Things to do
5-
Reykjadalur
A valley of hot springs and steaming ground above the town, with the Reykjadalsá running down it towards the Ölfusá. Cold water joins the hot as the river descends, so one stretch near the top holds at bathing temperature, and boardwalks and changing screens have been built along it. The walk in is about three kilometres of steady climb each way and takes an hour up.
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Hengill
A volcanic table mountain south of Þingvellir, still active in its hot springs and fumaroles although the last eruption was around two thousand years ago, before Iceland was settled. Marked paths climb into it from Hveragerði and from the Hellisheiði road, through steaming ground and coloured clay. It is a full day on foot and the weather changes on it fast.
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Hveragarðurinn
A fenced geothermal park in the middle of the town, with hot springs, fumaroles and boiling mud pools set behind boardwalk and information boards explaining the field the streets are built over. Rye bread is baked in the ground here and eggs are boiled in a spring for visitors. Half an hour covers it and it is a short walk from the main street.
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Ölfusborgir
A settlement of thirty-eight holiday houses on the slopes of Reykjafjall just east of the town, built between 1962 and 1965 for Icelandic trade union members. All of them were drawn by the architect Sigvaldi Thordarson, with big south-facing windows and flat roofs sloping to the rear. They are let to union members rather than open to the public, so this is a drive past.
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Varmá
The warm river that runs through the centre of Hveragerði, rising in Hengill and fed by the geothermal streams of Reykjadalur and Grændalur. The hot inflow raises its temperature and its mineral load, and every Icelandic freshwater fish is found in it, sea trout most visibly. A path follows it through the town and past the greenhouses.
