We had originally planned to make our way to the Glacial Lagoon for a boat tour this day, but since all boat tours were cancelled due to wind – we had to adjust our plans a bit. We embarked on a harrowing drive that involved pulling over and cowering in the car as massive winds howled passed us and sand pummeled the car. We watched massive dust clouds pass us by, and saw many (less lucky) people with toppled-over campers, and a bus that had been blown sideways across the road in high winds. It was perched precariously near a bridge – looking ready to tip over at the slightest gust, evacuating everyone as cars tenuously drove around the wreck, off-roading on the heavily slanted dirt next to the bridge. Once again, we were extremely happy to have 4-wheel drive.
Our hotel in Hoffell (near Hofn) was aptly named like a theme park: Glacier World. By the time we arrived after our drive, we were ready to hunker down and go into hiding. We made reservations to eat at the hotel (which had a lovely view of yet another glacier), and decided to explore the “hot pots” (Icelandic hot tubs with geothermal water) that were next to the hotel.
At these hot pots, we relaxed and soaked, taking in a view of the mountains and glacier. We chatted with other Ring Road travellers and discovered that there were amazing hot pots like this all over the place, and began to research the hot pot website each day before we started our drive.
While we had planned to head up to Myvatn the next day, we ended up backtracking to Jokulsarlon see the Glacial Lagoon, it was a short boat tour, but well worth it. The ice was bluer than blue and the lagoon was like a monument to fallen ice.
From here we embarked on a VERY long day of driving, heading all the way up to Selfoss, covering many, many miles of dirt road and getting some great views of (both Selfoss and Dettifoss, which was a short hike up from Selfoss).
Dettifoss – well worth the hike! Photo credit: Lisette
We approached from the East side of the falls, but the road looked much better (read “paved”) on the West entrance, so I highly recommend approaching from that side if you make the trip. From here we continued our trek along the Ring Road and made our way towards our next stop, Myvatn.
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