Borgarnes
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Borgarnes

Borgarnes

West Iceland town on Borgarfjörður where saga history meets Route 1 road-trip practicality.

Borgarnes sits on a peninsula in western Iceland's Borgarfjörður, about an hour's drive north of Reykjavík along Route 1. It is a small town of around 1,800 people, but its roots reach deep into Icelandic saga history — this is where Skallagrímur Kveldúlfsson, father of the great poet-warrior Egill, established his farm at Borg after his father's coffin drifted ashore at what was then called Digranes.

The town's Settlement Centre brings the sagas to life with immersive exhibitions on Egil's Saga and the settlement of Iceland. Place names from the saga survive throughout Borgarnes: Brákar Strait, Brákarey, and streets named after Skallagrímur, Kveldúlfur, and Egill himself.

Modern Borgarnes grew up around trade. During the Danish monopoly, locals had to travel to Reykjavík or Snæfellsnes to buy and sell. When the monopoly was abolished, a merchant built the first trading house near Búðaklettur in 1877 — the dwelling house he put up the following year still stands, almost unaltered.

Today the town serves as a gateway to Borgarfjörður and the Snæfellsnes peninsula. It has a hotel, a few restaurants, and a good swimming pool, but the real draw is the landscape: the Hraunfossar lava waterfalls, Deildartunguhver hot spring, and the Langjökull glacier are all within easy reach.

Guide

Day Trips

Borgarnes is a natural base for the inland sights of Borgarfjörður and the start of the Snæfellsnes peninsula. The classic day from here loops east along Route 50 to Deildartunguhver, Europe's highest-flow hot spring, then to Reykholt (home of the medieval historian Snorri Sturluson), and on to the Hraunfossar and Barnafoss waterfalls, where countless small streams flow out of a lava field.

The Langjökull glacier and the ice tunnel at Húsafell are an hour further inland. To the west, the start of the Snæfellsnes peninsula — Eldborg crater, the Gerðuberg basalt columns, and the church at Búðir — is within an easy half-day.

Guide

Getting There

Borgarnes sits on Route 1, the Ring Road, about 75 km north of Reykjavík — a comfortable hour's drive. The Hvalfjörður tunnel (free since 2018) cuts a long fjord detour off the route. Most people stop in Borgarnes on the way to or from the Snæfellsnes peninsula, the Westfjords, or the north of Iceland.

Strætó bus 57 runs between Reykjavík and Akureyri several times a day and stops at the N1 service station in Borgarnes. It is the most useful public transport option, but timetables thin out in winter — check schedules in advance.

Guide

Things to Do

Borgarnes is a small town built around the sagas and the landscape. The headline sight is the Settlement Centre, which interprets Egil's Saga and the original Norse colonisation of Iceland — visit this first and the surrounding sites along Borgarfjörður start to make sense. The peninsula itself has a pleasant walking path along the shore, with views across the fjord to the encircling mountains.

Beyond town, the area is the gateway to some of Iceland's best inland scenery: Deildartunguhver hot spring, the Hraunfossar lava falls, and the Langjökull glacier are all within an hour's drive.