Storur

Story & Folklore

Stórurð (The Giant Boulders) in Borgarfjörður Eystri is Iceland's best-kept hiking secret — a hidden highland basin filled with enormous smoothed granite boulders, between which lie clear turquoise pools of snowmelt and glacier-fed streams. The setting is almost impossibly photogenic: Arctic wildflowers grow between the rocks, ravens and ptarmigan nest among the boulders, and on clear days the surrounding peaks are reflected in the pools. The hike (3–4 hours return) from Vatnsskarð descends to the basin through birch scrub and rocky terrain. Borgarfjörður Eystri village, at the trail base, is known for having one of Iceland's best accessible puffin colonies at Hafnarhólmi.