Day 20 — Thursday, 21st August
Sightseeing around Akureyri
Morning All! 👍Welcome to our BIG Holiday of 2025! With Canada and Greenland completed, our final hop is here in the north of Iceland – in Akureyri.
In a first for us eating Breakfast abroad, in amongst the continental staples of ham, cheese, peppers and tomatoes were… Custard Creams! 😯. Maybe it’s a local custom?
8.35am: After a rather hurried breakfast (that obviously included the nutritional Custard Creams!), we all met in Reception, ready for the off! We were prepared for an Arctic Expedition – midge hats, thick coats, umbrellas, beanies and scarves.
Akureyri
This was our first FULL day in Akureyri (population c20000), where today was all about the local SIGHTS. After taking advice from the local Tourist Information Centre yesterday, we planned to drive around the famous ‘Diamond Circle’ route. Read more about it HERE. We may not follow it exactly, but it’ll give us a good feel for this part of the country.
It’s a long trip – some 250 km (150 miles) in total, and we’re heading clockwise, but deliberately leaving out the famous Godafoss Waterfall until tomorrow.
As we only made the decision about exploring this route yesterday, so we needed to get back to the Airport to rent a car. In spite of the extra hike, it made perfect financial sense, as an equivalent guided tour would have been much more expensive – and we’re still getting used to the prices here! 🥴.
Our Transport of Choice
With Ralph as designated driver and an almost brand new, Kia Sportage, we were ready! 👍
The Route to Husavik
What a great start! Stunning vistas all the way, punctuated by the occasional low cloud and sea mist.
Husavik
12.01pm: We arrived in this beautiful town with the Sun shining, but with the sea mist rolling in, the situation looked ominous. Home to around 25000 people, Húsavík is known as the whale-watching capital of Iceland – if not Europe – and the oldest settlement in Iceland. There’s also a Whale Museum here too (thanks, Nicki!) 😁
Plenty of activity here with many boats on their way out for a spot of Whale Watching!
12.12pm: Meanwhile, turning a full 180°, we spotted coffee and cake nearby!
The cake won our affections. Why? It was still quite misty out to sea, and we weren’t confident we’d see any Whales! 🙄
What a pretty place Húsavík was! It reminded us of Cornwall. Next stop? The not-shown-on-the-map tongue-twisty…
Oxarfjardarfur Point
1.11pm: This one is not on the map, as such, but is a well-known ‘local secret’ (obviously, not now!). Oxarfjardarfur Point provides breathtaking panoramas of the surrounding landscape, where rugged cliffs meet expansive beaches. More significantly, there was a (small) chance of seeing Puffins nesting here!
But to compensate for the puffin-less and whale-less view, a little to the right was…
Well, that was disappointing, but perhaps not completely unexpected, given the time of year.
Between Oxarfjardarfur and Ashbyrgi
The mist had now receded, leaving us with a bright, sunny day.
Ásbyrgi Canyon
2.11pm: Ásbyrgi is a glacial canyon and forest. The horseshoe-shaped depression is part of the Vatnajökull National Park and measures approximately 3.5 km in length and over 1 km wide.
We missed the Visitor Centre and kept driving. The road got narrower, but it was worth it, for the photographs.
Enormous!! 👍
We looped back to drop into the Visitor Centre but Coffee from a vending machine and a small picture exhibition made it the shortest of stays 😬. We’re not sure what this place offered in relation to the Canyon itself. 🤔
Dettifoss Falls
3.01pm: We were making good time.
Dettifoss Falls, as the name suggests, is a waterfall. Located in Vatnajökull National Park (the largest NP in Iceland). The falls are 100 metres (330 ft) wide and have a drop of 44 metres (144 ft) down to the canyon Jökulsárgljúfur. Depending on who you speak with, it’s either the most powerful waterfall in Europe or the second most powerful.
As we arrived, the car-park was already pretty busy. And if that wasn’t an indication of popularity, it also had the largest collection of public toilets (12) we’ve seen anywhere in Iceland. Their exterior was neat and tidy whilst inside, their workings were ‘down to earth’ – literally! Yuk! 😳
Take your walking shoes as the terrain is as rugged as it gets! 😳. Thoughts of the song ‘Walkiing on the Moon‘ by The Police instantly sprang to mind. Bags of opportunity for a twisted ankle (or both!)
It took us about 30 minutes to get to the Falls – but it was worth it! We wimped out and chose the ‘viewing platform’ route (easier!), but for the more adventurous, there’s a ‘closeup route’ to enjoy too! 👍
Lake Myvatn
5.01pm: Our final stop today.
Lake Myvatn is a volcanic lake. On the northeastern shore, Reykjahlíð, the nearby village has an information centre and is a base for exploring the area. Eastwards, Mývatn Nature Baths features a naturally heated man-made lagoon, with mineral-rich waters known for their health-giving properties. Today, for us though, just a short photo opportunity.
6.05pm: Time to head back, and to speed things up we took a shortcut – the Tunnel. Opened in 2018, after much delay, it cost about £12 as a toll, but saved us about 30 minutes in travel time.
…and just over an hour later, we were back at our Hotel reflecting on what a great day we’d had.
Exhausted, for simplicity, we ate in the Hotel. 🥴
Tomorrow…
We’re aiming to complete our Diamond Circle route – and drive to Godafoss Falls, before heading for the Airport and back to Reykjavik.
See you Friday!! 💤💤
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