Iceland (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Fran Parnell [248]
Vatnajökull Travel ( 894 1616; www.vatnajokull.is) This friendly outfit will pick you up from Höfn (8.30am), or from the F985 parking area (9.30am), take you up to Jöklasel, where you can do the skidoo or 4WD thing, and then drive you to Jökulsárlón for a lagoon boat trip. Prices vary according to what you select; for example, a pick-up from Höfn plus skidoo ride and lagoon boat-trip costs €255; or you can even fly from Reykjavík to indulge in skidoo and boat trips (€510).
Coming from Höfn or Skaftafell, scheduled buses can drop you at the F985 parking area, from where you can link up with tours. In summer, there’s also a daily bus from Höfn (departing 8.30am) that goes up to Jöklasel and back, then on to Jökulsárlón, then straight back to Höfn.
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‘Höfn’ simply means ‘harbour’, and is pronounced like an unexpected hiccup (if you’re not prone to hiccups, just say ‘hup’ while inhaling). It’s an apt name – this modern town still relies heavily on fishing and fish processing, and is famous for its lobster (there’s even an annual lobster festival). Bus travellers will have to stay overnight here, and most other travellers stop to use the town’s many services, so it pays to book accommodation in summer. Höfn makes a very handy base for trips to the glacier.
Information
The tourist office ( 478 1500; www.visitvatnajokull.is; Hafnarbraut 30; 10am-6pm Jun-Aug, 1-6pm May & Sep, 1-4pm Mon-Fri Oct-Apr) is also the ticket desk for the glacier exhibition (see below). Internet access at the library ( 470 8050; Litlabrú; 10am-4pm Mon-Fri summer, 9am-5pm Mon-Thu, 11am-5pm Fri & 11am-2pm Sat winter), in the community centre opposite the supermarket, costs Ikr400 per hour.
Landsbanki Íslands and Sparisjóðurinn, both on Hafnarbraut, handle foreign exchange. You’ll find an ATM just inside the shopping centre.
Sights & Activities
The Jöklasýning Glacier Exhibition (www.joklasyning.is; Hafnarbraut 30; adult/child under 16yr Ikr1000/free; 10am-6pm Jun-Aug, 1-6pm May & Sep, 1-4pm Mon-Fri Oct-Apr) explains the history and geology of Vatnajökull and southeastern Iceland in great detail. For a break from all the reading, there are a couple of films – an excellent 10-minute video of the 1996 Grímsvötn eruption, plus clips from James Bond movies made in the region. There’s also a small collection of exhibits relating to glacier exploration, some altogether-too-strange glacial mice, a baffling plastic ‘ice cave’, and a good natural-history room. You can check that the glacier’s still there from the viewing platform on the roof.
Birdwatching and a boat ride, ATVing and a history lesson – trips run by Fjöruferðir ( 840 0541; www.fjoruferdir.is; Ikr8500) are a cornucopia of experiences. Boats leave from Ósland (see below) at 10am, noon, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm and 8pm in summer, taking you to the black-sand Suðurfjörur beach. Here you transfer to quad bikes, driving along the shore to view WWII remains.
The regional folk museum Byggðasafnið Gamlabúð ( 478 1833; Hafnarbraut; admission free; 1-5pm mid-May–mid-Sep), near the campsite, is housed in an 1864 trade warehouse that was moved to Höfn from Papaós, further east. It has agricultural displays as well as small natural-history and marine-life exhibits.
Höfn is blessed with amazing glacier views. There are a couple of short waterside paths where you can amble and gape – one by Hótel Höfn, and another round the marshes and lagoons at the end of the promontory Ósland (about 1km beyond the harbour – head for the seamen’s monument on the rise). The latter path is great for watching sea birds, though if you walk to it during nesting season you will be attacked in Hitchcock style by zillions of arctic terns on the causeway road.
Höfn has just been blessed with a brand-new outdoor swimming pool ( 470 8477; Víkurbraut 9; adult/child 6-16yr Ikr350/150; 6.45am-9pm Mon-Fri, 10am-7pm Sat & Sun), with