A helpful stop-off after a go to to Into the Glacier is Húsafell, house to Hótel Húsafell. And in case you have been on the 10am tour (it takes round 3-4 hours), you could possibly time it completely for lunch at Húsafell Bistro.

In addition to an a la carte menu, the bistro gives a every day lunchtime hlaðborð (or buffet) the place you possibly can assist your self to kjötsúpa (Icelandic lamb soup) and vegetable soup, in addition to pizzas and meals from an intensive salad bar (rooster salad, pasta salad, candy potato salad and tomato and mozzarella salad – and extra) with quite a lot of dressings and oils.  It’s an incredible place to re-fuel after your morning’s exertions or certainly to pre-fuel forward of no matter activites await you subsequent.

And what higher factor to do afterwards than go to Húsafell Canyon Baths? These man-made geothermal swimming pools are positioned within the Icelandic highlands and set in a surreal canyon panorama.

Entry to the Húsafell Canyon Baths can’t be made with out permission, however you should buy tickets from Lodge Húsafell at an workplace subsequent door to the bistro for an unique minibus tour that features transport with a tour information, entry and time to spend there.

Journeys are made with fairly small teams which might be taken on a brief drive of round 10 minutes. Alongside the way in which, our information informed us concerning the space, concerning the Viking settles in round 940-950 AD and concerning the household that owns Húsafell Lodge that goes again seven generations. We additionally learnt concerning the chilly springs within the space (that produce sufficient water to assist half one million folks every day) and the geothermal power that permits the world to provide as 40 litres per second of 70-degree Centigrade scorching water which is sufficient to heat the resort, the swimming swimming pools and 200 homes, in addition to the encircling farming areas.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

In case you are studying this text anyplace apart from on A Luxurious Journey Weblog, then the possibilities are that this content material has been stolen with out permission.

Please make an observation of the online tackle above and get in touch with A Luxurious Journey Weblog to advise them of this problem.

Thanks on your assist in combatting content material theft.

The mother and father of the household now operating the world had been entrepreneurs in rural tourism – different farmers within the space thought that they had ‘misplaced it’ once they killed their sheep and began ‘farming’ with vacationers as a substitute. They made a swimming pool and tenting space, and began renting out small leisure homes within the Summer season months. But it surely turned out to be the proper determination, and is why Húsafell thrives to this present day.

As we received nearer to our vacation spot, a darkish hill to the proper was identified and the snowy patches on it. This was the defend volcano named ‘Okay’ on which the Okjökull glacier was declassified as a glacier in 2014. (To be labeled as a glacier, the snow wanted to have a sure thickness in addition to a sure motion.) There’s snow there year-round, nevertheless it doesn’t behave like a glacier. A plaque was put in in 2019 and a ceremony held that was attended by Katrín Jakobsdóttir, the Prime Minister of Iceland, and different dignitaries.

Having heard this sorry story, we took a flip and drove alongside the center of three canyons, the place we parked up and took a brief stroll to the Húsafell Canyon Baths. Though the land right here is personal, there are not any indicators saying ‘don’t trespass’ – persons are very welcome to hike and benefit from the space’s nature as long as they’re respecting the setting and never littering.

The final a part of the stroll all the way down to the geothermal swimming pools is down an extended wood staircase.

And as soon as on the backside, there are female and male altering rooms, in addition to an out of doors bathe – you should bathe earlier than getting into the swimming pools (however don’t fear, it’s heat!).

The wooden-clad altering rooms are merely furnished, with bench seating and upturned horseshoes re-purposed as garments pegs.

The setting of the baths is as spectacular as it’s tranquil – it’s good that they solely take small teams as this makes it a extra intimate expertise. There are two tubs – the upper of the 2 has one massive rock simply beneath the water floor that you should negotiate as you climb into the water, so it’s presumably finest to enter backwards to keep away from falling.

The pool closest to the bridge and altering rooms is simpler to enter through some steps and has huge rocks the place you possibly can sit and chill out in water that’s just a bit above physique temperature. If you happen to want to expertise chilly water, you possibly can have a lie down within the creek (however, be warned, it’s icy chilly!).

A shock on the way in which again to the minibus, which I hadn’t anticipated, was a brief stroll to a wood viewing platform.

From there we might admire the two-tiered Langifoss waterfall. Ordinarily we’d then have ambled down the valley to be picked up by the minibus additional down. Nonetheless, as can occur in Iceland, the climate took a flip for the more serious (I might have sworn it was making an attempt to snow… in July!) and we as a substitute took the extra quick route again to our transport.

On the journey again, we learnt about Reverend Snorri Björnsson who moved to Húsafell in 1747 as a 37 yr outdated. He was already well-known for having saved many lives since he had grown up within the Westfjords of Iceland and taught himself tips on how to swim (at a time when Icelanders didn’t know tips on how to swim). He was very robust and a foreman on a ship and, when small fishing boats would capsize, he would save many a fisherman. In Húsafell, he’s maybe finest recognized, although, for the Húsafell stone, a legendary lifting stone that weighs 186kg (410lbs) that he used because the gate to a stone sheep and goat pen he constructed. This very stone can nonetheless be seen on the pen in Húsafell in the present day and was used within the 1992 World’s Strongest Man competitors in addition to in a number of Iceland’s Strongest Man competitions since.

Planning a visit to Iceland your self? You possibly can watch a video from our journey to Iceland right here:

Disclosure: This publish is sponsored by Hótel Húsafell. Our journey to Iceland was additionally sponsored by Helly Hansen.