The Best Hotels Near Black Beach Suites, by the Record
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The name is literal: a black sand beach sits about a mile away, and the low-slung modern buildings here are designed with that stark volcanic landscape squarely in mind. Black Beach Suites is a self-contained apartment hotel, 36 studios and suites with kitchenettes, heated floors, and very little pretense of being a resort. A bar handles drinks and light bites, breakfast runs daily, and then you're on your own to explore glaciers, waterfalls, and narrow canyons across the Mýrdalur region.
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A glass-fronted modernist hotel on Iceland's south coast, a four-minute walk from a black-sand beach and well-placed on the Ring Road for anyone finally making good on their promise to leave Reykjavík. The 46 rooms are clean-lined and light-filled, which sounds modest until you've seen what the competition looks like out here. The restaurant leans on lamb, char, and Icelandic beef without veering into anything that would alarm a nervous tourist.
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Eyjafjallajökull, the volcano that grounded half of Europe, sits right outside the window of this 28-room modernist hotel on Iceland's southern coast, earning it a Michelin Key. The low-slung design hints at something sleek, but inside it leans warm and practical, very much in the Icelandic spirit. The restaurant leans on free-roaming local lamb, and the bar views are the kind that make you forget what you were drinking.
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Two glass cottages placed so far apart from each other that you'll wonder if the designers were making a point. This rural Icelandic retreat near Seljalandsfoss waterfall has no lobby, no reception, and no restaurant, which is either a selling point or a dealbreaker depending on who you are. Each cottage has a private sauna, a hot tub, and a glass ceiling angled for Northern Lights viewing. You stock the kitchenette yourself and spend your days on the South Coast.
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A log-cabin lodge on Iceland's southern coast, an hour east of Reykjavik with a volcano at its back and nothing much else for miles. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key. Rooms are wood-paneled and tucked under the eaves; the themed suites go further, each dedicated to a different continent, which sounds odd until you see the tatami room. The real draw, though, is the sky after dark during aurora season.