Iceland's Ring Road - Seyðisfjörður (Days 4-5)
UPDATED: 1/16/2023
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We were poised to love Seyðisfjörður , population 700, from the moment we saw it from high up on the mountain road. The town is quaint, walkable, and has a perfect setting, situated on the water with the ring of peaks surrounding it. In addition to being right on the ocean, the town also has a small lake right next to the sea. When we checked in to our Airbnb and parked our car, it would sit there untouched for the couple of days we were in town. That is really my ultimate place to live - one where you can get around completely car-less. Then and since, I have fantasized about moving to this town, at least in the warmer summer months!
On the name of the town: pronounced like ‘say-this-fjurther,’ the main trick is to learn that the letter eth (lower case letter ð, capital letter Ð) is pronounced like a “th” sound as in the word “father”. It showed up in Old English and among other early languages and while still used in Iceland, has been replaced by the more common letter “d” in many languages.
For dinner, we ate at Kaffi Lara (Cafe Lara) where we enjoyed local beer and delicious meals that came with salads and baked potatoes and then wandered around the town, particularly enjoying the rainbow road on the main street and the cute blue church, Seyðisfjarðarkirkja.
Why the rainbow road? As a country, Iceland is known for being LGBT-friendly and Reykjavik has hosted an annual Pride Festival (in August) since 1999. To fully embrace that spirit, Reykjavik paints rainbow colors in different spots in the city. Seyðisfjörður decided to join in and hosted its own parade starting in 2014 for those unable to make it all the way to Reykjavik and painted their own rainbow road for a visible marker.
The next morning, we took a short walk to the center of town to visit the small grocery store, named Samkaup Strax, to get some breakfast to provide fuel for a day of hiking. We headed to the local information center to pick up some maps. The information center is located at the ferry terminal, and it was surprising to see a relatively large ship docked. The ferry, run by Smyril, connects Seyðisfjörður to Denmark and the Faroe Islands, running on a weekly basis.
In the information center, we learned about the 7 peaks surrounding Seyðisfjörður. The town offers a challenge for people to gain the title of “Seyðisfjörður Mountain Viking” if you climb all seven peaks, and they maintain a list of those who have accomplished the feat. For those who think eh, that’s child’s play, give me a real challenge, you have the option to climb all seven peaks within 24-hours and receive the title of “Super Mountain Viking of Seyðisfjörður”. You can find more information about the seven peaks on their site here, and you’ll see from their photos that these are serious peaks with massive climbs. Several of their descriptions say that after you get past a certain portion, the rest of the hike is ‘easy,’ and I can only imagine that was written by a sadistic title-holder of Super Mountain Viking of Seyðisfjörður.
The late afternoon light beautifully illuminated the mountains but sank the town in shadow as we arrived in Seyðisfjörður.
A lightly overcast morning portrays the area with an entirely different color pallet.
Every town should have a rainbow road! Beyond the deserved nod to equality, the splash of color is magical.
Seyðisfjarðarkirkja church.
Tvisongur Sound Sculpture
After our time at the information center, we were ready for our hike and headed out of town and up a hillside to the 5-domed Tvisongur Sound Sculpture. Installed by a German artist in 2012, the domes are built to match the five-tones found in Icelandic music.
Beyond the sound sculpture, the hiking path headed up a steep hillside that we climbed up and eventually ended up on a path high above and overlooking the town with beautiful views. The sun was out, and it was warm enough to shed some layers of clothing for the first time on the trip. While the temperature was in the mid 50s, the sun was very warm. After a while, we ate a picnic lunch and enjoyed the beautiful day and view.
Arctic Lupine may not be native to Iceland but it fits so well with the landscape.
Tvisongur Sound Sculpture and surrounding landscape.
Waterfalls are everywhere in Seyðisfjörður.
Dustin had developed a migraine so after lunch, we followed the path down the hillside, meeting up with the street of Austurvegur and dropped him off at home before our travel companion and I continued on with the hike.
Initially we thought we were following a path northwest of town but when we found ourselves on what appeared to be private property, we changed course to the road called Ránargata and then hiked along the main road out of town, Vesturvegur, up to the path at Gufufoss waterfall.
The trail carried up past the waterfall and a number of small waterfalls coming down the hillside that are apparently much stronger earlier in the spring with the winter’s melt. We followed the path until we ended up back in the same spot where we had earlier veered off at Austurvegur. So, basically we did a loop trail in two parts for a total hike of about 5 miles. I would have loved to have more days to hike in Seyðisfjörður. With all the hiking in hills above the town, it was very easy to maintain a sense of direction and to figure out how to get back.
For dinner, we picked up lamb steaks at the grocery store and cooked at home. Lamb is very popular in Iceland, raised in-country, and very delicious! In the morning, we ate breakfast at Hótel Aldan and were sad to leave this little town of paradise behind. (As a side note, Hotel Aldan was featured in the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, though we did not realize that until over a year after visting. Fans of the movie may enjoy seeing this spot!) If you are planning a trip to the eastern part of the country, I would definitely recommend Seyðisfjörður as your home base.
To keep reading about our Iceland road trip adventure, click here.
Every direction you look is gorgeous!
This map represents some key destinations we visited in the town but not the route we took since we are unable to show the off-road hiking paths.
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Check out our other posts on Iceland:
Seyðisfjörður to Akureyri
The following day would take us from the lush valley into a totally different ecosystem with bubbling mud and geothermal energy and on to another coastal town.