Iceland (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Fran Parnell [95]
Syðra-Langholt ( 486 6574, 861 6652; sydralangholt@emax.is; sites per person Ikr800, sb Ikr3500, s/d/tr Ikr6500/10,000/12,500) Ten kilometres southwest of Flúðir on Rte 340 is this big white farmhouse. The owners are a lively bunch and the house has all mod cons, including a hot pot. Room prices include breakfast; evening meals are a possibility if booked in advance. Horse riding ( 894 8974) is available for Ikr3800/5000 per hour/two hours.
Hótel Flúðir ( 486 6630; fludir@icehotels.is; Vesturbrún 1; s/d Ikr20,100/23,600; early Jan-late Dec; ) Icelandair owns this stylish chaletlike bungalow, which has much more warmth than other hotels in the chain. Comfortable rooms have parquet floors, brown leafy bed covers, and soothing prints of fruit and flowers. They all have bathroom, TV, phone and minibar, and there’s a good restaurant that opens for dinner daily.
Kaffi Sel ( 486 6454; Efra-Sel; pizzas Ikr1000, snacks Ikr1000-1800; 8am-9pm May-Sep) We recommend this comical option, 3km northwest of Flúðir – the local golf clubhouse! It’s strange but satisfying to sit among golf trophies while you eat your lunch, watching people thwack balls around on the green. There’s a good menu of homemade soup, burgers, pizzas and Mexican dishes, and sociable staff.
Flúðir has a Samkaup-Strax supermarket ( 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-7pm Sat, 10am-5pm Sun), and a pizzeria, Útlaginn ( 486 6425; www.utlaginn.is; pizzas Ikr900-2000).
Getting There & Away
From June to mid-September, Trex bus service 8/8a from Reykjavík to Flúðir (Ikr2800, 1½ hours) runs at 8.30am and 5pm daily, returning at 10.30am and 5pm. Outside those months, the service runs from Reykjavík at 3pm Monday to Thursday, and at 2pm and 5pm Friday and Sunday, returning at 7.25am Monday to Friday, and at 5pm Friday and Sunday, and 2pm Sunday. Most Flúðir buses run via Árnes (Ikr2700, one hour 20 minutes), and pass 5km from Syðra-Langholt.
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ÞJÓRSÁRDALUR
The Þjórsá is Iceland’s longest river, a fast-flowing, churning mass of milky glacial water that runs 230km from Vatnajökull and Hofsjökull to the Atlantic. With its tributaries, it accounts for almost one third of Iceland’s hydroelectric power.
You can follow it upstream awhile via Rte 32, along a valley of Saga Age farms, past the hydroelectric plants Búrfell and Bláskógar, and through the lava fields of Hekla. Rte 32 eventually meets up with mountain road F26, which continues across the highlands; if you don’t have a 4WD you can turn back towards the coast here along Rte 26.
Árnes
The tiny settlement of Árnes, near the junction of Rtes 30 and 32, is a possible base for exploring Þjórsárdalur. Árnes HI Hostel ( 486 6048; arnes@hostel.is; sites per tent Ikr1000, sb d Ikr5500; mid-Apr–mid-Sep) isn’t the cosiest place on earth, but its twin rooms and dorm are adequate, plus there’s a guest kitchen, a licensed restaurant (open June to August) and small octagonal pool ( 486 6117; 2-10pm Mon-Fri, 11am-10pm Sat, 11am-6pm Sun Jun-Aug).
Most buses between Reykjavík and Flúðir go via Árnes – Click here.
Stöng & Þjóðveldisbær
Heading along Rte 32 from Árnes towards Stöng and Þjóðveldisbær, take a short (2km) detour along a signposted track to the delightful waterfall Hjálparfoss, which tumbles in two chutes over a scarp formed from twisted basalt columns.
Perhaps the most strangely situated swimming pool in Iceland is the open-air Þjórsárdalslaug ( 661 2503; adult/child Ikr350/200; noon-6pm Thu & Sun, noon-8pm Fri & Sat Jun-Aug). It was built from concrete left over from the construction of the Búrfell hydroelectricity plant.
The ancient farm at Stöng was buried by white volcanic ash in 1104 during one of Hekla’s eruptions. It once belonged to Gaukur Trandilsson, a 10th-century Viking who lived a tempestuous life. Unfortunately, the centuries have destroyed all traces of his saga; brief mentions in some 12th-century graffiti in Orkney, in Njál’s Saga and in a scurrilous medieval rhyme hint that he had a fling with the housewife at the nearby farm Steinastöðum and was killed over