Private Reykjanes UNESCO Global Geopark Tour

The tour begins at the outermost tip of the peninsula, where two lighthouses share the name Garðskagaviti. The 1897 lighthouse is the second oldest in Iceland and the second oldest concrete building in the country, while the 1944 tower is the tallest lighthouse in Iceland. On clear days the view extends to Snæfellsjökull glacier and Esja mountain, and seals are occasionally spotted from the dock of the Old Lighthouse Café.

Hvalsneskirkja was constructed between 1886 and 1887 using basalt lava blocks and driftwood collected by local residents, and was preserved in 1990 for its architectural uniqueness. Nearby, the yellow Stafnesviti lighthouse overlooks the former market town of Básendar, destroyed in the catastrophic 1799 flood known as Básendaflóð, which killed one woman and permanently altered the coastline. A monument in Stafnes also commemorates the 1928 trawler stranding that claimed 15 lives and led directly to the founding of Iceland's National Life-Saving Association.

Kirkjuvogskirkja in the village of Hafnir is the oldest church on the peninsula, built in 1860 and preserved in 1990. Outside stands an anchor from the American sailing ship Jamestown, which ran aground in 1881 carrying timber that was later auctioned and used to build homes and bridges across Iceland. The tour then continues to the Bridge Between Continents, a footbridge crossing a tension crack between the North American and Eurasian plates, which drift apart roughly 2 centimeters per year.

Gunnuhver formed following an earthquake in 1967 and contains the largest mud pool in Iceland at 20 meters wide, fed entirely by boiling seawater rather than freshwater, which distinguishes it from other Icelandic hot springs. Walking trails connect observation decks across this active landscape where ground temperatures exceed 300 degrees Celsius. The area takes its name from the ghost of Guðrún Önundardóttir, a local woman who according to legend was lured into the spring by a priest to end her haunting of the region.

Built between 1907 and 1908 and preserved in 2003, Reykjanesviti is the oldest standing lighthouse in Iceland. A walking path leads to the peak of Valahnúkur, a palagonite tuff sea cliff formed in a single eruption 10,000 years ago, where the country's first-ever lighthouse stood before being damaged by earthquakes and ultimately demolished. The beach Valahnúkamöl below is covered in large boulders shaped by storm waves, and a statue of the Great Auk stands nearby to mark the extinction of the species, whose last known individuals were killed on Eldey island in 1844.

The tour concludes at Brimketill, a small coastal pool carved into the lava shoreline by centuries of wave action. An observation platform provides a safe vantage point over the pool and the surrounding rugged coastline stretching back toward Reykjanesviti. On calm days the pool appears still and inviting, but sudden waves make entering it dangerous and strongly inadvisable.