Things to do
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Bifröst
A small settlement in Norðurárdalur built around Bifröst University, a private campus school, on the edge of the Grábrók lava field. It has a shop, a coffee house and a scatter of holiday cabins. It works as a fuel and coffee stop between the crater and the waterfall rather than as a destination.
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Waterfront
Borgarfjörður
The fjord the town stands on, shallow, scattered with low uninhabited islands, and carrying stronger undercurrents than its calm surface suggests. Route 1 crosses the inner end on the Borgarfjarðarbrú, which gives the clearest view of the whole basin. The valleys behind it are the setting of Egil's Saga.
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Gerðuberg
A wall of dolerite columns on the western edge of Hnappadalur, formed when basaltic lava cooled and cracked into shafts between one and one and a half metres across and up to fourteen metres tall. A gravel track leaves Route 54 and runs to the foot of it. It is about 45 kilometres from Borgarnes, on the road onto Snæfellsnes.
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Glanni
A broad, stepped waterfall on the Norðurá just below Bifröst, where the river drops over the edge of the Grábrók lava field into one of the better known salmon pools in the west. A short marked path leads from the golf course to a viewing platform, and the spring-fed hollow of Paradísarlaut lies a few minutes further on.
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Grábrók
A scoria crater rising to about 170 metres beside Hreðavatn, the largest of three on a short fissure that erupted roughly 3,400 years ago. Its lava dammed the Norðurá and formed the lake below. A staircase and boardwalk reach the rim in about fifteen minutes, and the craters have been a protected natural monument since 1962.
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Hvanneyri
A settlement of roughly 250 people on the south shore of Borgarfjörður, built around the Agricultural University of Iceland and a cluster of old farm buildings, one of which holds the national collection of agricultural implements. The wetlands below the village form the Andakíll Ramsar site, a staging ground for migrating geese in spring.
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Landnámssetur Íslands
Two audio-guided exhibitions in restored warehouses by the old harbour, one on the settlement of Iceland and one on Egil's Saga, which takes place in this valley. Each runs about half an hour and the commentary is offered in several languages. It is the one attraction in Borgarnes worth breaking the drive for.