HotelsTroll Peninsula, Iceland
Deplar Farm is a turf-roofed sheep farm in a valley on the Troll Peninsula that Chad Pike turned into a sixteen-room lodge, and what you’re paying for is the guide assigned to your room and the geothermal pool with the swim-up bar at the end of a day of heli-skiing, horseback riding or e-biking to a waterfall. The ratio of staff to guests is close to five to one, and it shows: one couple got a full day of low-impact alternatives arranged on the spot after a fall from a horse, another was walked through mocktail pairings all week because one of them doesn’t drink. The all-inclusive activities and private guiding are the real reason this works at the price.
The catch is dinner. Breakfast and dinner default to a single 32-person communal table, and opting out costs extra, ISK 20,000 a head by one account, $180 flat by another. Some guests end up loving the forced mingling; others call it the opposite of what they wanted from a remote romantic trip, and more than one found the food itself just okay for what they’d paid, with a wine list that keeps getting upsold even when premium bottles were already included. Price the communal table in before you book, not after, because the rest of the stay is not built around opting out of things.
If what you want is wide-open adventure terrain and a staff that treats you like a returning relative rather than a guest, this earns the splurge. If you want a quiet two-top dinner every night without a surcharge, or guaranteed powder on the heli-ski days, you’ll be fighting the format. For everyone else, book it for the valley, the pool, and the guide who’ll rearrange your whole week around you.
Each out of 20. The tick on every bar is where the collection starts.
Service 18/20
A private guide is assigned to every room, and guests describe staff adapting plans on the fly after a fall from a horse or a snowed-out activity.
Rooms & Design 16.5/20
A turf-roofed former sheep farm with sixteen rooms done in a modern-rustic-Scandinavian style, plus a recording studio and a library with fireplaces.
Location 18.5/20
A remote valley on the Troll Peninsula ringed by mountains and glaciers, with access to heli-skiing, whale watching and e-biking from the door.
Dining 14.5/20
Dinner defaults to a 32-seat communal table unless you pay extra for privacy, and the food gets called merely okay almost as often as phenomenal.
Wellness 17/20
The outdoor geothermal pool with its swim-up bar is the thing nearly everyone mentions first, alongside the sauna, steam and cold plunge.
Drags the score
I’d think twice before booking heli-ski weeks here hoping for powder.
Apr 2026
Iceland’s wind is no joke, strong enough that I’ve skipped skiing there entirely on trips when conditions looked sketchy. If I were paying heli-ski prices, I’d want a real shot at good snow, and that’s not a guarantee here even in a big snow year. I’d treat it as a one-off novelty rather than the main reason to go.
Lifts the score
Of everywhere I’ve looked at in Iceland, this is the one place that actually feels special.
Mar 2026
I’ve done Iceland twice, once as a full road trip and once based out of Reykjavik for day trips. Iceland doesn’t really have many true luxury properties, but this is the clear standout among them.
Red flag
At around $5,000 a night, this just isn’t the kind of Iceland trip I was looking for.
Andrew Rose jr Jun 2024
The price puts it out of reach for most people, and it doesn’t match what I wanted out of visiting Iceland in the first place. It felt more like stepping into an exclusive club than actually connecting with the country and its landscape.
Red flag
After seventeen days in Iceland, this was the most expensive stop and the least worth it for us.
jankaptijn Aug 2026
We knew it was remote going in, but the communal dining wasn’t our thing, and asking for a private table got us charged ISK 20,000 per person on top of the room rate. The all-inclusive label isn’t accurate either. We paid an extra EUR 1000 on a private tour that was booked through a third party for less, and it wasn’t even private since the tour buses from cruise ships were at the same spots. The staff were genuinely kind and worked hard for us, which is the only reason I don’t regret it completely.
Strong endorsement
I’ve stayed in a lot of lodges and this one felt like a different category entirely.
Craig D Jul 2026
Everything about the place felt dialed in, from the rooms to the facilities to the food. Staff were polished without being stiff, and the activity guides clearly knew what they were doing even with total beginners. I’d rent a car for the drive in and out, since the scenery along the way is part of the experience. I don’t say this about many places, but I don’t expect to find anything quite like it again.
Strong endorsement
Every room felt individually designed, and the spa was one of the best parts of the whole trip.
Stella Klein Jun 2026
We had a packed activity list and guides for everything, even the stuff we’d never tried before. Meals were genuinely good, not just fine for the middle of nowhere. The view out of our window was ridiculous every single morning, and one day there were sheep right outside the door. Staff checked in constantly without hovering, which is a hard balance to get right.
“We were also greeted with sheep outside our room every morning” in their words
Strong endorsement
The drive in alone told us we were somewhere different, and the stay only built on that.
Sharonbee3 Sep 2025
We joked that we’d landed in the Valley of the Gods after seeing the snow-capped peaks ringing the property on the way in. Our room had lockers built in for hiking and sports gear, which made switching between adventure and relaxation effortless. We were nervous about the communal dinner table at first, but it turned into one of our favorite parts, trading stories with other travelers over genuinely good, fresh food. Our guide Misa took us horseback riding, whale watching and e-biking to a hidden waterfall, and the geothermal pool with its swim-up bar became our nightly wind-down.
“we jokingly started calling it the Valley of the Gods” in their words
Red flag
The communal table killed what we wanted out of a romantic getaway, and the food didn’t make up for it.
J K Sep 2025
Two hours of small talk with strangers every night isn’t my idea of romance, and the food itself was just okay for what we were paying. When we asked for a private table instead, they wanted another $180 on top of an already very high room rate. That felt like nickel-and-diming at this price.
Strong endorsement
The staff-to-guest ratio here is the best I’ve seen at a lodge like this, and it shows in every detail.
LGspartan Aug 2025
Only sixteen rooms and something like 75 staff on hand, tucked into a valley with lakes, mountains and glaciers on every side. The all-inclusive setup covers almost everything, top-notch meals, most drinks, and a personal guide who took us hiking and e-biking before we relaxed in the spa. Dinner is a three-course prix fixe at the communal table, but the real move is lunch at the Studio or the Ghost House instead. The geothermal pool, sauna, steam and cold plunge were unreal, and the owner’s love of music shows up in a full recording studio and live band setup.
Strong endorsement
We came as a family of four and every part of the trip exceeded what I expected for the kids.
Jonathan S Aug 2025
Our guides Laura, Diego and Maria were fun and sharp, and made every outing memorable for our two kids, ages seven and eleven. The property itself felt both luxurious and welcoming rather than stiff. The spa treatments were some of the best I’ve had anywhere, and the wait staff and bartenders made every meal feel like an occasion.
Strong endorsement
We came for our honeymoon expecting something TV-polished and found the real building far more interesting.
F3963LOlaurat Apr 2025
I’d seen the property on a mediocre show that only used the outside landscape and pool, with the hotel itself digitally replaced. In person it’s rugged and rustic outside, turf roof and all, with a casual elegance inside, somewhere between modern and Scandinavian farmhouse. The staff had a dry sense of humor I loved: when my husband joked about taking axes off the gym wall to play Vikings, they just said to take it outside since blood’s messy to clean up. After I fell off a horse, they rearranged our whole schedule with low-impact alternatives without any fuss, and honestly we were just as happy reading by the fire in the living room some evenings. We skipped the communal table after night one in favor of the private wine cellar, and the mocktails they made for my husband, who doesn’t drink, were genuinely great.
Strong endorsement
This was our second visit and the only real complaint was about other people’s kids at dinner.
521brucec Jan 2025
The rooms, amenities and activities all held up the second time around, and the bartenders Robert and Andrew stood out again. We don’t love group dinners as a couple, and having other people’s children at the table isn’t our idea of a getaway, but staff accommodated us with a private meal every night once we asked. Food was well done throughout. We’re already planning to come back.
Mixed read
We’ve been twice now, as a couple and as a group, and the wine upselling is the one thing that keeps bothering me.
K W Jun 2024
The pool and pool bar are unbelievable, and the spa and the Viking experience are both worth doing. Ping pong, shuffleboard, enthusiastic guides, there’s always something to do. But the food wasn’t as good this time as our last visit back in October 2022, and I find it genuinely tacky that they push pricier wine at dinner when wine is already included in the rate. I complained the first time and nothing changed; even on a buyout trip with premium wines pre-ordered, they still tried it. Also worth knowing, the pool tile gets dangerously slippery.
“Poor form and leaves a bitter taste in one’s mouth” in their words
Strong endorsement
This is my second stay and it still sits near the top of my list of remote luxury destinations.
Moe Bodner Feb 2024
My first visit was in winter and it was just as good as this one. The level of service reminded me of top Aman resorts, but there’s a warmth here, a sense of actually being looked after rather than just served, that I haven’t found elsewhere. Having activities built into the price and guides this good across the board makes a real difference to how the whole trip feels.
Deplar Farm is a luxury adventure lodge occupying a converted sheep farm in the Fljot Valley on Iceland’s Troll Peninsula, in the country’s north. The property sits within a valley bordered by mountains, glaciers and lakes, and has 16 rooms and suites, with the exterior retaining a rustic character, including a turf roof, alongside a modern Scandinavian-influenced interior.
On property, guests find a geothermal outdoor pool with a swim-up bar, along with a spa offering treatments, a sauna, a steam room and a cold plunge. A recording studio, a media room, a gym and games such as ping pong and shuffleboard are also on site. Meals are served all-inclusive, with breakfast and dinner offered at a communal table and additional dining options at the Studio and Ghost House. Personal guides lead activities such as horseback riding, hiking, e-biking, whale watching and, weather permitting, heli-skiing, with the surrounding peninsula and wider northern Iceland accessible from the lodge.
For travellers who want a remote adventure base with a private guide and genuinely wide-open activities, most guests say yes. The caveat is the communal dinner table, which some find charming and others find an unwelcome surcharge away from privacy.
Winter brings heli-skiing (weather and snow dependent, sometimes extending into early June) and a shot at the northern lights, while summer opens up hiking, horseback riding and e-biking in fuller daylight. Guests report strong experiences in both seasons.
Yes, including a wine cellar and spaces like the Studio and Ghost House, but it costs extra on top of the room rate rather than being included, which has irritated some guests who didn’t expect the upcharge.
Couples and small groups who want an outdoorsy, guide-led Icelandic trip with a high level of comfort to come back to. It suits people happy to share a dinner table with strangers most nights, and it’s a weaker fit for anyone wanting total privacy or a guaranteed powder day.
It’s widely considered one of the only true luxury properties in Iceland outside Reykjavik and the Blue Lagoon area, trading city convenience for genuine remoteness and guided wilderness access that nothing closer to the capital can match.
Two routes, and both end with the reservation sitting at the hotel in your name. Direct on the hotel’s own site is the fastest — the Reserve button on this page goes straight to it. The other is through a travel advisor with consortia access: you pay the same rate the hotel is charging publicly, the hotel pays the advisor’s commission instead of you, and an amenity package comes attached — breakfast for two daily, even on room-only rates, $100 property credit for food, drink or spa, room upgrade, subject to availability, early check-in and late check-out, subject to availability. We handle that side ourselves for readers who ask.
Through a travel advisor with consortia access, for almost everyone. You pay the hotel’s own public rate and an amenity package comes on top that direct booking doesn’t include — typically breakfast for two daily, even on room-only rates, $100 property credit for food, drink or spa, room upgrade, subject to availability, early check-in and late check-out, subject to availability. It costs nothing extra, because the hotel pays the commission rather than you. The one real exception is brand loyalty: advisor rates don’t always earn nights toward status, so if you’re chasing a tier or points, book direct. Short of that, there’s no version of booking direct that leaves you better off. We’re advisors ourselves, so you can just ask us.
Never guaranteed — it depends on what’s still unsold the day you arrive, and anyone promising one is guessing. Two things move the odds. The reliable one is booking through a consortia programme, where a room upgrade is written into the amenity package subject to availability; it costs nothing extra and it is the closest thing to a lever that exists. The other is telling the hotel in advance that you’re celebrating something, which works more often than people expect. The first part is already handled if you book it with us.
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When something worth knowing happens in fat travel — a verdict that shifted, an opening worth waiting for, a hotel that earned its place — we write.
