Picturesque Stops Around Suðerland Iceland
The Suðerland, the southern section of Iceland, is home to rolling farmlands, volcanoes, and lots of sheep. Sleepy seaside towns and one-street cities make up a good portion of the stops on the Route 1, (know otherwise as Ring Road), the highway that loops the island. Here are some stops worth checking out.
Selfoss is just like a dozen Midwestern towns. There's the hotdog stand for the kids and teens, the one pizza place in town, and Margaret's bakery on the corner. There's a KFC too, on Austevegur. You have to cross a bridge to get into Selfoss.
The grand Hotel Selfoss stands regally at the entrance to the city, across from the hotdog stand. For a place to stay check out Bed on Breakfast, a high class hotel that was once a hospital. Just down Austevegur, it's a hostel on steroids. Big clean rooms from its previous hospital days, large space showers with those cool raindrop circular shower heads that come from overhead.
Further along Route 1 lies Hvolsvollur. At first glance, it a dead place: an Orkan gas station, an N1 dining counter. Once you turn off the main street things, get exciting. Hvolsvollur is home to the Sagas of the Icelanders, stories past down since medieval times. The Saga Center in Hvolsvollur is the go-to place for all things related the Icelandic Sagas.
Down the road a few more kilometers is Goðaland Guesthouse [http://www.godaland-guesthouse.com/]. Built in what used to be a school, it's a guesthouse built for the gods. With property being prohibitively expensive to build right now, many Icelanders are investing in real estate and renovating existing buildings for other uses, such as the old hospital in Selfoss and this old school in Flj?tshlið.
Another couple or so kilometers along Route 1 lies Smáratún, a sprawling plantation of accommodations for tourists. Built on an operating farm, Hotel Flj?tshlið is a four star hotel built out of a barn. It features a ballroom that can easily rival those found in Washington D.C. Hotels. The kitchen prepares three meals a day for the guests, which can be up thirty people, staying in fourteen rooms.
Smáratún also has a guest house, which holds thirteen guests in a variety of quirky rooms: One room has mural photography on the walls, one bathroom is completely baby blue. There is a kitchen for the guests, which can hold up to forty people. This kitchen is also available to backpackers using the camping area nearby.
Five more cabins are offered at Smáratún. These are six-man summer houses that are like mini homes complete with stocked kitchens and a loft for the young ones.
All the accommodations at Smáratúnare have a perfect view of the infamous Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which lazily puffs steam to the sounds of breakfast prepared in the hotel's staffed restaurant-worthy kitchen.
Turns out, Hvolsvollur isn't quite a dead place. It's got the most amazing accommodations for hikers, bikers, and tourists in the Suðerland. They'll eat and sleep well here.
Selfoss is just like a dozen Midwestern towns. There's the hotdog stand for the kids and teens, the one pizza place in town, and Margaret's bakery on the corner. There's a KFC too, on Austevegur. You have to cross a bridge to get into Selfoss.
The grand Hotel Selfoss stands regally at the entrance to the city, across from the hotdog stand. For a place to stay check out Bed on Breakfast, a high class hotel that was once a hospital. Just down Austevegur, it's a hostel on steroids. Big clean rooms from its previous hospital days, large space showers with those cool raindrop circular shower heads that come from overhead.
Further along Route 1 lies Hvolsvollur. At first glance, it a dead place: an Orkan gas station, an N1 dining counter. Once you turn off the main street things, get exciting. Hvolsvollur is home to the Sagas of the Icelanders, stories past down since medieval times. The Saga Center in Hvolsvollur is the go-to place for all things related the Icelandic Sagas.
Down the road a few more kilometers is Goðaland Guesthouse [http://www.godaland-guesthouse.com/]. Built in what used to be a school, it's a guesthouse built for the gods. With property being prohibitively expensive to build right now, many Icelanders are investing in real estate and renovating existing buildings for other uses, such as the old hospital in Selfoss and this old school in Flj?tshlið.
Another couple or so kilometers along Route 1 lies Smáratún, a sprawling plantation of accommodations for tourists. Built on an operating farm, Hotel Flj?tshlið is a four star hotel built out of a barn. It features a ballroom that can easily rival those found in Washington D.C. Hotels. The kitchen prepares three meals a day for the guests, which can be up thirty people, staying in fourteen rooms.
Smáratún also has a guest house, which holds thirteen guests in a variety of quirky rooms: One room has mural photography on the walls, one bathroom is completely baby blue. There is a kitchen for the guests, which can hold up to forty people. This kitchen is also available to backpackers using the camping area nearby.
Five more cabins are offered at Smáratún. These are six-man summer houses that are like mini homes complete with stocked kitchens and a loft for the young ones.
All the accommodations at Smáratúnare have a perfect view of the infamous Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which lazily puffs steam to the sounds of breakfast prepared in the hotel's staffed restaurant-worthy kitchen.
Turns out, Hvolsvollur isn't quite a dead place. It's got the most amazing accommodations for hikers, bikers, and tourists in the Suðerland. They'll eat and sleep well here.