Accommodation
Eighteen rooms with shared or en-suite bathrooms, single or double / twin rooms and family rooms. There’s also a spacious porch with a barbecue.
Board
Breakfast comes included in the price of accommodation. Other meals are available for groups if ordered in advance. The nearest restaurants and diners are in Selfoss (13 km / 8 mi), at Hotel Hekla (11 km / 7 mi), at the guesthouse in Vatnsholt (14 km / 8.5 mi) and at Hestakráin Country Pub (15 km / 9 mi).
Service and recreation
Several places in the area run horse riding tours, including Hestakráin on the Húsatóftir farm (13 km / 8 mi) and the Hestheimar farm east of Þjórsá (14 km / 8.5 mi). In the seaside village of Stokkseyri (27 km / 17 mi) you can go kayaking or visit the Icelandic Wonders Museum, which has exhibitions about elves, trolls and northern lights. You can go river rafting on Hvítá river (49 km / 30 mi), see the Geothermal Park (Hveragarðurinn) in the greenhouse town of Hveragerði (26 km / 16 mi) or visit the Saga Centre at Hvolsvöllur (40 km / 25 mi). There’s a good geothermal swimming pool with a children’s pool, a water slide and play equipment in Selfoss (13 km / 8 mi). There’s another good, though somewhat smaller, pool at Brautarholt, a short distance before Hestakráin (13 km / 8 mi). There’s a -hole golf course in Selfoss (13 km / 8 mi) and an 18-hole course at Strönd (29 km / 18 mi), midway between the villages of Hella and Hvolsvöllur.
Renowned natural wonders, Geysir, Gullfoss and Þjórsárdalur
Guesthouse Bitra is next to route no 1 (the ‘Ring Road’) where it runs east of Selfoss around the largest continuous lowland region in Iceland, which is also a major agricultural and horticultural area. You can drive in any direction from Bitra and go on day tours to all of South Iceland’s most famous attractions. Route 30 runs a short distance from Bitra, traveling inland into the upper regions of South Iceland where Mt. Hekla volcano towers in the sky. Here, you will find world-renowned attractions including the Geysir geothermal area (58 km / 36 mi), Gullfoss waterfall (61 km / 38 mi) and beautiful natural treasures such as Þjórsárdalur valley (52 km / 32 mi).
Skálholt, Laugarvatn Fontana Geothermal Baths and Þingvellir National Park
Branching off route 30 is route 31, which goes to Skálholt. Skálholt is a place of great historical importance that was a bishropric and religious education centre for seven centuries (31 km / 19 mi). The Laugarvatn Fontana Geothermal Baths, a popular spa in village Laugarvatn (54 km / 34 mi from Bitra), makes an ideal next stop. After a relaxing soak in the geothermal pools, you can make the journey to Þingvellir National Park (25 km / 15.5 mi from Laugarvatn, 59 km / 37 mi from Bitra), a unique natural treasure that is also the most historically significant place in Iceland, as it was here that the ancient Alþingi (or ‘Althing’, the world’s oldest running parliament) was established in the year 930, where Iceland adopted Christianity in the year 1000, and where the Republic of Iceland was founded on June 17th, 1944.
Eyjafjallajökull, Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss and Vestmannaeyjar
There is a bridge over Þjórsá glacial river a little east of Bitra. Eyjafjallajökull glacier looms in the east, and well-known attractions such as the waterfalls Seljalandsfoss (57 km / 35 mi) and Skógafoss (83 km / 52 mi) are waiting to be explored. Tours of the natural paradise of Þórsmörk depart daily from the village of Hvolsvöllur during the summer months. Down on the coast, 31 km / 19 mi from Hvolsvöllur, is Landeyjahöfn, where you can take the 35-minute ferry ride to Vestmannaeyjar (the Westman Islands). On a day-trip to Heimaey (Vestmannaeyjar’s largest and only populated island), you can see a very moving exhibition about the town’s 1973 volcanic eruption and its aftermath.
Host: Birgir