The hotel's 75-year history
It was in 1930 that a married couple, Pálmi Þorsteinsson and Guðrún Guðmundsdóttir, built Varmahlíð as a farmstead on the eastern slopes of Reykjarhóll hill. In 1935, they sold the farm to Vigfús Helgason and Helga Helgadóttir, who began selling services to those passing through.
The following year a teacher, Ingibjörg Jóhannsdóttir, rented the facilities, using them for two years to operate a boarding school for children from the Lýtingsstaðir district. She also sold drinks and meals to the public until 1941. In July 1940, the British troops occupying Iceland took over these facilities and started piping geothermal water to them.
The property was bought in 1941 by a Varmahlíð cooperative which obtained a licence for selling accommodation. During the next decades, various parties managed the facilities. Ásbjörg Jóhannsdóttir bought the hotel in 1991 after operating the premises as Hotel Varmahlíð from 1973. Some of the time, postal and telephone services were also provided here. After buying the hotel, Ásbjörg Jóhannsdóttir extended the building and thoroughly renovated the older parts. This enabled her to open the hotel in greatly improved facilities in June 1993.
Finally, the present owners purchased Hotel Varmahlíð in February 2006.
Varmahlíð's first organised social gathering was the 1930 construction celebration for the new building. The hotel has been the venue for dances and other social gatherings ever since 1936, with dances continuing today in the village's first building.