Torfhús Retreat

I was really excited to stay at Torfhus, as we tend to stay at places with an 'off the grid' luxury slant. The good: -the restaurant was wonderful. They were more flexible than past reviews would lead you to believe. You can order a single course, a few courses, or the whole four-course deal. -breakfast was plentiful and assorted. -the hot tubs were great. -location is gorgeous, and it's certainly fairly isolated. Restaurants are mostly at a distance, so if you need other food or items, bring them with you. -staff were wonderful. The bad: -the rooms are HOT. Even with temps in the 40s and the windows open, we were hot the entire stay. -rooms are fairly small and pretty sparse. We had two hangers for the whole room. No iron or ironing board. Small fridge. -there are really no amenities. The main house is really just a restaurant. -housekeeping is minimal. They make the bed and give you new towels if asked. No turn down service or refreshing of the room. -the horses are not really on property - they're behind a fence next door. You may or may not have them come up and interact. -the TV is locked into a frame and the ports are inaccessible. While I didn't come to watch TV, I like the background noise and couldn't hook up my Roku and all the channels were in Icelandic.

We had an outstanding experience. The rooms were beautiful and the food delicious, but most of all, the staff was exceptional. They were kind, professional and friendly, and when we had an emergency they went totally above and beyond to help. Roberto especially rose to the occasion, but everyone there was so kind and helpful. Couldn’t recommend more highly!

In this category of high end hotels, good service is expected. Torfus completely fails in this area. We mistakenly booked two rooms rather than one due to difficulty with the website, and we failed to notice the mistake until we arrived. Torfhus is within its right to charge us for both, although since they were far from full, it would have been better customer relations not to charge for the second room. We also found the staff to be generally inattentive. As an example, we were told to take a seat as they finished readying the room and that someone would bring us a drink. The staff who were gathered around the coffee machine with the repairman completely ignored us. The rooms are replicas of the traditional sod houses. Each one has a lovely stone hot tub, but is otherwise unremarkable. The hotel is located in a flat meadow with views of the surrounding hills. There are geysers and waterfalls short drives from the hotel but there are much more reasonably priced hotels in the same general area so we had expected this to be a cut above the others in terms of service.. and it was definitely not. Truly excellent.On the positive side we ate in the restaurant which offers only a set menu and found it to be re

Torfus Retreat was absolutely amazing, accommodations were impeccably designed and food was incredible. I really hope to return some day ! Private little Geothermal pool right behind our room! Staff was so friendly and welcoming. One of the best meals of my life. Perfect location to visit all the best spots around the golden circle but hard to leave the cozy turf house rooms!

We stayed at Torfus Retreat for 2 nights in early February. We enjoyed our stay, and there were very few guests. Although we didn't have dinner, the breakfast offered a good variety. Everything was clean and well-maintained, with a great Viking ambiance, especially in the main building. Our room, a trofbear in the Thor group (room #3), was the farthest from the main house and near the horse stable. The floor heating made the room slow to cool down; we slept with all three windows open the first night and adjusted the heat earlier the second night. Great bed with both a thin and thick pillow for each. The shared hot tub was right outside our room, and we had it to ourselves. The complimentary minibar was restocked daily with champagne, beer, water, and a soft drink. The in-room coffee machine was a nice touch. The door locks are unnecessarily a pain in the neck. One criticism is the arrival process. There is no way to alert the hotel that you are waiting at the gate; you have to call, which can be problematic. (I forgot to put the “+” sign before the number) We were stuck outside for 20 minutes until we were noticed on the security monitors. There should be a call button or intercom at the gate. We received a gate opener after checking in. The retreat is located right off the Golden Circle, with easy access to many attractions. We particularly enjoyed Faxifoss, just down the road over a very narrow bridge. Alternate dining is around 20 minutes away, but have early closing hours in the winter.

We just enjoyed a wonderful stay in the Lodge for New Year. Four fantastic nights, the lodge was simply stunning. So comfortable and the sauna, hot bath and cold plunge were amazing. We were lucky enough to see some incredible northern lights shows on several days which felt very special. The absolute stars of the trip were the delightful Seb and Elle who looked after us incredibly well. Nothing was any trouble at all and they really went all out to help us enjoy our time in the lodge. The food choices were ideal and the cooking was unbelievable. Everything that they set up and the overall attention they showed us was outstanding. They made our son feel very special and looked after too which was very kind. We would recommend everything about our trip to the Torfhus. It was bliss!