Ekkjufellsvöllur

Egilsstaðir sits at the heart of East Iceland, a region defined by deep fjords, birch valleys, and the vast Lagarfljót river lake — one of the longest lakes in Iceland and home to its own rumored serpent in local folklore. Ekkjufellsvöllur is the golf course serving this remote but genuinely beautiful corner of the country, where the summer light barely fades and rounds well past 10 p.m. are entirely ordinary from June through August.

Icelandic golf courses outside the Reykjavík capital region tend to be community-driven, honest layouts shaped as much by the land's constraints as by any design ambition, and Ekkjufellsvöllur fits that tradition. The course takes its name from Ekkjufell, the distinctive widow's peak mountain that frames the town, and playing here means that landmark is a constant presence on the horizon — a natural orientation point that no scorecard can capture.

For visiting golfers, the appeal is less about technical difficulty and more about the sheer improbability of the setting: lush green fairways carved from subarctic terrain, reindeer occasionally wandering nearby, and the kind of unhurried pace that the East Fjords region quietly insists upon.