Twice I have had my toes touching the Snæfellsnes Peninsula of Iceland, but got no further than Stykkishólmur each time. The first time, in 2001, I was on a day trip from Reykjavík; the second time, in 2013, I took a ferry to Flatey and Brjánslækur in the Westfjords and returned to Reykjavík by land via Hólmavík.

I would dearly love to go to Iceland again and see some of the sights I have missed. These include:

• Most of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula west of Stykkishólmur
• The area along the Ring Road (Route 1) between Borgarnes and Akureyri
• The Tröllaskagi Peninsula
• The Sprengisandur Route through the center of Iceland

As I understand, there is no longer any public transportation on the Sprengisandur Route; and it requires an oversized 4×4 vehicle that can ford glacial rivers.

Map of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula

What interests me about the Snæfellsnes Peninsula is that, within little more than a hundred miles (or 160 kilometers), it includes just about everything that Iceland has to offer, including mountains, waterfalls, a famous glacier (which inspired Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth), attractive fjords, puffins, black sand beaches, postcard pretty fishing villages, and even the site of a famous medieval saga: The Eyrbbygja Saga.

I know there are a lot of long, complicated Icelandic names in this post. It is only because I love Iceland so much I want to make it easy for anyone who reads this to find out what I am talking about. A few minutes on Google Images would show you what I mean.