Walking into Hotel Fljótshlíð Smáratún you immediately feel the difference to other hotels. It feels like a real “home from home” environment, and is a super place to stay on a Northern Lights Trip.
Partly completed Jigsaws are left out for you to finish, a snooker table invitingly grabs your attention, and there is a really relaxed welcoming atmosphere with groups of chairs scattered in different places for you to gather in.
This hotel is based on a working traditional family-run farm that has been managed by the same family for 3 generations. As much of the food as possible in the restaurant is sourced from the farm, and in case you forget it is a working farm they have placed a tractor in the middle of the restaurant! Quirky and great fun!
We have had super feedback on the standard of the evening meals at the restaurant, which we can also personally confirm from our experience of eating there. The restaurant is a converted large barn with high ceilings and the standard of the food certainly does not disappoint.
The hotel is rightly proud of its ecological credentials and of the fact that it has earned the Nordic Swan Award which means it is a leading light for other hotels to learn from.
A delightful thing they do is enable you to help offset your carbon footprint by encouraging you to plant your own tree on the farm. This needs to be pre-booked, and due to the weather conditions can only be undertaken in the summer, but we loved the idea of not only offsetting your carbon footprint, but actually physically doing it yourself!
It was fascinating talking to the Manager who explained how they had reduced food waste by 57% in just one year! What an amazing achievement. This was done by weighing all ingredients and analysing and weighing exactly what guests were leaving on their plates. Portions were adjusted accordingly. Fridges were consolidated into one huge chiller so that there were not several opened cartons of an ingredient, say milk, in different chillers leading to a higher chance of food being thrown away as ingredients went out of date. Finally a staff food shelf was created in the chiller so that they knew exactly what they were allowed to eat, rather than being unsure and leaving it in case it was for guests and then no-one eating it. Simple, obvious things that made a big difference!
The rooms are simple with great views and all of the furniture is reclaimed furniture meaning every room is different
eing on a working farm it is in a dark rural area away from artificial lights which would spoil any Northern Lights Display. Close to the start of some of the best SuperJeep tours in Iceland through Þórsmörk Volcanic Valley and up Eyjafjallajökull Volcano, (the one that erupted in 2010 that shut down European airspace), you also have snowmobiling, glacial hiking, riding and visiting an Ice Cave in the area to choose from. It really is the perfect base for an Iceland Northern Lights Holiday which will be full of amazing daytime adventures whilst you wait for the evening to try to see the Northern Lights.
And I do believe I forgot to mention they are GREAT value! Take a look here at our Iceland Aurora over the Golden Circle break for a fantastic example of what you can experience on a short 3 night Northern Lights Break staying at Hotel Fljótshlíð Smáratún
