Hengifoss Hofn

Thu 3/11/22

After having our self made breakfast, we headed to the Hengifoss waterfall via Route 931 along the Lagarflot lake and Hallormsstaðaskógur forest (about 35 km from our Vinland guesthouse). Hengifoss waterfall is surrounded by basaltic strata with thin, red layers of clay in between.  It is a 2.5km trek (about 45 minutes with stops for picture taking) from the parking lot to the Hengifoss viewpoint one way. Before reaching Hengifoss, we passed an equally beautiful waterfall Litlanesfoss, with its columnar jointed volcanics. Parking and entrance is free.

Lagarflot lake

Litlanesfoss

the part where we had to pass through the stream to Hengifoss

snow covered trek to Hengifoss

Hengifoss

trek to Hengifoss

The next part of our journey from Hengifoss to Hofn would be our second longest one (after Stykkisholmur to Husavik), covering 250km, taking about 3h 30 min without stops. Since I searched for the routes using offline map (Maps.me app), it doesn't indicate whether the road is closed for winter or not, so it is better to counter check it with road.is on the current road conditions. Offline map gave us the Route 95, converging with Route 1 at Breiddalsvik (250 km), while google maps suggested to take Route 1 all the way to Hofn (285km - an additional 35km from Offline maps). When checking Road.is, Route 95 was still opened, so we proceeded with the shorter route suggestion.

Upon arriving at Route 95 on the stretch of Skriðdals- og Breiðdalsvegur, only did we know why Google maps suggested otherwise. Although the road was still open, it was very challenging to manoeuvre, it was slippery, there were sharp turns and it was extremely foggy. Luckily, the challenging section was short, starting from the intersection from Route 939, about 7km only. We were then rewarded with a view of a very beautiful valley. 

the intersection from Route 939

slippery & foggy part of Route 95

sharp turn at Route 95

beautiful valley view at Route 95

beautiful valley view at Route 95

The drive from Breiddalsvik to Hofn on Route 1 was equally breath taking, with views of the fjords, sea and cliffs. We couldn't help but made a lot of stops along the way to take pictures. 

Views along the drive from Breiddalsvik to Hofn on Route 1

We arrived at Seljavellir Guesthouse in Hofn at 4.30pm (booked via Booking.com, EUR 92 or RM 418 per night). Since our room doesn't have cooking facilities, we would be eating out for dinner tonight. We ate at Kaffi Hornid at Hofn, and had fish and chips (ISK 3250) and lobster pizza (ISK 2850) with total of ISK 6100 (RM200)

Seljavellir Guesthouse

lobster pizza

fish and chips

We were optimistic tonight to get a view of the aurora since the forecast showed strong activity with no cloud cover at Hofn tonight. I woke up every hour starting at 11pm, but didn't get any glimpse of the aurora.