Iceland (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Fran Parnell [80]
Salty Tours ( 820 5750; www.saltytours.com; Ikr11,500; 9am daily) Nine-hour tours of Reykjanes covering Krýsuvík, the Saltfish Museum, Víkingaheimar (Viking World) and the Blue Lagoon.
Volcano Tours ( 426 8822; www.volcanotours.is; Víkurbraut 2, Grindavík; 5-6hr tour Ikr17,000) Offers guided walks around Krýsuvík (Click here), stopping to explore lava tunnels and caves before soaking tired muscles in the Blue Lagoon.
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KEFLAVÍK & NJARÐVÍK (REYKJANESBÆR)
pop 12,900 (combined)
The twin towns of Keflavík and Njarðvík, on the coast about 50km west of Reykjavík, are a rather ugly mush of suburban boxes and fast-food outlets. Together they’re known simply as ‘Reykjanesbær’. Although they aren’t somewhere you’d want to spend a massive amount of time, they’re the largest settlement on the peninsula and make a good base for exploring the area. If you’ve an early flight they’re handy for the airport.
If you’re around at the beginning of September, the well-attended Night of Lights (Ljósanótt í Reykjanesbæ; www.ljosanott.is) festival is worth seeing, particularly its grand finale, when waterfalls of fireworks pour over the Bergið cliffs.
Orientation
Keflavík is the biggest of the settlements, with the best visitor facilities. To its east are the suburbs of Ytri-Njarðvík (Outer Njarðvík), which has a youth hostel and a swimming pool, and forlorn little Innri-Njarðvík (Inner Njarðvík).
Information
There’s a small tourist information desk ( 425 0330; www.reykjanes.is; 6am-8pm Mon-Fri, noon-5pm Sat & Sun) at Keflavík International Airport. At the time of writing, the area’s main tourist office ( 421 3520; www.reykjanes.is; Krossmói 4; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm Sat) had just moved from its central location to a lot a couple of kilometres out of town. Net access is available for Ikr250 per hour. Ask for a free Reykjanes map and the booklet ‘Reykjanes Peninsula’.
ATMs and foreign-exchange desks are located at Íslandsbanki and Landsbanki on Hafnargata.
Sights
KEFLAVÍK
In a long red warehouse by the harbour, Duushús ( 421 3796; Grófin; admission free; 11am-5pm Mon-Fri, 1-5pm Sat & Sun) is Keflavík’s historic cultural centre. There’s a permanent exhibition of around 60 of Grímur Karlsson’s many hundreds of miniature ships, made compulsively over a lifetime; a gallery where seven international art exhibitions are held each year; and a changing local-history display.
The area around Duushús is the prettiest part of Keflavík; just to the east on the seashore is an impressive Ásmundur Sveinsson sculpture, used as a climbing frame by the local kids. To the north, the larger-than-life Giantess (Gróf small boat harbour; admission free; 1-5pm Sat & Sun), a character from Herdís Egilsdóttir’s children’s books brought to life by a local art collective, sits in a rocking chair in her black cave. There are two interesting artworks in front of the terminal building at Keflavík International Airport – Magnús Tómasson’s Þotuhreiður (Jet Nest) resembles a Concorde emerging from an egg, while Rúrí’s Regnbogi (Rainbow) is a glittering arch of steel and coloured glass.
Keflavík has started its own Hollywood Blvd – Clint Eastwood, fresh from filming Flags of Our Fathers (2006), gamely left his hand print outside the theatre on the main street!
NJARÐVÍK
Close to the Bónus supermarket at Innri-Njarðvík is the turf farmhouse Stekkjarkot ( 894 6725; admission free; 1-5pm Thu-Sun Jun-Aug), which was abandoned in 1924, and has been refurbished as a tiny folk museum.
A short distance away by the sea shore is the brand-new Víkingaheimar (Viking World; 422 2000; www.vikingaheimar.com; Víkingabraut 1; adult/child Ikr1500/free; 11am-6pm), an exhibition focusing on Norse exploration. The centrepiece is the 23m-long Íslendingur, a curvaceous reconstruction of the Viking Age Gokstad longship. It was built almost singlehandedly by Gunnar Marel Eggertsson, who then sailed it from Iceland to New York in 2000