Eleven Deplar Farm

Fantastic visit. The property is fantastic - rooms are great, amenities are amazing, activities available to suit everyone's needs - they were great, and the people were fantastic. There are very few organizations that really get it right when hiring people - this is one. Everyone was genuinely great. Our guide, Nicco was fantastic, and the bartender, Robert also great. They really seemed to understand us and help make our visit fantastic - but that could be said for everyone. Food was also really good and well done. Can't wait to go back. Our only negative was kids - we don't like group dinners/meals (thankfully they accommodated us and gave us a great private meal each night), but I don't want to eat dinner when we're away as a couple with other people's kids, let alone little kids running around. Not our thing - but they were great in helping to make it work for us.

I’m already thinking of excuses to go back!, the hotel, service , food , the valley, the gym, the spa… everything is worth the trip and the money. Deplar simply exceeds expectations. The hotel rate already includes food , guided tours, drinks etc…

We visited Deplar Farm in the summer of 2021 and loved it so much that we decided to try a winter visit. We really enjoyed the very relaxed winter rhythm here. The hours of daylight are limited, but we still managed to be very active. And the lodge is super cozy in the winter. We had hoped to see the northern lights. They didn’t cooperate, but we did see some very unusual clouds, which the locals said are quite rare (see my photos). Visit. It’s expensive, but you won’t regret what you pay.

We were greeted at the airport by our personal guide who accompanied us and helped guide us throughout our stay. She was an excellent guide, taking us for coffee at the Botanic Gardens on our arrival, arranging for a helicopter ride to view the volcanoes, taking us on a hike to beautiful waterfalls, arranging a private lunch for us at a small cabin on property, and setting up our spa sessions. She made our trip something wonderful and very special. The restaurant food service was also outstanding with the staff catering to all special food and drink requests. Meals at the common table were the best as we got so much out of conversations with our fellow world travelers, a great mix of international folks with tales to tell. This comfortable and beautiful resort was a great surprise and pleasure.

We spent a great couple of days at Deplar. The all inclusive nature and the activity focus work really well with the layout of the lodge and the outposts. Great wellness area with a perfectly designed heated outdoor pool. Nice Bar, great cocktails. Great music, also a nice vinyl collection you can browse and listen to in the bar. They should manage music better though, if you don’t actively tell them what to play they play one single playlist, that repeats every couple of hours, every single day and wherever you are. We listened to Billy Joels Vienna more than 10 times during our stay (Great song though, it‘s still stuck in my head). We will definitely be back. The area with substantial room for improvement is food and wine: Food: They could do a better job at asking what type of food your party likes and adjust a bit more. For example some people like a larger lunch and a smaller dinner. Here you only get soup and salad for lunch, if you don’t actively tell them otherwise. In general food was soso: some dishes were delicious while others were bland and uninspiring. Overall not a foodie place. They also made multiple mistakes regarding our stated food preference (chopped lamb sausage in an appetizer, despite a ‚no lamb‘, two times seafood soup for someone who stated ‚no seafood‘ etc.) Wine: Understandably- given the restrictions in Iceland - The wine pairing with dinner are challenging. The wines are substantially below average, but given that they make great cocktails, it’s not really an issue. I would also get rid of the ‚reserve pairing’: The question at each dinner if you want the included wine or the additionally charged ‚reserve‘ pairing were just very awkward. Especially given that the reserve wines are also average at best - just get rid of the reserve pairing it’s useless and makes the staff and guest uncomfortable. If they manage to improve food and wine, this place will be very close to perfection!

The property is peerless, set in a valley in northern Iceland, visitors are instantly transported into a winter wonderland. We visited in January 2022, when there was daylight only between approximately 11 AM and 4:30 PM and there were many periods of snow and overcast conditions day and night. Nevertheless, the beauty of the surroundings were undiminished. Without exception, the staff was attentive, knowledgeable and helpful. We engaged in horseback riding, fat tire biking, massage therapy and the iso-pod experience. We also spent a couple of quiet hours in the lake house (the ghost cottage was closed due to the road being inaccessible) and used the indoor/outdoor geothermal pool each day. The horseback riding at Langhus Farm (icelandhorse.is) was on a cold and very windy afternoon and, even while we were well-equipped for the conditions, was challenging. The Icelandic horses we rode were great. My wife is a much more experience rider, but this was easily the best riding experience I had ever had. I highly recommend it for novice and experienced riders young and old. The owner and her assistants were friendly and warm and provided a terrific experience that I cannot recommend more highly. The fat biking with one of the Deplar Farm experience managers was on a slightly warmer and much calmer day. The tires are studded and underinflated for greater stability, though my bike needed more inflation and it made my ride more difficult than it needed to be. We rode from the main complex to the lake house, which is a well-appointed small cabin that was perfect for a quiet afternoon. The facilities for wellness, including fitness, yoga, massage, isopod, etc. are also first rate. The massage therapists were terrific and the massage rooms were quiet and relaxing. My wife and I tried the iso-pods – isolation and flotation tanks. We were scheduled to be in for 60 minutes and we each lasted for about 35 minutes. Neither of us were able to get into the mental state of “nothingness” or letting go of thought. In the end, I was bored and instead of trying to get through the hour decided to just get out. It was worth doing it so that I know not to do it again. Deplar Farm has a large bar area with many separate seating areas and many choices of table games, as well as playing cards, ping pong, billiards, foosball, etc. Rail alcohol is free, premium liquor is additional. In the right crowd, it would be a terrific asset. I had one criticism about Deplar Farm and one major complaint about our stay. The criticism is that the meal selections, while healthy, are extremely limited and not especially tasty. Significant culinary upgrades are necessary for the prices charged by Deplar Farm. My major complaint, alluded to in the prior paragraph, relates to the guests in residence while we were there. The guests consisted of my wife and I, a couple from Finland who were friendly and gracious, and a self-described “super-group” made up of American musicians in their fortie