Krýsuvík

Popular recreational destination with many interesing hiking paths. 

Columns of steam rise skywards, bubbling mud pools play their rhythmical symphony, and the banks around the hot springs are coloured green, yellow and red. The Grænavatn and Gestastaðavatn lakes and the two small pools on each side of the road further south, Augun (Eyes), are all explosion craters created by volcanic eruptions at various times. Grænavatn lake is the largest, some 46 metres deep, with green water due to thermal algae and crystals which absorb the sun. The main geothermal areas in Krýsuvík are Seltún, Hverahvammur, Hverahlíð, Austurengjar, the southern part of Kleifarvatn and Sveifla beneath Hettutindur.

The Fúlipollur mud spring is east of the main road.Lake Kleifarvatn is the largest lake on the Reykjanes peninsula, and the third-largest lake of southern Iceland, 9.1 km². It is also one of the country's deepest lakes, at 97 metres. It varies in size over the year. Since 2000 it has been shrinking, after two major earthquakes probably opened up fissures on the lake bottom. Trout fry were released into the lake in the 1960s, and the fish have thrived quite well. According to legends a monster in the shape of a serpent, as big as a medium-sized whale, lurks in the lake.
 
Krýsuvík was once a separate parish, with one of the largest estate farms in the country, and many tenants crofts. The church, built in 1857, was restored in 1964 and is part of the National Museum's Historic Buildings Collection. On the hill and around it, traces of the old farmhouse and other buildings can still be seen, although they are somewhat overgrown with grass. It should be kept in mind that the area's magnificent nature is very delicate and must be treated with great care and respect.

Location: By road 42. 1km west of Grænavatn which is 3km south-west of Kleifarvatn