Keflavik and Reykjanes Peninsula Full of Surrealistic Surprise

Get off the airplane at Keflavik International Airport and gaze at the vista; everywhere you look, no matter in what direction, lava fields stretch to the horizon. If you look closely, toward the north, 115 km (71 mi) across Faxaflói Bay, you can see the white peak of Snæfellsjökull, an ice cap that sits atop a volcano — the place where professor Otto Lidenbrock, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans descended in Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. From the look of the landscape around you, the story begins to ring true. And just five miles away, the town of Keflavik offers enough sites and sounds to make it so.

Keflavik was a town of just eight thousand people. It still is, but in 1995 it merged with the towns of Njarðvík and Hafnir to form a municipality called Reykjanesbær. In 2006, an old naval station was redeveloped into Ásbrú, a community of education and business, and home to a private education institution, the Keilir Atlantic Centre of Excellence. Hafnir, being ten miles away, still remains distinct from its two sisters. Keflavik and Njarðvík, separated by only a single street, seem merged into a single town. Most people now refer to the four-city area as Reykjanesbær. No matter how you want to see the political boundaries, adventure is just around the corner.

A major attraction is Vikingaheimar (Viking World), a museum with five different exhibitions which describe the history and legacy of the Vikings. The main feature of the museum is a real longboat suspended from the ceiling. You can board the longboat from the second floor, which also offers a panoramic view of the North Atlantic.

Another fun activity is the Icelandic Museum of Rock ’n’ Roll, a serious, but also-tongue-in-cheek, look at the rock ’n’ roll culture of Iceland, including Bjork and the Sugarcubes. You can rock out with real instruments, or you can sit with some coffee and listen to the music.

Less than a half-hour drive from Reykjanesbær, The Blue Lagoon steams in the midst of sleeping, snow-capped volcanos. People come from all over the world to bask in in the hot springs, which are purported to have medicinal properties. Health aside, it’s fun to bathe outdoors with snow falling on your head.

A main feature of Reykjanesbær is its location, the Reykjanes Peninsula, a world of dramatic landscape and hidden gems of wonder. At first glance, the landscape around you seems nothing more than barren fields of basalt rubble, dotted here and there with a few toughened plants and lichen. But look again; Reykjanesbær is a world of outdoor adventure, with its volcanic craters, basalt caves, lava fields, geothermal waters and hot springs, and old lighthouses.

The peninsula is where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge rises from the depths of the ocean and travels across land — land it created. Near Hafnir, you can cross a bridge which spans from one continent to another, Europe on one side, North America on the other.

For adventure, you can explore Lake Kleifarvatn, an incredibly deep lake — 97 m (318 ft) — that has no river running to or from it. Here you can hike, birdwatch, fish for trout, and explore caves and lava tubes.

Just south of the lake, Krysuvik bubbles with more hot springs, fumaroles, billowing steam vents, and mud pots. This part of the peninsula truly makes it seems as if Verne’s fantastic world has come to life, because only a few miles northeast, you can hike to the top of a volcano.

Mount Keilir is one of the most distinctive landmarks on the peninsula. Hiking to the top of a cone that rises 380 m (1246 ft) above flat lava fields, you’ll see Reykjavik to the north, the fishing villages that line the coastline on both sides of you, and you’ll see the land steaming from the vents and even Blue Lagoon.

From Berjaya Hotels, Iceland's premiere hotel chain, with a family of hotels in all the best locations around the country!

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