Salthús Guesthouse

There’s a full kitchen shared by everyone on each floor, but the rooms themselves are small and have two single beds. The boxed breakfast was one bagel per person, plus juice, yogurt, and an apple. It’s away from town, near the harbour and hiking trails, and there weren’t any restaurants open in town.

The staff were lovely, and the kitchen was well stocked with a kettle, oven, fridge, washer, and dryer. The rooms are a decent size, and the bed was soft and very comfortable. It’s a quiet, cozy corner of Iceland. The smell in Room 106 was awful, though. I’ve smelled sulfur bathrooms before and know what sulfur water smells like, but this came in wafts that honestly smelled like sewage. I kept waking up during the night when it drifted over. I once slept beside a boat’s septic tank, and it smelled this way when someone flushed. I’m sure it’s sewage-related, though another possibility is that someone wet the bed and the mattress retained the smell. Either way, I really recommend the owners investigate why that room smells so strongly of sewage, not sulfur.

The rooms were the best maintained and cleanest we came across during our Iceland trip, even compared with the hotels. In my opinion, it’s a solid choice for a short stay. Bring your own breakfast, though. What we got didn’t really deserve to be called breakfast, and we’d have been better off without it.

We were told the hot water might smell of sulphur, but after running the sink it went away quickly. The room was clean and spacious, and the hotel was a nice place away from the usual routes. We’d happily stay here again.