What a brilliant trip. The landscape in the Peninsular area was stunning, with waterfalls, tabletop mountains, lava fields, walking through large lava formations to the black beach and the seals - relaxing in the golden beach. In my opinion the black church was underwhelming and that time could have been spent watching the seals.
Our driver-guide- Thor was fantastic. He told his own stories of growing up in that area, about his grandfather and his life. Semi ghost, crime and other stories also brought the area to life. It was so fun listening to the Thor.
Thor probably had the best music collection playing right through the journey - blues, jazz and some country. Loved the entire experience.
I don’t think you can get a full impression of Iceland without rain and mist, so after two days of pure bliss we woke up to a rainy morning and fog. We didn’t get too upset, went to enjoy our breakfast (oh, how I love Icelandic herring!!!), and our bus picked us up right on time. We embarked on our day tour with Nicetravel: Small-Group Snaefellsnes National Park Day Trip from Reykjavik
This one day tour was also booked with the Marriott and Viator - everything was perfect as NiceTravel is a stellar company. Their guides are excellent, all their buses are Mercedes Benz and wi-fi on the bus worked flawlessly.
Our guide was Bartosz, who is from Poland but lives and works in Iceland. He was very friendly, courteous and cooperative. The tour was long (11 hours), the weather wasn’t the best for a driver, but Bartosz did a great job.
We passed by Esja Mountain, the bay, the summits of the mountains almost invisible in thick fog, then through the long tunnel under Fjordhur, and soon reached green mountains on one side and the ocean on another… and all of a sudden there were glimpses of sun.
We passed by the place with the strongest winds in Iceland and arrived-to Borgarness to pick up one more tourist. . .
Bartosz was so nice to make a short stop along the way for us because we wanted to photograph the full semi-circle of one really bright rainbow - blistering wind and the sun welcomed us and the sighting was incredible.
We were driving along the area of dormant volcanoes and endless lava field, which looks exactly like lunar landscape, no wonder it had become the NASA training site for the moon landing space flights.
After one hour drive we arrived to our first stop (not counting a quick refueling stop at the gas station). It was famous Kirkjufell, the most photographed mountain in Iceland and one of the Game of Thrones filming locations (Arrowhead Mountain). It was just a fishing village before and now big cruise ships are coming to see the “Game of Thrones” Mountain. The weather gods were kind to us, the rain has stopped and it wasn’t windy. Actually, there are two equally beautiful mountains in Grundarfjörður: Kirkjufell and Kirkjufellsfoss across the road from Kirkjufell.
After long drive, partially in the fog, we have finally reached our next stop: Black Beach of Djupalonssandur. We got lucky again: no rain, no wind, so the surreal landscape belonged to us for 45 minutes. We descended to the beach, looked at the whimsical lagoon and walked on the shore covered by black ash admiring stunning rock formations and the little lake surrounded by mighty black cliffs, then we took another short path back taking a turn to the viewpoint. The view of the beach and the lagoon from above is hard to describe.
Next stop was at Londrangar Cliffs, where, according to the local legend, elves live. Iceland loves her elves and trolls. ????
Finally, the fog took pity of us and we were able to see the summit of Snaefill Mountain at the distance. It is an important mountain in the area and the biggest volcano in Iceland.
Next stop was at Arnarstapi, the fishing village famous for its beautiful sea arches. Here you can feel and admire a real drama of Icelandic rocks and their unimaginable shapes: a deep cave, a full circle arch, curvy cliffs, etc. There was no rain, so naturally we walked longer than expected and our lunch at the local Stappinn Cafe was just quick two ham and cheese sandwiches to go, which were not even good. We should have tried their lamb soup, but alas no time was left to enjoy it.
After Arnarstapi we had a very short stop at the picturesque Black Church - Budakirkja and continued to the highlight of all the highlights for me:Ytri-Tunga Seal Colony. We had almost an hour to look at the lovely seals, big and small, relaxing so close to the beach. There were so many of them!!! One little fellow was a real actor: he was turning around showing off his beautiful body and vigorously clapping his flippers, he even gave a kiss to his girlfriend, who has arrived promptly and I managed to capture their affection on video. The big seals were very lazy but also turned their heads to greet our group. I really wanted to stay and look at my new friends for hours, but it was time to go back.
Finally, we were on our long way back to Reykjavik, where we arrived after two hours. We thanked Bartosz (yeah, we do tip our guides and with dollars, not Icelandic krona) and checked in to our new hotel, Miðgarður by Center Hotels.
Adventure55012294258
27 Aug 2023
We hadden het geluk om te besluiten om de Snaefellsnes-tour te volgen met een kleine groep aangeboden door Nicetravel, en nog meer geluk om Mika als onze gids te krijgen. We zagen de meest ongelooflijke natuurlijke wonderen. Het zwarte zandstrand in het nationale park Snaefellsnes doet dat aan de zuidkust verbleken in vergelijking. Mika heeft het talent om mensen te laten ontspannen terwijl ze alert en georganiseerd blijven. Zijn verhaal was ongeëvenaard. We zijn zo dankbaar voor deze ongelooflijke ervaring!