Reykjanesviti lighthouse and Gunnuhver boardwalks

The south-western tip of Reykjanes packs three short sights into a square kilometre: Reykjanesviti, the lighthouse on Bæjarfell hill; the sea cliffs of Valahnúkur below it, where Iceland's first lighthouse stood; and Gunnuhver, a field of boiling mud pools crossed by boardwalks. Together they make an hour's walk and drive, half an hour from Keflavík airport. It suits an arrival afternoon, a late flight, and anyone who has seen the Blue Lagoon car park and wants rawer ground. It does not suit a day of gales, when the cliffs and steam are unpleasant rather than dramatic.

The figures and facts, read today. Visit Reykjanes says the first lighthouse was built on Valahnúkur in 1878, that earthquakes and surf had damaged the hill so badly by 1905 that a new one was built on Bæjarfell in 1907–1908, and that the old tower was blown up on 16 April 1908. Cracks have been visible on the tip of Valahnúkur since 2016 and access there is limited. Beside the lighthouse, the Reykjanesviti visitor centre has a café over the sea, a display on lighthouse keepers, an exhibition on shipwrecks in the old engine house and a Geopark display on the terrace; its café opens 10:00 to 17:00 daily in summer, and no winter hours were published. Gunnuhver has two ramps: one beside the main spring, the largest mud pool in Iceland at about 20 metres across, and one on the silica hill Kísilhóll. Parking at the lighthouse costs 1,000 ISK per car for up to four hours on parka.is, with a 1,960 ISK late fee if unpaid within 24 hours. Parka has no page for a Gunnuhver car park (its URL returned 404), and no official page said it is free, so that is marked for checking.

#The arithmetic

As a return trip from Reykjavík: 68 km and about 65 minutes each way by OSRM on OpenStreetMap, 30 minutes at Gunnuhver, a two-minute hop to the lighthouse car park (five with parking), 30 minutes on the hill and the cliff path, and a 15-minute buffer: about 210 minutes. On the arrival day of the five-day South Coast and Golden Circle journey, whose ledger runs from Keflavík airport to Reykjavík, the airport-to-Gunnuhver leg is 27 km and 30 minutes and the lighthouse-to-Reykjavík leg 69 km and 65 minutes; with 80 minutes on site and buffer, that is 175 minutes against OSRM's 50 for the direct drive, so about 125 minutes extra.

#What goes wrong

Volcanic notices: safetravel.is, read today, says there is no active eruption, Grindavík is open, crevasses can be expected there, and travellers should stay on marked pathways. Almannavarnir's front page lists an uncertainty phase for seismic unrest on the Reykjanes peninsula, posted 7 August 2025. Roads can close at short notice in an eruption, so read safetravel.is on the morning. Hot ground: at Gunnuhver everything off the boardwalk is boiling clay and steam. Wind: the tip of the peninsula takes the Atlantic weather first.

#Alternatives on the same road

The Blue Lagoon is on the same airport day. The Fagradalsfjall eruption-site hike is the long walk east of Grindavík. In Reykjavík, the Viðey ferry is a calmer coastal half-day.