Top Choice Icelandic in Heimaey
Slippurinn
Lively Slippurinn fills the upper storey of a beautifully remodelled old machine workshop that once serviced the ships in the harbour and now has great views. The food is delicious Icelandic fare with a level of cre…
Top Choice Museum in Heimaey
Eldheimar
More than 400 buildings lie buried under lava from the 1973 eruption, and on the edge of the flow ‘Pompeii of the North’ is a museum revolving around one house excavated from 50m of pumice. It was once home to Gerðu…
Top Choice Music in Heimaey
Þjóðhátíð
Three-day Þjóðhátíð is the country’s biggest outdoor festival. Held at Herjólfsdalur festival ground over the last weekend in July or the first weekend in August, it involves music, dancing, fireworks, a big bonfire…
Top Choice Volcano in Heimaey
Eldfell
The 221m-high volcanic cone Eldfell appeared from nowhere in the early hours of 23 January 1973. Once the fireworks finished, heat from the volcano provided Heimaey with geothermal energy from 1976 to 1985. Today th…
Top Choice Fort in Heimaey
Skansinn
This lovely green area by the sea has several unique historical sights. The oldest structure on the island, Skansinn was a 15th-century fort built to defend the harbour (not too successfully, however – when Algerian…
Top Choice Natural Feature in Heimaey
Eldfellshraun
Known as Eldfellshraun, the Mars-like land created by the 1973 lava flow is now criss-crossed with a maze of otherworldly hiking tracks that run down to the Skansinn fort and the area where the lava meets the town's…
Top Choice Aquarium in Heimaey
Sæheimar
The Aquarium & Natural History Museum has an interesting collection of stuffed birds and animals, videos on puffins and catfish, and fish tanks of Icelandic fish. It’s great fun for the family, and there’s often…
Top Choice Fusion in Heimaey
Gott
Fresh fusion food is done with care, using organic, healthy ingredients in this jolly wood-floored dining room with coloured chairs. Menu items range from goat cheese and beet salad or avocado, hummus and pesto toas…
Viewpoint in Heimaey
Stóraklif & Heimaklettur
The top of the craggy precipice Stóraklif is a treacherous 30-minute climb from behind the N1 petrol station at the harbour. The trail starts on the obvious 4WD track; as it gets steeper you’re ‘assisted’ by ropes a…
Museum in Heimaey
Landlyst
Shockingly, three out of four of Heimaey’s babies once died of tetanus, due to water deficiency and contaminated soil. In the 1840s an island woman, Sólveig, was sent abroad to be trained as a midwife. The tiny wood…