Snaefellsnes Peninsula One Day Itinerary- Iceland

The Snaefellsnes Peninsula makes a great addition to your Iceland itinerary, so if you want to make a detour off the Ring Road, you’ll be glad you did. The Snaefellsnes Peninsula is like a mini Iceland – it has everything! Black sand beaches, lava fields, volcano, wildlife, lighthouses, dramatic coastline, cute towns — plus, you can travel this in a circle. It’s like a mini Ring Road. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed in this area of Iceland!

You can visit the Snaefellsnes Peninsula as a day trip from Reykjavik if you get an early start, or you can make it easier on yourself and spend a night on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula – that’s what we did. Either way, let’s take a look at what a Snaefellsnes Peninsula one day itinerary would look like!

We did not see everything there is to see on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula! Just the highlights that interested us — if you want to see everything, you’ll need a few days. For this Snaefellsnes Peninsula one day itinerary, I’ve laid out the highlights that we did, and I’ll add some other points of interest that I wish we did.

We did this as part of our entire two week Iceland ring road trip. You can read our itinerary here. 14 Day Iceland Itinerary: Complete Ring Road Guide

Visiting the Snaefellsnes Peninsula in Iceland in one Day

We drove the peninsula clockwise. You can do it either way; we just chose this because of the weather situation. It was looking like rain but the forecast said it would clear up later and I wanted to get photos of Kirkjufell Mountain in some sunshine.

We did a route that looked like this:

The entire peninsula is not that big; if you drove around it without stopping, it’ll only take you about 3 hours. But you’re going to want to make a lot of stops!

What to see on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula in one Day

Ytri Tunga

This beach isn’t the most photogenic; there’s a lot of seaweed here, but you don’t really come here for the beach — you come here for the seals! You will need to walk out on the rocks and they can be slippery, to see the seals, as they tend to laze around further from shore. Just watch where other people are headed and you will find them. You’ll definitely want to wear shoes with lots of tread, as these rocks are really slippery and many are covered with seaweed. I saw quite a few people slip off the rocks and get a leg or two in the ocean — the water isn’t that deep but it’s no fun hanging out in wet pants all day. It also helps to have a zoom lens here too.

Black Church (Budakirkja)

This is one of the most photographed churches in Iceland, so you’ll want to make a quick stop here to visit this iconic church.

Arnarstapi

A bit further down road is Arnarstapi. This is a small village known for its cliff-hugging trails and rugged coastal scenery.

Before we headed to the cliff trails, we stopped in at the cafe in the visitor center for some coffee. I highly recommend it if you’re a little peckish.

After coffee, we headed out to walk some of the trails and take in the coastal scenery. If you’re a bit unsure where to go, look for the giant state of a troll – his name is Bardur Snaefellnes. Legend has it that he protects this area!

A few highlights to see here –

• Gatklettur – the famous rock archway in the ocean
• Lighthouse: Not the most impressive lighthouse I’ve ever seen, but there is one here.
• Pumpa: This is located at the northern end of the boardwalks and is a nice scenic viewpoint with tons of birds.

If you’re up for more walking, you can follow the trails all the way to the next town of Hellnar. We chose to drive.

Hellnar

If you’re up for viewing more rugged coast line, you can stop off at the next village, Hellnar, which is just down the road. There’s another cute church here to photograph, but if you’re good with what you saw in Arnarstapi, this can easily be skipped.

Londrangar

The next stop is in Longrangar — this can be as short or as long as you’d like. You’ll find more coastal scenes, plus a lighthouse from afar. There are hiking trails that will take you down to the beach area and the Malarrif lighthouse but we did not do that.

Vatnshellir Cave

Next up is the Vatnshellir Cave — you will need tickets for this attraction. Here, you can see an ancient lava tube by descending down an underground spiral staircase. We didn’t do this, but it is one of the more popular attractions on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula.

Djupalonssandur Beach

This is one of the most popular beaches on the peninsula, however, we did not stop here. At this point in our day, rain was coming down in buckets, so we opted to pass on this. However, if you have the chance, I encourage you to visit – it looks really cool! As for me, I’m saving it for next time!

Saxholl Crater

Further down the road from the beach, you will enter the national park (no, there are no fees!). Saxholl crater is a volcanic crater with stairs leading up to the top. It will take you about maybe 15-20 minutes here, depending on how long you stay at the top. The viewpoint at the top is okay, it’s nothing that amazing, so if you are short on time, you could easily skip this stop.

Öndverdarnes Lighthouse / Svortuloft Lighthouse / Skardsvík Beach

If you want to take a detour and get off-the-beaten-path, you can make the turnoff after visiting Saxholl Crater to Skardsvík Beach. This is a rough, bumpy road, but it isn’t an F-Road, so technically, any car can drive on it. Despite having a 4×4 vehicle, we didn’t do this – I was too chicken. Looking back though, I wish we would’ve done this. This is a remote part of Iceland and you won’t find many that make the journey. It’s about a 25 minutes to get to Öndverdarnes Lighthouse from the Saxoll Crater, so if you have time and are willing to drive on bumpy roads, go for it! It looks amazing!

Hellissandur

This is a tiny, tiny town that you’ll pass through on your Snaefellsnes Peninsula one day itinerary — blink and you’ll miss it — but it’s known as the street art capitol of Iceland and is worth a quick detour. Here, you’ll find all kinds of murals on buildings which are really fun to see.

They also have a jumping balloon. I couldn’t resist!

Kirkjufell

Ah, this is probably what you came to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula for — to get your iconic photo of the most photographic mountains in Iceland! You’ll need to pay a fee at the car park, which is 700ISK. From there, just follow the short trail — it will lead you to the iconic scene where you can photographic the waterfall (Kirkjufellfoss) in front of the mountain.

One thing I guess I never noticed in photos is that the highway actually cuts right through your photo.

I tried twice to photograph Kirkjufell in better weather but it wasn’t happening on our trip. This is an excellent sunset location (if you get a sunset — we were here in early July and there wasn’t one!).

Stykkishólmur

Stykkishólmur is the largest town on the Snaefellsnes peninsula and even though it’s a bit of a detour off the main road, it’s worth a stop if you have some time. This is an adorable harbor town with colorful homes, an interesting church, and a lighthouse perched at the top of a hill. This is also where you would catch the Ferry Baldur to take you to the Westfjords. Down by the harbor, there is an ice cream stand and a fish and chips stand — we ate at both and were very impressed, so if you’re looking for some reasonably-priced food, you might want to check it out.

There’s also a jumping balloon at the park near the Foss Hotel! I’m telling you, you have to try it! They’re so much fun and they’re all over Iceland!

That about wraps it up! I hope this list helps you plan an amazing Snaefellsnes Peninsula one day itinerary. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below!