Hotel Rangá is an ideal base for exploring the marvels within Iceland’s famed Golden Circle

by Claire Williams / Photography courtesy of Hotel Rangá

Looking out over Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland's fourth largest glacier atop the volcano Katla, spanning roughly the size of Chicago (230 square miles), if you're not taken aback by the striking landscape of the black volcanic rock mountains veiled by melted patches of white ice and the thick tunneled walls within the ice cave (formed by the glacier meltwater), you're sure to be humbled by a sensation of smallness. Standing on a glacier whose genesis has BC written after it and has lived and evolved through a time we can only imagine, you become aware that our experience in this lifetime is just a blip. We were lucky enough to witness the glacier when a rare ring shape had formed within the ice (the glacier is constantly changing with ice melting, making each visit unique), creating a picture-perfect aperture to survey the vastness below.

Hotel Rangá is a norther lights hotel located in the Icelandic countryside far away from most light pollution.

As an American, I'm no stranger to feeling small in a country of sprawling and impressive National Parks and cities with skyscrapers towering above one another. However, Iceland's terrain feels otherworldly in terms of its raw and seemingly untouched natural features and the fact that it doesn't resemble anywhere else (evidenced by the many sci-fi movies like Star Wars and Interstellar filmed there).

A high-tech observatory is concealed within a humble wooden cabin at Hotel Rangá.

Only a few worldwide destinations merit a double dip on one's bucket list, but Iceland is undoubtedly worthy. Here's why: the mainland of Iceland is only a few degrees south of the Arctic Circle, creating a dichotomy of summers when the sun never sets and winters full of dark and starry punctuated by the occasional aurora borealis. Thus, the island nation, about the size of Kentucky, is worth two visits to experience the drastic differences due to seasonality.

We touched down in Reykjavik near the end of May and were lucky to experience the beginning of summer in Iceland. The sun barely set, but we still needed a jacket to ward off the remainder of winter's lingering chill. At the fringes of Reykjavik's metropolitan area, nature grabs the spotlight, with ancient lava fields covered in spongy moss and mountains in the foreground. We made our way to the south to Hotel Rangá (hotelranga.is), a roughly two-hour drive from Reykjavik in the township of Hella and an ideal location for less driving and more access to the island's marquee attractions.

Arriving at Hotel Rangá, the sprawling ranch-style hotel, resembling a hunting lodge, sits alone amid a vast landscape that's bleak in a poetic sort of way. Owner Friðrik Pálsson greeted us at the front desk, standing next to Hrammur, a taxidermy polar bear standing on its hind legs so that one can truly appreciate all eight feet of the largest terrestrial carnivore. This moment of surprise is one of many in a hotel where the owner's idiosyncratic tendencies shine through in the whimsical design.

Hotel Rangá has 51 rooms, including eight suites individually decorated in homage to each continent. My favorite is the Iceland suite, which has a moveable breakfast nook via a rotating floor and a cozy comforter on the bed resembling a giant Icelandic sweater and knitted by local artists. After completing the commission, the artisans made it very clear to Pálsson that it would be their first and last giant sweater. Pálsson pointed to several of the hotel's 150 original artworks en route to our room. Most are attributed to local artists and derive inspiration from Iceland and its history. Cookie cutter it is not; a sense of place is palpable everywhere. From the moment I crossed the threshold, I was overcome with a feeling of "home," although I'd never been there.

Before dining at Rangá Restaurant, a drink at the bar is a must for an education in Icelandic gin and whiskey. As a native Kentuckian, I was pleased to find out the hotel has the largest whiskey selection in Iceland. One local specialty I grew fond of was an Icelandic single malt variety from Flóki Whiskey. Smoked with sheep dung, this whiskey's flavor profile is reminiscent of peated whiskey.

Rangá Restaurant offers modern Nordic cuisine with elevated local proteins such as salmon and lamb, but also more out-of-the-box (for non-Icelanders) options such as a reindeer carpaccio with truffle oil that I think I ordered for almost every meal. Rangá's diverse menu means guests don't need to search for dining elsewhere, which can sometimes be difficult in this sparsely populated region.

Hotel Rangá is positioned on the banks of the East Rangá River, a hot spot for salmon fishing and Iceland's most productive salmon river system for two decades. Several geothermal hot tubs dot the landscape outside the guestrooms and are ideal for quiet contemplation of the vast grasslands, reminiscent of the Great Plains. Enjoying the various health benefits of bathing in thermal baths is an Icelandic tradition dating back to settlement in the second half of the ninth century.

Snowmobiling tour with Southwest Adventure.

In addition to facilitating guests' access to Iceland's greatest hits, Pálsson is also on a mission to be a leader in innovation among independent Icelandic hoteliers. The newest addition to the amenities at Hotel Rangá is an unassuming wooden house built adjacent to the hotel. Inside, Pálsson spared no expense in tricking out the interior with the best telescopes in Iceland. The observatory's retractable roof makes it ideal for enjoying the Northern Lights and other celestial bodies, and on clear nights, a local astronomer takes guests on an engaging tour of the heavens. Cap off the experience with a starry night cocktail in the hotel bar.

Hotel Rangá embodies a passion project at every level, with Pálsson's ardor for his home country's culture, cuisine, and natural beauty wonderfully celebrated in details both great and small.

The advantageous timing of our trip, with its extended hours of daylight, offered more time to explore in Southcoast Adventure's (southadventure.is) "Super Jeeps," which are standard 4x4s highly modified to power through various terrain and weather conditions that can turn on a dime. Adventure-ready accouterments were necessary as bumpy, paved roads gave way to dirt roads before there were no discernable roads at all.

By some estimates, Iceland has 10,000 waterfalls, so many that passenger "oohs" and "aahs" subsided after a few hours. We marveled at the colorful houses lining the roads, resembling early Fisher Price "Little People" houses. Because it was lambing season, these scenes were even more idyllic with ewes and their frolicking offspring. The purity of Icelandic sheep's lineage, an essential part of Iceland's heritage and a key to survival is credited to centuries of isolation and a total absence of contact with others.

Bouncing along in dune buggies through the badlands of Rangárþing Eystra, on the south coast of Iceland, we seemed like mere ants in the face of the surrounding mountains' verdant valleys interspersed with the occasional waterfall, including Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss, the latter of which is the height of an 18-story building.

One of Iceland's most impressive waterfalls is Gulfoss, a double-tiered cascade plunging 105 feet into a canyon of the Hvítá River. It is a part of Iceland's Golden Circle, a route that also includes the Thingvellir National Park and the Geysir geothermal area. If you find yourself on the Golden Circle and can plan your trip far enough in advance, book a table at Friðheimar (fridheimar.is/en), an attraction in its own right. This family-run, tomato-to-table restaurant has guests noshing everything tomato, fresh from greenhouses that do double-duty as dining rooms. And if the tomato soup bar and fresh bloody Mary's weren't enough, they also have a wine bar.

On our final night, we had the pleasure of having an intimate evening in the Caves of Hella (cavesofhella.is), ancient man-made caves whose origins are shrouded in mystery but were likely built by some of Iceland's first settlers. In the caves, you're regaled with local ghost stories and Viking lore. The acoustics were perfect as Pálsson's daughter, Ingibjörg, treated us to a private concert of Icelandic songs (and a few of her original compositions) as we sipped on local liquors and nibbled regional delicacies, including Greylag geese.

A familiar theme on this trip, within the belly of the Caves of Hella, I once again experienced moments of awe and smallness. As I surveyed the towering human-made sandstone walls, we noted areas where 9th-century settlers carved their loved one's names into the wall, not unlike contemporary teenagers cementing their affection on a tree trunk tree in a park. How would they react, I wondered, if they knew their love letters in stone would remain for us to ponder over a thousand years later, leading us to speculate on their identity and daily lives?

Iceland is a destination that forces you to view our world in some of its rawest forms, seemingly untouched by human intervention, and reevaluate your relationship with nature. Such stark and powerful beauty inspires the kind of deep thinking that puts everything into perspective. In my case, it was the realization that you get 76 summers and winters if you're lucky. I hope to get at least one more to spend experiencing Iceland in winter.

Wonderment in the Wilderness