Basalt Hotel

The valley here is wide and open, and the hotel is set low into it, about 100 km from Reykjavík. Basalt hótel has eleven double rooms and two family rooms, each with its own bathroom and shower, and the family rooms are built with good wheelchair access. Rooms are plain and comfortable, without excess. The restaurant serves food built from local produce, and it is the only meal service on site, so timing a return from the day's driving matters. Outside, a hot tub holds twelve people. You can sit in it after dark and watch the northern lights move over the valley in winter, or simply take in the view of the hills by day. Walking routes start from the property itself, and a scattering of landmarks - waterfalls, geothermal pools, lava fields, craters - lie within an hour's drive in both directions, west and south. A nearby farm runs horse riding tours about ten minutes from the hotel. It is not a place built for spectacle. Basalt hótel works instead as a fixed, comfortable base between two of Iceland's most visited regions, close enough to reach either by car within the day and still be back for the hot tub at night.