One of Pink Iceland’s most popular tours would have to be the South Shore Safari where we explore the breadbasket of Iceland, the famous Black beach Reynisfjara and some of the most beautiful waterfalls on the island, Seljalandsfoss & Skógafoss! But what if you could add an adventurous twist to this amazing tour and visit an area only reachable by Super jeeps and monster trucks!
Pink Iceland’s guide Ziggy and wedding planner Haffi went with one of our fantastic partners to explore Þórsmörk (Valley of Thor) and this is what Ziggy had to say:
As the weather forecast was not looking promising for the next couple of days, I packed all my 5 layers (top and bottom!) and put my mind in adventure mode. We arrived at Seljalandsfoss where we would meet our guide of the day and fellow travellers. A guide met us at 11.00 o’clock on the dot and told us that the fellow that was supposed to pick us up, had gotten his car stuck in the valley so he would drive us in there to meet him. Not even five minutes into the tour and the adventure had begun!
Touring with us was a lovely couple from Belgium so this was going to be a small and intimate experience just like Pink Iceland likes it.
The weather was actually better than expected and we enjoyed plowing through the deep snow, crossing small streams and eventually driving up them! When we got our car stuck for the first time, we used the opportunity to take photos and play around in the snow.
This winter in Iceland has been exceptionally heavy so the usual route was impassable and new routes had to be found. We were joined by 5 other superjeeps and trucks and the guides and drivers worked together getting everyone to our hut safely, leaving our original ride behind (I told you it was going to be an adventure!).
We checked into our modest but cozy rooms and then had some amazing lamb soup to warm us up! The 20k journey into Þórsmörk had taken about 2,5 hours and a cold beer was well deserved!
The wind was picking up so our guide suggested we head out for our afternoon hike and see if we could make it to the top of Valahnúkur where you get a fantastic 360°view of surrounding volcanoes, glaciers and valleys!
The wind came in too strong, sending us fleeing back down into the birch forest where we strapped on our snowshoes and enjoyed a beautiful walk in calm weather stopping for a fun climb up into Snorrariki cave, one of the many interesting places where our guide stopped to tell us local stories and sagas.
Coming back to the main hut just as the sun was going down, we put on some warm dry clothes and gathered for our Icelandic home cooked meal and a nice glas of wine.
With the snow coming down outside, we took a deep breath, put on our bathing suits and hit the amazing hot sauna as our last adventure of the day!
With our warm but tired bodies we made our way back to the sleeping lodge and fell asleep to raspy barks from the arctic foxes which can be spotted around the dining lodge!
After breakfast we had some free time to explore this beautiful area before checking out and checking back into our original vehicle that had been rescued the previous day!
Even though we didn’t get any Northern lights this time, we were graced with the beautiful rays of the sun when we drove out of the valley. Our guide informed us on how the sun doesn’t even make it over the horizon for almost 4 months during the winter!
We crossed the famous Krossá river, bumped and jumped through deep snow, climbed up hills, slid down others and made our way safely back to Seljalandsfoss in time to explore the rest of Iceland's South Coast before heading back to Reykjavik! What a fantastic couple of days we had filling our memory bank and firing up the adventurous side!
Contact tours@pinkiceland.is for your chance of experiencing this for yourself - you won’t regret it!