Iceland - The Home Of Imagination: Hotel Grímsborgir

We were ready to give up. And I am oh-so-pleased we didn’t. If we had, we’d have missed one of the most spectacular sights we’d ever seen. It’s giving me goosebumps just thinking about it (and no, I’m not just talking about the cold!).
We’d arrived at Hotel Grímsborgir a few hours earlier. We unpacked in our beautiful junior suite and succumbed to rumbling stomachs. It was late, and by this time the large hotel restaurant was quiet as we demolished our recommended dishes of delicious local specialities. The only interruption we had was the receptionist whispering that the Northern Lights were making an appearance. We rushed straight out and gazed questioningly at a whiteish smudge across the sky. Even after squeezing out every ounce of imagination, it was hard to be impressed here. The hotel, a pulse point of the Golden Circle and neighbouring the river Sog, Iceland’s largest freshwater river, is often praised for its pollution-free view of the Aurora Borealis - but it seemed nature may have other plans tonight.
Oh how wrong we were.
Each of the rooms comes with a balcony or terrace and access to either a private or shared geothermal hot tub a hop-skip-and-jump from your front door. Back in our room, we poured two glasses of wine and raced into our hot tub. Mere moments later, the sky burst into one of the most breathtaking performances we’d ever seen. Bright greens nose-dived towards us, their beams searching for mischievous trolls; turquoise, oranges and blues vaulted through the darkness; the whole night suddenly burst into a beautiful dance – and, for those precious minutes, it felt for all the world as though it belonged just to us. Two toasty warm hot tub bathers raising a glass to the extraordinary skies above.
The rooms are part of individual buildings set in a large circle, with superior rooms, junior suites, studio apartments and larger luxury apartments to choose from. Our suite had its own terrace, a roaring gas fire, a wonderfully spacious bathroom and a mountain view from our marshmallow bed – from where I was reluctant to rise when our alarm dragged us awake the next morning.
Breakfast is served in the hotel’s restaurant, and this time it was busy with waffle-making, cereal-scooping and fruit-munching breakfasters. We plotted our day over coffee and blueberry skyr, with some extra tips from the lovely receptionist who couldn’t have been more proud to call Iceland home.
You only have to drive a few minutes from Hotel Grímsborgir before you come across beautiful tourist spots, so without wasting a moment, we zapped off in our little 4x4 (I have re-defined my definition of a jeep after our Activity Iceland experiences!) to embrace some more of Iceland’s gems.
All of our tours and hotels were booked by Activity Iceland - their knowledge and expertise making our stay incredibly special. We left feeling like we’d really got under the skin of Iceland, and learnt that, although it may have a bitingly cold clime, its people have the warmest hearts.
My husband and I are in the process of house-hunting. As we left the runway, London-bound, he turned to me with a satisfied grin on his face and suggested we put Reykjavíc on our radar. I'm still not sure to what extent he was joking. Looks like I might need to invest in a few more thermals...
For more information visit:
Activity Iceland: https://activityiceland.is
Hotel Grímsborgir: https://www.grimsborgir.is