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Town in Northwest Constituency, Iceland
Photo: Ulrich Latzenhofer, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Borgarnes is a town in West Iceland about 75 km north of Reykjavík, with a population of around 2000. It stands by a fjord called Borgarfjörður and is the centre of a vast municipality, Borgarbyggð. Snorri Sturluson, the compiler of the Prose Edda, lived here, in Reykholt.
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Borgarfjörður museums
Several small museums and collections are housed together in one building: a natural history collection, local history museum, an art collection, the local archives, and a library.
A small municipal park in the heart of town, perfect for a picnic.
A media centre showcasing the Viking sagas, stories or descriptions of their everyday life.
The highest-flow hot spring in Europe.
Waterfalls.
Once one of the intellectual centres of the island, the village now has 60 inhabitants, a school centre and a library concentrating on the works of Snorri Sturluson, a medieval poet, author and chieftain who is best known for compiling the Prose Edda, which is today considered the authoritative source for pre-Christian Norse mythology. A statue of Snorri by Gustav Vigeland can be found here and the remains of his home can be visited. Archaeologists are still working here and finding medieval remains.
A cave, a lava tube 1½ km in length. Archaeological research in the 2000s shows evidence for Viking Age ritual activities, from before Iceland's conversion to Christianity. The cave is named after the fire giant Surtr, who might have lived here. He left long ago as parts of the cave have floor and speleothems of ice, but there may still be ghosts.
Sundlaugin í Borgarnesi
Like most Icelandic towns, Borgarnes has its own swimming pool. This one also has a steam bath, sauna, two hot tubs and three water slides.
Landnámssetrið
A centre devoted to the saga age in Iceland's history. They regularly put on plays and other shows, and the centre hosts exhibitions on Egil's saga and the settlement of Iceland. Also a gift shop and a restaurant.
Brúðuheimar
Puppetry is not an art form with a long history in Iceland. Borgarnes, however, is the home of one of the country's few puppetteers and he has opened a center which functions both as an interactive museum of puppetry (you can try some of the puppets yourself) and as a puppet theatre.
An Icelandic country bar and a Thai restaurant rolled into one. Very popular among the locals.
Englendingavík
A restaurant by the beach; there are also several rooms available. Family room for four with a small seating area and a double room in Sjávarborginn, three rooms with a private bathroom and one family room with a lounge and a small kitchenette in the guesthouse. The restaurant focuses on Icelandic ingredients; a fish buffet is available in the summer evenings with four types of fish dishes accompanied by side dishes. Seafood soup, lamb, duck, and pasta dishes as well as starters and desserts are also available. Drop in during the day for coffee, cakes, and snacks. There is also a toy museum on site.
The hostel also runs a camping site.
Hotel Bru offers eight rooms with private bathroom and eight rooms with a shared bathroom. All the rooms are well equipped, on the upper floor are the eight rooms with shared bathrooms, on the ground floor are eight rooms with a private bathroom and each with a private entrance.
Borgarnes lies on the ring road and is easily accessible by car. It's about an hours drive from Reykjavík, four hours from Akureyri.
Read in the guideBorgarnes is a small town and it can easily be explored on foot. There are no local buses or taxi companies.
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Reykjavík · Regional · RKV
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