Right before arriving in the town the mountain Ingólfsfjall rises up in front of the town. The Icelandic Sagas mention that Ingólfur Arnarson, the first settler of Iceland, stayed under the mountain during the winter of 873-74. However it was Þórir Árnarson who settled Selfoss sometime after the year 1000.
Nearby places: Hveragerði, Reykjadalur, Kerið, Hvolsvöllur
The river Ölfusá is Iceland’s largest river by volume and runs through the town. In the summer of 1891 the first suspension bridge was built over the river and was a breakthrough in infrastructure for Iceland and marked the beginning of the town as a successful service centre of trade and industry. In 1944 the bridge collapsed when two heavy trucks drove over the bridge at the same time. Building of a new bridge began right away and the new bridge was opened in 1945, still serving icelanders and visitors today.
Today Selfoss is the largest town in South Iceland with population of about 7.000 people and is the main service centre of trade and industry. Employment is known to be good and Selfoss is considered a great place to live. Variety of service is provided in the town with many stores serving the residents and surrounding towns.
Selfoss offer many good accommodations including a recently renovated Hotel, Guesthouses, Camping area, Apartments Hotel and Homestay. Selfoss has a great variety of restaurants, coffeehouses, bars and clubs. Tryggvaskáli is one of the best restaurant in Iceland located by the Ölfusá bridge and on the other side of the bridge is the famous “Pylsuvagninn” where you can try the traditional icelandic Hot dogs.
Selfoss is the ideal place to stay as it is nearby the most popular tourist attractions in South Iceland like the Golden Circle route.