Authentic 2 Day Winter Tour of Icelandic Culture & Nature with Transfer from Egilsstadir

A traditional evening of tales and chatting at an Icelandic traditional Baðstofa room in the Wilderness centre, East Iceland.
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Description

Summary

Tour starts
Egilsstaðir
Starting time
at 08:00
Duration
2 days
Ending place
Egilsstaðir
Languages
English
Difficulty
Easy
Available
All year
Minimum age
16 years old

Description

This tour offers a compelling mix of activity, history, mythology and great food in a traditional Icelandic environment. Experience the magnificent nature, ride the friendly Icelandic horse, sleep in an authentic, renovated farmhouse and feel your adrenaline flow while being hand-pulled across a glacial river in a cable trolley.

Our wilderness museum is an enjoyable, visually stunning, interactive experience both indoors and outdoors designed by filmmakers, artists, and historians to give you the sensation that you are a part of the life and travels in and close to the extensive Icelandic Wilderness.

In our kitchen, you will get the experience of eating a home cooked meal of locally sourced ingredients and traditional Icelandic food. While waiting for the meal you can speak with your hosts while they prepare the food in the open kitchen.

We will visit our neighbor who has the last farm in Iceland to still keep all their sheep in traditional hoses of turf and stone. Afterward, we visit the Vatnajökull National park exhibition where you can learn about the environment and the nature of the area.

The hike up towards the waterfalls Hengifoss and Litlanesfoss is fairly easy as well as rewarding. Besides the stunning waterfalls we will see, there is also a fabulous view over the surrounding valley. If the luck is with us, we may also find some reindeer on our journey of these two days. The reindeer in Iceland only live here in East Iceland and winter is the best time to see them.   

On clear nights, you can also marvel at magnificent stars or northern lights from our uniquely primitive, yet well-equipped star observation hut. In the open roof hut, we will have wool blankets hot chocolate and a campfire to keep us warm and cozy while making use of a great telescope stargazing.

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Included

Fully guided tour
Vehicle ride from Egilsstaðir and back
All transport on the tour
Lunch, refreshments and dinner on Day 1
Breakfast, lunch and refreshments on Day 2
Accommodation in a unique environment
Free access to all events and exhibitions during the tour

Activities

Horse Riding
Sightseeing
Northern lights hunting
Cultural Activity

Daily itinerary

Day 1
Authentic 2 Day Winter Tour of Icelandic Culture & Nature with Transfer from Egilsstadir - day 1

Day 1 - Abandoned farms and Highland stays

The tour starts by driving through mountain scenery and along the mystic Lagarfljót lake, the home of Iceland's most famous monster, the serpent Lagarfljótsormurinn. On the way, your local guide will tell you mystical stories of the lake and the beast.

At the Wilderness Center, you will have a guided tour through the unique museum, designed by artists, historians, and filmmakers. Then we can enjoy a lunch of primarily local ingredients at the Center's home-style kitchen.

A local guide will take you to an abandoned farm, with its picturesque stories and traces of the past. Further upstream, waterfalls drop in tiers from the highland plateau. The adventurous have a chance to cross the glacial river in a renovated, traditional cable trolley.

After light refreshments in the Center's cozy kitchen, you be introduced to the historically “most trusted servant” – the unique Icelandic horse – and take a pleasant ride along the valley. This is something you have to experience at least once in your life!

For a pre-dinner appetizer, we visit a traditional food-smoking hut made of turf, where we can taste some local meat.

After dinner, we visit the Center's star observation hut, which has been reconstructed from the ruins of a former sheep stable consisting mainly of stones and turf. Under clear skies, the site offers a fabulous view, accompanied by a magical quietness guaranteed to leave no visitor untouched.

There you can try out our 11" high-tech telescope for observing the heavens through the open roof while being inspired by legends of the sky and stars as travellers' guides. Since we will be gazing through an open roof, woolen blankets, sheepskins, a campfire and hot chocolate will help us stay warm. Perhaps the northern lights will provide some dancing.

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Day 2
Authentic 2 Day Winter Tour of Icelandic Culture & Nature with Transfer from Egilsstadir - day 2

Day 2 - Day 2 Itinerary

The day begins with breakfast, then a visit to our neighbour who is the last active Icelandic farmer still to house his sheep in traditional turf and dry-stone buildings. Quirky old silent film clips about the Icelandic wilderness keep us entertained until a local lunch is ready at the Wilderness Center. Afterwards, we drive down the valley, including photo stops and scouting for reindeer.

At the visitor centre of Vatnajökull National Park, we find out more about East Icelandic nature. We can use such insights at the next destination: Hengifoss waterfall. One of Iceland's highest waterfalls, it drops 128 meters off the plateau into a magnificent gorge. The high, colourful cliffs around it display lava layers from volcanic eruptions in the Tertiary Period, during which Iceland rose from the sea.

The walk from the parking lot to our vantage point below the waterfall takes 40-60 minutes. On the way, some of us may fall in love with another photogenic waterfall, Litlanesfoss, framed by exceptionally long, graceful basalt columns.

Finally, we return to the town of Egilsstaðir, where you will have a chance to look around the small town and grab a bite if you wish before flying back to Reykjavik.

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What to bring

Warm clothes
Camera

Good to know

Maximum 16 travellers per tour. For guaranteed departure, minimum of two persons or twice the individual rate. Tour is available on other days upon request. You can upgrade your accommodation and add days to this tour, along with added excursions. For further information, please contact us by clicking 'Inquire about this tour'.

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