If you want to stay in the south part of Iceland, you can choose from many types of accommodation. You will find there a luxury apartments or log cabins, 4 or 5 star hotels as Grimsborgir or Hotel Rangá, but you can also sleep in the country side and enjoy the authentic life there.
There are few farm stays, where you can book a room and wake up in the room with a view to lakes, endless grass fields with horses or sheeps. In this list, we prepared for you the best farm stays in the south coast of Iceland for those, who are exploring the Golden circle on their own.
Hotel Laekur in Hella
Hotel Laekur is a small boutique hotel located just 14 km from Hella in South Iceland and it has some really great reviews from booking websites. The owners of this hotel, Gunnar and Emmy live in a nearby farm and have plenty of horses, sheeps and sometimes even goats, which you can see running in the area around the hotel. Through the day, you can also see their dogs running around the hotel. This hotel provides 25 rooms, 4 of them are cozy cottages (unfortunately not with a private hot tubs) for reasonable price (cheapest rooms starts around 150 USD per night) and in the evening restaurant open for the guest from 7 – 10pm. If you are interested in horse back riding tours in this area, you can speak to owners or people at reception and they can book for you some horse riding tours from Hella.
Hotel Vatnsholt near Selfoss
One of the hotels, which was rebuild from an old horse farm is hotel Vatnsholt, located 20 mins east-south from city Selfoss. This hotel is perfect for all of those, who are looking to spent the first or second night in the country side, enjoying the views of pure nature or hoping to see some northern lights activity. Eventhough they are no more animals at the hotel right now, just the dogs of owners, there are many horses on the fields just next to the hotel and big lake just a few hundred meters far away from the main building.
There are almost 40 rooms available at hotel Vatnsholt, some with private bathrooms, some with shared bathrooms. The prices start at 66 USD for a double room with shared bathroom. Double room with private bathroom is for 84 USD for non-refundable stay at Booking.com.
Skálatjörn guesthouse
In the very same area where is hotel Vatnsholt, you can find another farm stay guesthouse called Skálatjörn. It´s a much smaller guesthouse than Vatnsholt, but you will definitely feel more family vibes there. The guesthouse itself is located on the goat farm and as you arrive, you will see the owner´s lovely dog coming to welcome you. You might be suprised for a price of overnight stay at Skálatjörn guesthouse, but in compare to hotel Vatnsholt or Laekur, here you book a studio with private bathroom and kitchen just for you. The prices for cheapest studio at Skálatjörn guesthouse starts at 179 USD, bigger family studio for 4 people is then for 234 USD.
Guesthouse Lambastadir
Family farm hotel Lambastadir is located just next to the ring road and you can´t miss it, if you drive from Selfoss to Hella. Guesthouse is located in the calm area and from all the mentioned farm stay, there are definitely many animals, you can see. As you can see on the photos of the hotel´s gallery, they have not just dogs, sheep and horses as it´s common on many icelandic farms, but also chicken, gooses, rabbits and cats.
Eventhough the prices are a bit higher for the standards of icelandic accommodation, you will have access to share hot tub and sauna and you have also breakfast included.
Efstidalur farm hotel
If you are a local, I don´t need to introduce you Efstidalur farm hotel. This place is famous for it´s great burgers from fresh local meat and also for homemade ice cream. The place is located just in the heart of Golden circle, on the way between geysir to Gullfoss. On this farm hotel, you can find cows which you can watch from the restaurant above the hotel and few dogs always running around. The hotel offers also horse back riding tours in the area of Golden circle, so if you are fan of animals and want to enjoy authentic farm stay in Iceland, you can book a room there starting at 136 USD per night.
Hotel Eldhestar
Hotel Eldhestar in Hveragerdi is just one hour far away from Reykjavík and it´s a great place to stay, if you are looking for enviromentaly friendly farm accommodation for horse back riding lovers. There are 37 rooms at the hotel which is just next to the town of Hveragerdi, where you can do all the necessary shopping, take a hike to hot river behind the town or visit some of the restaurants in this area.
This charming not so big hotel in beautiful nature is the perfect home base for your activities in South Iceland, whether you’re traveling on a romantic getaway with your significant other, by yourself, with your family, or in a group of friends.
The price for the cheapest room at hotel Eldhestar starts at 134 USD with included breakfast and entrance to shared hot tubs just next to the hotel. It´s great place to stay if you want to start or end your trip to Golden circle and explore the south Iceland on the back of the horse.
Hestheimar hotel
Similar to hotel Eldhester, there is another horse farm hotel just a little bit more to the east, called Hestheimar hotel (literally translated means “home of the horses”. This place is not just a great spot for travelers, who wants to try horse riding tours on icelandic horses, but because of it´s remoted location, it´s also perfect spot for watching northern lights in the winter season.
The difference between hotels Eldhestar and Hestheimar is mostly in the type of accommodation. While at Eldhestar, you can book a standard hotel room, at Hestheimar hotel there are available cozy cottages with two bedrooms (one room with double bed, second with bunk bed). Each of the cottages have small private kitchen and in the price of the room is included breakfast and entrance to the outside hot tub. The rates for the rooms at the Hestheimar hotel starts 241 USD, but there are also availabe few rooms in the main building for 140 USD (non-refundable price off the season).
Should you book a farm stay in Iceland?
Staying in Iceland in some of the rebuilded farms is definitely unique experience expecially for those, who are looking for the most authentic stay during their trip. As you could see in our list of the best farm stays in south of Iceland, the prices are usually lower than if you stay if the big chain hotels as are Icelandair hotels or Fosshotels.
Farm hotels or guesthouses are usually located outside of the nearby towns or cities, which means you will not have such a wide range of the services, the delivery to the hotel can have some delays in winter time and the staff at the hotel is usually more friendly, but not as profesional as in the big hotels. Keep it in mind and don´t have big expectations while staying at farm hotels in Iceland and you will not be dissapointed.