Reykholt: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Reykholt means smoky hill, after the steam of its hot springs, and in the 13th century it was the home of Snorri Sturluson, poet, lawyer and the most powerful man in Iceland. He wrote the Prose Edda, the main source for the Norse myths, and Heimskringla, the sagas of the kings of Norway, and he was murdered here in 1241. This route starts at his farm and his pool, then follows the hot water down the valley to the spring that heats two towns, a bath built on it and a farm that saved a breed. Two hours on foot in Reykholt, then short drives.
A short history of Reykholt
Reykholt, in the Borgarfjörður valley in west Iceland, was the home of Snorri Sturluson, Iceland's most important historian and poet of the Middle Ages, who wrote the Prose Edda and the sagas of the kings of Norway here. Next to the church is a round stone pool fed by a hot spring, still called "Snorri's Pool". On the night of 23 September 1241 men sent on behalf of the King of Norway came to the farm and murdered Snorri in the cellar. Nearby is the Deildartunguhver spring, which produces about 180 litres of boiling water per second, making it the most powerful in Europe.
The ten best sights in Reykholt
1SnorrastofaThe exhibition on Snorri Sturluson, in the same building as the new church
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2Snorralaug
Snorri's medieval hot pool, a two-minute walk from the exhibition; look, don't bathe
3Reykholt old churchThe little timber church beside the new one; open in summer
4DeildartunguhverEurope's most powerful hot spring; keep to the boardwalk, the water is boiling
5KraumaHot baths fed by the spring next door; book a slot in summer
6HraunfossarWater pours out of the lava itself along a whole riverbank; the paths are short
7BarnafossA few steps from Hraunfossar, a narrow, violent gorge; stay behind the rail
8VíðgelmirA huge lava tube you can only enter on a guided tour; warm clothes, it is cold inside
9SurtshellirAn open lava cave in the highland; bring a torch and helmet, the floor is rough rubble
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10Into the Glacier (Klaki base)
Tours into an ice tunnel in Langjökull leave from here by glacier truck
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Reykholt →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Reykholt:
Free walking tours in Reykholt
Snorri's hot water
Reykholt means smoky hill, after the steam of its hot springs, and in the 13th century it was the home of Snorri Sturluson, poet, lawyer and the most powerful man in Iceland. He wrote the Prose Edda, the main source for the Norse myths, and Heimskringla, the sagas of the kings of Norway, and he was murdered here in 1241. This route starts at his farm and his pool, then follows the hot water down the valley to the spring that heats two towns, a bath built on it and a farm that saved a breed. Two hours on foot in Reykholt, then short drives.
- Snorrastofa · The statue of Snorri outside was made by the Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland and given by Norway in 1947. Norway owes Snorri much: Heimskringla is the main written history of its early kings.
- Snorralaug · The round stone pool, about four metres across, is fed by a conduit from the hot spring Skrifla. It is one of the few structures in Iceland that survive from the Middle Ages, and a passage once led from it towards Snorri's house.
- Reykholt church · The new church was consecrated in 1996, and it shares its building with Snorrastofa, the research centre on Snorri and his age. The old timber church stands beside it.
- Deildartunguhver · It is the highest-flow hot spring in Europe, about 180 litres a second of water close to boiling point. Pipelines carry it to heat the homes of Borgarnes and Akranes, more than 60 km away.
- Krauma · The baths mix water from Deildartunguhver with cold water from the glacier river Rauðsgil, to bring it down to bathing heat. No chemicals are added, and the water runs through the pools continuously.
- Háafell goat farm · The Icelandic goat came with the settlers more than a thousand years ago, and by the 20th century it was close to dying out. The farmer at Háafell built up a herd to save the breed, and visitors can now meet the goats and kids.
Lava, caves and ice
Up the valley from Reykholt the land changes from farms to a vast lava field, Hallmundarhraun, which flowed from the highland about a thousand years ago. Rivers run under it and burst out of its edge, and inside it are some of the longest lava caves in Iceland. Beyond the lava rises Langjökull, the second largest glacier in the country. This route climbs from the falls at the lava's edge to the caves inside it and on to the ice. A full day by car; the caves need warm clothes and the glacier needs a booked tour.
- Hraunfossar · Here the water does not come over a cliff but out of the lava itself, seeping through the porous rock and pouring into the river Hvítá along about 900 metres of bank. The lava field above was named after Hallmundur, a giant in the saga of Grettir the Strong.
- Barnafoss · The name means the children's falls. A legend tells of two children who took a shortcut over a natural stone arch here and fell to their deaths, and their mother had the arch broken so no one would cross it again.
- Húsafell church · Húsafell is known for the artist Páll Guðmundsson, who carves faces into stones from the river gorges and builds stone harps that are played like a marimba. His sculptures stand around the church and the farm.
- Víðgelmir · Víðgelmir is one of the largest lava tubes in Iceland, about 1.6 km long, formed when the surface of a lava river hardened while molten rock kept flowing beneath. Objects from the Viking age, left by people who sheltered there, were found inside.
- Surtshellir · The cave is named after Surtr, the fire giant of Norse myth who is to burn the world at Ragnarök. The sagas tell that outlaws once lived inside, and bones of the sheep they stole were found there.
- Into the Glacier (Klaki base) · The ice tunnel in Langjökull opened in 2015, dug by people rather than melted by water, and it runs about half a kilometre into the glacier. Inside you walk past layers of ice laid down by centuries of snowfall.
Egil's saga country
Borgarfjörður is the land of Egil's saga. Skallagrímur, Egill's father, settled at Borg in the ninth century, and the saga's battles, poems and killings happen around the fjord where Borgarnes now stands. This route goes west to the saga town, stops at the agricultural school that changed farming in Iceland, and comes back north along the line of craters where the lava of the valley began. A full day by car on paved roads; the Settlement Centre's audio guide takes about two hours.
- Settlement Centre (Landnámssetur) · The centre fills two old warehouses on the Borgarnes harbour, one telling the settlement of Iceland and the other the story of Egill Skallagrímsson. Egill was a Viking, a killer and one of the greatest poets of the Norse world.
- Skallagrímsgarður · The park in the middle of Borgarnes holds a burial mound that tradition links to Skallagrímur and to Böðvar, Egill's son. In the saga Egill carried his drowned son here and wrote Sonatorrek, the poem of the loss of sons, in his grief.
- Brákarey · The island is named after Þorgerður Brák, the slave woman who nursed the young Egill. When Skallagrímur turned on his son in a rage, she stood up to him; she fled into the sound, and he killed her with a stone thrown into the water.
- Agricultural Museum of Iceland · Hvanneyri has had an agricultural school since 1889, today the Agricultural University of Iceland. The museum next to it shows how the first tractors and machines replaced the scythe and the packhorse.
- Grábrók · Grábrók is the largest of a short row of craters on one fissure, and its lava spread across the valley floor, where it is now grown over with moss. Wooden stairs protect the slopes from the feet of visitors.
- Glanni · The river Norðurá falls over the edge of the Grábrók lava at Glanni, and the Norðurá is one of Iceland's best-known salmon rivers. A path leads on into the lava to Paradísarlaut, a green hollow with a clear pond.
Getting to Reykholt and getting around
- Borgarnes bus stop (Hyrnan) · Buses to Reykjavík and the north stop at the Hyrnan fuel station, 35 minutes from Reykholt
- Kleppjárnsreykir bus stop · The valley's rural stop near Deildartunguhver; services are few, so plan on a car
Cheap eats in Reykholt
Borgarfjörður is farm country, with sheep on the hills and dairy cows in the valleys, and hot water everywhere under the ground. Lunch up the valley is soup and bread at the cafés near the falls and the caves, which are expensive but warm. For cheaper food, the bakery and supermarket in Borgarnes are 35 minutes away, and the farms sell skyr and ice cream made from their own milk.
- Hraunfossar Restaurant-Cafe · Soup and cakes by the falls, about 2,000-4,000 ISK
- Krauma Restaurant · Lunch beside the baths and the spring, about 3,000-5,000 ISK
- Hotel Á · Farm café in Hvítársíða, between Reykholt and the falls
- Húsafell Bistró · Burgers and soup by the pool, about 2,500-4,500 ISK
- Geirabakarí · Bakery-café in Borgarnes; pastries and sandwiches about 600-2,000 ISK
- Erpsstaðir · Dairy farm with skyr and ice cream, 45 minutes north, about 800-1,500 ISK
Museums in Reykholt
- Snorrastofa · Snorri Sturluson, the Eddas and medieval Reykholt
- Settlement Centre (Landnámssetur) · The settlement of Iceland and Egil's saga in Borgarnes
- Agricultural Museum of Iceland · Tractors and tools at the old agricultural school
- Snorralaug · Snorri's medieval stone pool
- Reykholt old church · Small timber church next to the new one
Nature and day trips near Reykholt
- Hraunfossar · Waterfalls pouring out of the lava
- Barnafoss · A narrow gorge with a sad legend
- Deildartunguhver · Europe's highest-flow hot spring
- Víðgelmir · Giant lava tube with ice formations, by guided tour
- Surtshellir · An open lava cave of the fire giant
- Grábrók · A crater to climb by Route 1
- Glanni · Waterfall and a lava hollow called paradise
Things to do in Reykholt with kids
- Háafell goat farm · Goats and kids to pet, and goat-milk treats
- Into the Glacier (Klaki base) · A tunnel inside a glacier, reached in a huge truck
- Húsafell pool · Warm pools and a slide in the woods
- Bjössaróló · A hand-built wooden playground in Borgarnes
- Grábrók · Stairs up a real volcano, short enough for kids
Where to eat in Reykholt
- Fosshótel Reykholt · Dinner in Reykholt itself, a few steps from Snorri's pool
- Hótel Húsafell · Dinner at the edge of the highland, 25 minutes up the valley
- Krauma Restaurant · Evening meal after the baths
- Hraunsnef · Farm hotel restaurant near Bifröst, with its own meat
- Englendingavík · Dinner in an old harbour house in Borgarnes
- Settlement Centre restaurant · Buffet and dinner in the saga warehouses
Frequently asked questions about Reykholt
What is there to see in Reykholt?
The top sights in Reykholt are Snorrastofa, Snorralaug and Reykholt old church. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Reykholt?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Reykholt without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Reykholt?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Reykholt, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Snorri's hot water.
How do you get to Reykholt and get around?
The main ways are Borgarnes bus stop (Hyrnan) and Kleppjárnsreykir bus stop. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Reykholt, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Reykholt that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Reykholt for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.