at sea. These days of course the prerequisites of employmentas a fisherman are a little different, but you are very welcome to try your hand at the rocks!
At the beach, you will also see rusted metal from the English trawler Eding, which was wrecked at the Djúpalón beach in 1948.
Arnarstapi was an important trading post in the past and today there still is a good anchorage for small boats. Columnar basalt, ravines and grottoes surround the Arnarstapi pier and we offer a walk along the coastline to experience the magnificent lava formations and to watch the birds. There is quite a large arctic tern colony in the village itself.
Before we return to Reykjavík we stop at Ytri-Tunga beach, which is one of the best places in Iceland to see wild seals. There are a number of different species of seal in Iceland, and two of them can be seen at Ytri Tunga, The Common Seal and The Grey Seal.
