Stykkishólmur is a port town that sticks out of the Snæfellsnes peninsula – it has shops, restaurants, a lighthouse and a funky church, and is a short drive to sights around the peninsula – making it a perfect place to base ourselves.

Although we’d been craving a hotel experience, someone else cooking food for us, washing dishes and making beds, etc. Iceland is pricey and the hotels aren’t laidback-resort luxury – not plush and aromatic with copious services – more stark and minimal. So we opted for an Airbnb instead, and stayed in Bjorn’s lovely 3 bedroom home in the heart of town, with space for parking, a kitchen and facilities. There was a hot tub but we never found the time to use it.

From the kitchen we had views out across the bay, past the Súgandisey Island Lighthouse to the snowy caps of the Westfjords.

Coming north, the peninsula was notably colder than Reykjavik – temperatures of 9C were replaced with 0-3C, to start with at least.

On our first day we did almost nothing. We needed to recover from the golden circle. The weather was overcast, and every now and then there was a sprinkling of snow. We didn’t have the energy to get the boys up and out for most of the day, so we cooked, watched movies and relaxed. Forecasts for the rest of the week looked ideal; crisp and wintery but with low winds and sunshine.

Narfeyrarstofa

By late afternoon we mustered the energy to get our thermals, jumpers, boots and coats on, and go for a wander to explore town. From the port we walked south to the shops, scouting the essential Bonus supermarket, and then back to a restaurant for dinner.

Narfeyrarstofa is toted as one of the best restaurants in the country outside of Reykjavik. We booked a table for 6pm, as early as they opened, and nestled ourselves in the corner. The kids used colouring pencils to colour the fish on their menus. The lonely planet describes it as:

Charming restaurant is the Snæfellsnes’s darling fine-dining destination

For the boys we ordered noodles and meatballs (we’d hoped this was a translation issue and that it was spaghetti, but it was noodles) and fish and chips, and for us:

Now – this was not the most romantic or relaxing of meals, far from it, at 6pm the boys were tired and bad-tempered, Conway outright rejected his fish and chips, and tried to steal Forrest’s meatballs – he happily gave them up and swapped them for chips, but they both ate little amidst all the squeals and hiding under the table. No one touched the noodles.

We enjoyed our attractive meals, they looked great (but tasted a little normal), and we ate them fast – as parents sometimes need to. And to be honest, we were happy to finish, pay and get everyone home to sleep. We were glad we wouldn’t need to do this every night – as we would need to in a hotel – for our sanity and our wallets.

Exploring Snæfellsnes peninsula →