Where to Stay in Selfoss
Curated by Our Guild Explorers · Updated August 2026
Selfoss is the largest town in southern Iceland — about ten thousand people on a broad grey river, forty-five minutes east of Reykjavík on the ring road — and it is the most useful and least glamorous decision on this whole website. Nobody comes to Iceland to see Selfoss. What Selfoss does is put you within an hour of Þingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss, Keríð and the Reykjadalur hot river, on flat ground, with proper supermarkets and a swimming pool, for meaningfully less than the same room costs in the capital. If your trip is a few days of day trips rather than a Ring Road circuit, this is where a sensible traveller sleeps.
Choosing Your Side of the River
A flat town in two halves, and a scattering of cottages in the farmland around it.
In the town, or out in the farmland?
The town centre, on the east bank around the old dairy and the reconstructed timber square, is flat, walkable and has the restaurants, the bakery and the big supermarkets. This is the practical choice: you can park once and walk to dinner. The west bank, across the old suspension bridge, is quieter and residential, five minutes on foot from the middle. The farmland around Selfoss — out towards Keríð, Flúðir and the Golden Circle — is where the cottages and small guesthouses are, with dark skies for the aurora and a car needed for everything, including breakfast. One quiet advantage of the whole area for our readers: it is genuinely flat, which after a week of Icelandic cliff paths and church steps is a mercy.
The best in town
Two full-service hotels, both modern, both a great deal cheaper than the equivalent room in Reykjavík.
Hotel Selfoss
The town’s main hotel, standing on the bank of the Ölfusá with a spa, a restaurant and river-facing rooms. It is modern, fully lifted and easy to arrive at with luggage, which is more than can be said for a good many Icelandic addresses. It is also five minutes’ walk from the supermarkets and the town square. If you want one reliable base for three or four days of Golden Circle days out, book this and stop thinking about it.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Hotel South Coast
A newer hotel in Selfoss aimed squarely at people driving the south, with contemporary rooms, a restaurant and the sort of straightforward, well-run comfort that a long driving day earns. Being new, it is level to enter and properly lifted throughout. Good value compared with anything similar in the capital.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Apartments & family stays
This is Selfoss’s real strength. Apartments with kitchens turn an expensive country into a manageable one, and the town has two big supermarkets to fill them from.
Thoristun Apartments
Well-kept apartments in the town itself, with proper kitchens and separate bedrooms, and the supermarket a short drive or a walk away. For a family, or for two couples, this is both cheaper and more comfortable than hotel rooms — and being able to cook breakfast and pack lunches is the single biggest saving available on an Iceland trip.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Bella Apartments & Rooms
A friendly, straightforward apartment house in Selfoss offering both rooms and self-catering units, which makes it flexible for a group travelling with different needs. Quiet, easy parking, and the price is one of the reasons people base themselves here rather than in Reykjavík.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Budget & value
The cheapest honest beds within an hour of the Golden Circle.
Gesthus Selfoss
Small self-catering cottages on the edge of Selfoss near the river, the kind of simple, wooden, Icelandic accommodation that suits a couple of nights perfectly well and costs a fraction of a hotel room. You park at the door, which matters more than it sounds when the wind is up and you are unloading a fortnight’s luggage.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Selfoss Hostel
The town’s hostel, with private rooms as well as dormitories and a kitchen you can use, in a good central position. It is the cheapest bed in Selfoss and a perfectly civilised one. As always with hostels, check which rooms have a private bathroom and whether there are stairs before you book.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Adults-only & grown-up quiet
Selfoss has no adults-only hotel that Trip.com sells, and we would rather say so than steer you at something we have not checked. The quiet here is in the countryside rather than in a hotel policy: the cottages and small guesthouses out towards Keríð, Flúðir and the Golden Circle are dark, silent and often have a hot tub on the deck, and several of the country hotels in that farmland are adult in feel if not in rule. The browse link below will show you what is genuinely available, and you can filter by rating and property type there.
Browse quiet stays near Selfoss ›Pet-friendly
We could not verify a pet-friendly hotel in Selfoss through our Trip.com partner, so there is no booking button here. In this part of Iceland the pet-friendly accommodation is nearly all self-catering cottages on the surrounding farms. Use the honest browse link below with the pet-friendly filter for your dates, and confirm the policy and any fee with the property directly before you travel.
Browse pet-friendly stays near Selfoss ›Pools and hot water
Selfoss has an excellent municipal swimming pool — outdoor, geothermal, with hot pots and a slide — open all year and costing a few dollars, and it is a five-minute drive from every hotel on this page. Fifteen minutes west at Hveragerði the ground steams in the middle of town and the walk up Reykjadalur brings you to a river warm enough to sit in. Forty-five minutes north-east, the Secret Lagoon at Flúðir is the oldest swimming pool in Iceland and a far quieter soak than the Blue Lagoon. Hotel Selfoss has its own spa; otherwise, do what the town does and use the pool.
Browse Selfoss stays with a pool or hot tub ›Don’t see your perfect fit?
Every hotel in Selfoss on Trip.com, with live prices and availability. Booking through our links supports Destinations Guild at no extra cost to you.
Browse all Selfoss hotels ›Selfoss Hotel FAQ
Why stay in Selfoss instead of Reykjavík?
Money and position. A comparable room in Selfoss is typically a good deal cheaper than in the capital, parking is free and easy, and you begin each morning already forty-five minutes east — which means you reach Þingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss or Keríð before the coaches that left Reykjavík after breakfast. If your plan is day trips rather than city evenings, Selfoss wins on every count except restaurants.
How far is Selfoss from the Golden Circle?
Comfortably inside an hour for all of it. Keríð crater is about twenty minutes, the Geysir area roughly fifty, Gullfoss just over an hour, and Þingvellir about fifty-five minutes by the northern road. The Secret Lagoon at Flúðir is about forty-five minutes. Skógafoss and the south coast run the other way, an hour and a quarter east.
Is Selfoss walkable?
The town is, and it is flat, which is worth saying plainly — there are no hills, no cobbles and no church steps here. You can walk from most of the accommodation to the supermarkets, the bakery and the reconstructed town square without effort. What is not walkable is anything outside the town; for that you need the car.
Is there anything to see in Selfoss itself?
Modestly, yes. The old suspension bridge and the river walk, the reconstructed square of historic Icelandic timber houses in the town centre, the Bobby Fischer Center and the grave of the chess champion at Laugardælir church just outside town, and one of the best bakeries in south Iceland. It is a working Icelandic town rather than a sight, and half a day is plenty.
Where do I do the shopping?
Here, and this is a genuinely useful piece of advice: Selfoss has the last full-size supermarkets before the south coast. If you are heading east towards Vík, Höfn or the glacier lagoon, stock the car in Selfoss. Prices beyond here rise steadily and the choice narrows to petrol-station shelves.
Is Selfoss a good winter base?
One of the better ones. It sits on the main road, the road east and the road to the Golden Circle are among the first to be cleared, and you are close enough to Reykjavík to retreat if the weather turns. Dark skies begin a few minutes outside town, which makes the aurora an easy evening drive rather than an expedition.
Are there lifts and level access?
In the two main hotels, yes — both are modern buildings with lifts and level entrances, which is not universal in Iceland. The apartments and cottages vary; several are single-storey with parking at the door, which is often the easiest arrangement of all. Ask when you book.
Can I visit Selfoss without a car?
You can reach it easily — the scheduled coach from Reykjavík runs several times a day and takes under an hour — but you would then be in a pleasant working town with no way to reach the sights. If you are not driving, either stay in Reykjavík and take day tours, or book tours that collect from Selfoss, which some operators do.
Ready to book your Selfoss base?
Compare every Selfoss hotel on Trip.com, with live prices and availability. Booking through our links supports Destinations Guild at no extra cost to you.