East Iceland
July 3, 2026
We awoke to a cloud free view from our hotel of the massive Vatnajökull Glacier Field (shown to the right). After breakfast, we left our hotel and headed towards eastern Iceland. Our first stop was the town of Höfn to get motor fuel, as gas stations are going to be few and far between today. We had our last view of the glacial fields from here. Here are some photos, the last being a panorama shot taken from Höfn.
We then drove fifteen minutes or so to Stokksnesviti, but the road to the lighthouse was closed. We nonetheless got a nice view of the Vestrahorn Mountain.
From there, we next stopped at the coastal town of Djúpivogur with its busy port. As we traveled father north, we deviated from the Route 1 to take a short cut, which involved a long distance on gravel road. We stopped at a waterfall called Folaldafoss. It was visible after only a short walk from our car. The entire valley was rimmed with waterfalls plunging over the stratified cliffs. Here photos from the drive.
Reindeer are not native to Iceland, but were introduced in the 16th Century from Norway. The effort to farm them failed, and the remaining animals were released and now roam free. They are mostly only found in East Iceland. We saw these just before Egilsstaðir
Eventually, we hooked up with a paved highway and drove to the largest town in eastern Iceland, Egilsstaðir (the pronunciation of which flabbergasted us: “ay yil stat hir”) where we had lunch and fueled up the car. Even though the town has fewer than 3,000 inhabitants, it felt like a metropolis after the places we had been the last three days.
Before heading to our hotel, an hour or so to the north, we took a hike to a waterfall about ten minutes to the east called Fardagafoss. The walk climbed quite a bit and took about one hour in total. The waterfall was impressive with two main sections. The upper section dropped 66 feet. Here is a photo.
We drove from there for about an hour north and east. The mountains around here were still covered with a great deal of snow, even though they are not as high as the ones in the center of the country. We drove over a small mountain pass down to the coast to our hotel, located on the Borgarfjöður Estuary. Here are two photos, taken at and near the pass.
This small town is located quite close to a large puffin colony. These puffins are only present in the evenings and early mornings. We debated whether to visit them after dinner or in the morning, and decided this evening we need to wash our laundry, not a quick task, so we would go to seem them in the morning.
July 4, 2026
This morning, before breakfast, we drove ten minutes to the puffin viewing spot on the Borgarfjörður Estuary. Unlike the last two places we saw puffins, here they are not present in the middle of the day, so we went early (6 am). The puffins nest in a nice hillside which has a staircase so visitors can walk up and get a close view. Here we could see their behavior in and around their nests.
Upper left and lower right photos give good views of the puffins’ nests.
More birds around their nests. Below is a photo of the hill on which the puffin colony is located. We promise, this is the end of the puffin photos! However, we were so happy to have seen them three places, each a bit different. This one gave the closest encounters, just a few feet away and at eye level.
After a half hour with the birds, we returned to the hotel for breakfast. Then we headed west. Our travels for the balance of the day will continue on the next page.
Here is a map of our travels in East Iceland.
