56 Mývatn - Reykjahlíð

Our last big winter trip involved a flight from Reykjavik to Egilsstaðir followed by the 56 to Mývatn and then on to Akureyri.

We were traveling through storms, so while the trip was beautiful details were hidden by mists and snow. If doing it again, I’d probably ask the driver to stop a few times for photos. We were the only people on the bus until Mývatn, when a group of Chinese travellers exchanges spots with us.

We then spent 3 days wandering happily from a not-expensive AirBnB. It was too stormy to see the aurora, and we had to make do with my cooking since the nearby restaurants were closed.

Staying there did allow us to visit the nature baths at sunset, which were beautiful. Don’t try to eat at the restaurant there.

The one problem when traveling on foot is that there doesn’t seem to be any taxi service and the walking distances are long in wintertime. Though TBH we should have tried hitchhiking.

Summer is less sparse, but rooms are more expensive and someone will notice if you happen to fall into a pit.

57 Borgarnes

Borgarnes isn’t the most exciting place in itself, but it’s a natural stopping point when heading to or from Reykjavik. There’s a hotel as well as a hostel, but we had better and cheaper luck via AirBnB

The bus trip to or from Reykjavik is beautiful, particularly if you can time it to either sunrise or sunset

The museums are both fun and kind of spooky. The nice woman at the folk museum enjoyed seeing how the tourists responded to the local ghosts.

82 Hellissandur

Kirkjufellsfoss

This is a leg of the party bus connecting Stykkisholmur to Borgarnes. The bus, by the way, is usually an overgrown minivan which may or may not have a bus number on it. Wherever you start from, the bus drives along happily to the Vatnaleið Mountain Pass about 25km from Stykkisholmur. There, you meet up with another bus going to or from Borgarnes. Depending upon where the drivers want to end up, you either transfer bus or additional souls join.

The 82 runs along the north coast of Snæfellsnes to the westernmost town of Hellissandur. There are a few inexpensive guesthouses and hostels — we stayed 3 days at The Old Post Office in Grundarfjörður and found it quite lovely.

On the return trip, we continued south to Reykjavik via Borgarnes. The van was even smaller, and occasionally the driver would interrupt a nervous tourist ignoring the passengers staring at her to ask if she was waiting for a bus?

Arctic Tern, Hellisandur, Iceland