Not playing? You won't be bored.
Brautarholt sits between the mountain and the sea, half an hour from the capital. Here's how companions and rest days fill up, all within about an hour.
On the doorstep
- Andríðsey's puffins (summer): the island just off the course is home to thousands of nesting puffins (about 17,000 pairs were counted in 2014). Bring binoculars.
- Brautarholt church: the small dark church on the hill, where the author of Iceland's national anthem was priest in the 1860s.
- The shore walk: basalt cliffs, black-sand coves and eider ducks along the edge of the course.
Within half an hour
| Place | What | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Esja (trailhead at Mógilsá) | Reykjavík's own mountain, 914 m. The classic hike starts at the Esjustofa café. | about 12 min |
| Gljúfrasteinn | Home of Nobel laureate Halldór Laxness, now a museum | about 20 min |
| Akranes lighthouse | Climb the lighthouse at the tip of Akranes, through the Hvalfjörður tunnel | about 27 min |
| Hvammsvík hot springs | Natural hot-spring pools on the shore of Hvalfjörður | about 29 min |
Within an hour
| Place | What | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Reykjavík | Harbour, Hallgrímskirkja, restaurants, whale watching from the Old Harbour | about 35 min |
| Sky Lagoon | Oceanfront geothermal lagoon in Kópavogur | about 38 min |
| Glymur | Hike to one of Iceland's tallest waterfalls | about 41 min (plus a 3–4 h hike) |
| Þingvellir | UNESCO World Heritage Site, where Iceland's parliament first met in 930, on the rift between two continents | about 48 min |
Drive times are approximate, in good conditions.