After staying overnight at the lovely Hofsstaðir Guesthouse I headed further to the west on my journey around the Iceland ring-road. I first wanted to do some geocaching at Borgarvirki. I braved the extremely cold weather, by the standards of what I am used to, and made my way up the path to the top. The wind was howling and it was very cold so I quickly found the geocache and retreated to the warmth of my rental car.
After visiting Borgarvirki, I continued my travels. It was then that I stumbled upon the magical site that I forgot I wanted to see, Hvitserkur, a dragon-shaped rock standing on an isolated beach. The strange rock, weathered by wind and sea, stands by itself along the Vatnsnes Peninsula. I was fortunate to arrive at low tide and was able to walk all the way around the rock, taking photo’s on both sides, and, most likely, annoying my fellow travelers with my incessant photography. Looking back as I write this post, my visit to Hvitserkur was one of the highlights of my trip around the ring road of Iceland. Make sure that you include Hvitserkur on your travels plans by finding it here on Google Maps.
Having thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Hvitserkur, I made my way towards the Malarhorn Guesthouse, where I stayed for the night of 28 June 2017. The hotel is in a lovely part of west Iceland. The hotel has some wonderful views over the surrounding fjords. I stayed in Room 19 on the first floor of the hotel (more like a large cabin to be quite honest, of which there seemed to be many that comprise the hotel). There is no elevator so you are forced to carry your luggage up the stairs.
The room is small yet perfectly comfortable. The shower is remarkably small, much like many of the other showers I encountered on my travels around Iceland. The guesthouse did not provide any soap, bath gel, shampoo or conditioner. All that is provided is a container of hand soap for general use at the basin. Also, there is no tea or coffee facilities in the room. Instead one is left to make tea in the common area outside the room.
Parking is reasonably close to the room with a reasonable number of places. I didn’t try to find out whether the hotel has a proper dinner menu, instead relying on a sandwich from earlier in the day. The breakfast was nice, prepared by a lovely lady who obviously lives just down the road, as I saw her arrive for work when I was outside taking some wonderful photo’s before breakfast was ready. The breakfast selection is not large but is enough to keep you going until lunch. I took many photographs of the inspirational signs around the restaurant.
What I recommend is that you arrive to the hotel around midday. Take a drive through to Djúpavík where you will enjoy some wonderful scenery along the route. Upon arrival in Djúpavík you will be greeted by a lovely shipwreck. Take a wander around the small town and enjoy the scenery before heading back to Drangsnes and to Malarhorn Guesthouse.
Would I recommend this hotel? Overall the guesthouse is fine. I doubt whether there are any other hotels in the area from which to choose and the Malarhorn Guesthouse is perfectly acceptable for a few nights. To find the hotel easily, click on this Google Maps link here. If you have questions about our visit to the fjords of Iceland or other questions about our travels in general, you are welcome to contact us by clicking on this link here. Our video review from the Malarhorn Guesthouse may be found on our YouTube channel here.
I arranged my vacation to Iceland with Nordic Visitor, linked here. This is not an affiliate link and I will not receive a commission if you arrange your own tour through them. This link is provided for your reference and also as a gesture of goodwill following the excellent work that Nordic Visitor did in arranging my fantastic vacation to Iceland.
Book your accommodation at Malarhorn Guesthouse by clicking here.
Our other posts on Iceland may be found here.
(Visited in June 2017)