Kverna Guesthouse

Basic accommodation.

This is a tough review, because all things considered, still probably the same place we would stay in the area. It was the right price and had a very clean hotel room despite some other reviews, but, bathrooms were common (i.e. in hallway). This building is effectively a dorm, as it used to be a boarding school. Perfect for a one night stay over. Water was VERY sulphury but that comes with the territory. Don't come here if you want luxury and an in unit bathroom, but it does the job. Friendly staff. We were also put in the side building, not the main building.

This place was not great. It’s a bit rundown and not very welcoming. An old building like this has the potential to be charming or rustic with a little effort, but as things are it’s more sketchy and frankly creepy. There are quite a few guests there relative to the number of bathrooms available, especially given that one bathroom had the sink out of order (no sinks in the rooms). With the high volume of guests in limited bathrooms, some additional effort could be put into keeping up with maintaining the cleanliness of the bathrooms. Waiting 10 minutes for hot water is also less than ideal, our door did not latch, and the linens were alarmingly itchy. Some very simple fixes could be helpful in making this place a comfortable stay in a fabulous location, but it just does not seem like the effort is there.

This is a former school sloppily turned into a hotel. I think hotel is pushing it. It's a fancy hostel at best. If you've been to college it's likely very similar to your freshman year dorm except somehow much smaller. My wife and I were so exhausted from trekking all over that we just put in ear plugs, stacked the luggage in front of the door and tried to sleep. I actually got a fine night's sleep. The bed was fine, the sheets appeared to be clean and the noise around us was able to be blocked out by the ear plugs we brought. The facility has nothing in the way of amenities other than the free included breakfast which was unremarkable but acceptable. The place is in a great spot and with an almost total gut-job remodel, could keep pace with the quality most of the other accommodations around it. If you're desperate to save money, there are savings to be had but if you are wanting to use the bathroom without waiting and showing in water which does not smell like egg farts, look elsewhere.

Don't be fooled by their grand name or exorbitant price tag - this place is a low-grade youth hostel. (Hotel, spa, and gym? Nope). It is a former school in a crumbling, USSR-style concrete building. Contrary to what it said on *******, there are only shared bathrooms here. Our room, which was billed as a "family room," didn't even have a sink, though some other rooms had one. The only bathroom on our floor (containing all the showers, sinks and toilets for everyone on our floor) was out of order due to "contamination"?! Maybe you'd like to ask a staff member where the other bathrooms are? No one is at the desk and there's no way to ring for them. When I finally got a shower, the water was slippery (I don't know how else to describe it) and smelled of a mix of sulfur (to be expected in Iceland) and petroleum (not expected). Breakfast was OK, except that the hot water for tea was contaminated with what might have been coffee grounds, maybe. The location is nice, a 1 mile walk to the Skógafoss waterfall. If you like the youth hostel atmosphere and quality for the price of very nice accomodations in New York City, then definitely stay here. Otherwise, go somewhere else.