What to Eat in Selfoss: South Coast Cafes and Local Dishes

What Selfoss Does Best: Everyday Icelandic Food

Selfoss sits where Route 1 meets the Ölfusá river, about 55 minutes east of Reykjavík and an hour from the Kefrið area, which makes it the natural meal stop between the capital and Vík. The town itself is small and workaday rather than picturesque, and that is precisely why its food is good value: it serves locals as well as travellers. Expect lamb soup, fish of the day, plokkfiskur (fish and potato mash), rye bread and skyr rather than tasting menus. Most kitchens run all day from around 11:00 to 21:00, with a shorter window on Sundays.

The classic dishes to seek out are kjötsúpa, a lamb and root vegetable soup that appears on nearly every menu in south Iceland, and lamb fillet or shoulder simply roasted. Seafood is landed at Þorlákshöfn, 25 minutes down the coast, so haddock, cod and Arctic char are usually fresh rather than frozen. For something sweet, look for skyr with cream and berries, kleina (a twisted fried pastry) and rúgbrauð, the dense dark rye traditionally baked by burying it near geothermal ground. Portions are generous; a soup plus bread often suffices for lunch.

Cafes, Bakeries and Where to Sit Down

Central Selfoss is compact enough to walk in ten minutes. Along Austurvegur and the streets off it you will find a handful of cafes and bakeries doing good business at breakfast and around 15:00, plus a supermarket (Bónus and Krónan both have branches in town) for self-catering. Bakeries generally open by 07:30 and sell out of the popular dark loaves by mid-morning. If you are driving the Ring Road east, filling up and eating here rather than at the larger service stops further along saves time and usually money.

For a sit-down dinner, the cluster around the river and the old town end of Austurvegur is where most visitors end up, with a couple of hotel restaurants offering broader menus and children's portions. Vegetarian choice has improved but remains limited outside Reykjavík, so it is worth checking a menu before committing. I would book one proper dinner in town and keep the rest flexible: Selfoss rewards a quick lunch stop rather than a destination meal. Staying overnight in Selfoss rather than pushing on to Vík splits the drive sensibly and puts you at the Golden Circle and the south coast waterfalls early, before the coach traffic.

Worth the Detour: Farm Shops and Greenhouses

Two food stops within 40 minutes of Selfoss justify a small detour. At Friðheimar, near Reykholt on the Golden Circle road, tomatoes grow under lights in geothermal greenhouses and the cafe serves tomato soup, fresh bread and tomato beer; booking a table ahead matters in July and August, and it makes an easy lunch between Geysir and Flúðir. In Flúðir itself, the mushroom farm sells varieties you rarely see on restaurant menus, and the village has a small selection of cafes. Both are family-friendly and open year-round, with shorter hours in winter.

On the coast, the harbour at Eyrarbakki and Stokkseyri, 20 to 25 minutes southwest of Selfoss, has a handful of seafood restaurants in old buildings, and Eyrarbakki's heritage museum and seafront are a pleasant way to spend an hour. Further east, Hvolsvöllur and the Vík area have farm shops selling skyr, cheese and ice cream made on site. Best months for this kind of eating are June to September, when opening hours are longest; in January some rural kitchens open weekends only, so phone ahead or check online before driving.

Practical Eating: Costs, Times and Skipping the Wrong Thing

Iceland is expensive for food, and the south coast is no exception. As a rough planning band rather than a quoted price, budget for a cafe lunch of soup and bread in the lower-to-middle range, a main course in a mid-range restaurant noticeably more, and a supermarket picnic the cheapest option by far. Alcohol is heavily taxed and only sold in state Vínbúðin shops, so buy a bottle in Reykjavík or Selfoss if you want wine with dinner rather than paying restaurant prices. Tap water is excellent everywhere and free; ask for it.

What to skip: the petrol-station hot dog can be a fond Icelandic habit, but it is not the reason to stop in Selfoss, and buffets aimed squarely at tour groups tend to be the weakest value in town. Do not plan a late dinner after 21:00 outside summer, and do not assume rural cafes take cards without a PIN — most do, but a backup payment method is wise. The best single move is to sleep in Selfoss, eat breakfast locally, and reach Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss before the day-trip buses arrive around mid-morning.