The cave Víðgelmir

Location:  71 km from Borgarnes, about 8 km from Husafell closed to road no 58. This is about 50 km from guesthouse Milli Vina. It is a nice daytrip from our house.

Cave Viðgelmir is in the Fljótstunga district and is one of the largest lava caves in the world. It is 148,000 cubic meters in size and 1585 m long. This cave contains natural ice sculptures and also stalagmites and stalactites. The cave is protected, and therefore locked, but can be entered in a guide from Fljótstunga.
The traces of human habitation of the cave are now kept in the National Museum in the capital.  Archaeologists have dated them back to the Viking Age.

Lava stalactites and ropes are created when the rest of the lava flows are leaving their courses by the still molten lava dropping from the ceiling and being stretched along the walls of the tubes. Traces of human habitation have been found in the cave. The entrance of the cave is accessible by 4wd vehicles.

The cave is open to the public for the first 70 m only.  It was declared a protected site in 1991.

The cave Surtshellir (Surt's Cave)

Location: 63 km from Borgarnes, 14 km from Husafell on mountain road no. 578. It is a nice daytrip from our guesthouse Milli Vina.

Surtshellir is in the Hallmundarhraun lava field. Surtshellir is a group of volcanic tunnels in western Iceland recorded in the Landnámabók manuscript, is named after Surtr.The cave is among the best known in Iceland. In the saga it says that the cave is named after the giant Surtur, a prominent figure in Norse mythology, who is prophesied to one day engulf the world in the fire of his flaming sword. There are poets composed verses in his honour and recited them at the mouth of the cave.

In Landnáma and Harðarsaga you can read about a story of a band of outlaws who had their stronghold in the cave and stole livestock off the heaths and from the farms. Evidence of their existence has been found in the form of the bones of sheep and oxen eaten for food in several of the tunnels. It tells that it was very difficult to attack them in the cave, because of their strong defensive position. The story tells that at long last they were surprised as they lay sleeping in a hollow (Vopnalág or "Weapon Hollow"). Hellismannasaga (the Cave Dwellers Saga) probably originated in these events. There are many places in that area with names that bear witness to Hellismannasaga.

(inform. from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surtshellir and http://www.nat.is/travelguideeng/cave_surtshellir.htm)

Cave Surtshellir is Iceland´s most well-known lavacave. It is an enormous lava tube which is easily explored.The cave is 1310 m long and 8 - 10 m high, but at the west end it is only 2 - 4 m high. If you want ot walk in the cave it is made more difficult by large rocks that have fallen from the roof and you have to have some light with you to be able to see.  The innermost part, where the ceiling is lower, is called "The Ice Cave", where one usually sees remarkable ice formations, ice candles and columns, sometimes all the way up to the ceiling. This part of the cave is the most easily passable part, but also a very slippery one, and the most beautiful as well.