Top choice in The Westfjords
The old turf-and-stone fishing shacks of the Ósvör Maritime Museum powerfully evoke a past age. A guide in a typical lambskin fisher’s outfit shows you around the shore-side settlement, outlining its history and traditional seafaring life from the Settlement Era to the present day. There's also a cramped fishers' hut full of relics and a rowing boat.
The museum is down a turning to the right, just after you emerge from the tunnel heading into Bolungarvík from Ísafjörður.
22.32 MILES
Craggy mountains, precarious sea cliffs and plunging waterfalls make up Hornstrandir, one of Europe’s last true wilderness areas, covering some of the…
28.69 MILES
Tumbling in a broad sweep over a 100m-rocky scarp at the head of Dynjandivogur bay, Dynjandi is the most dramatic waterfall in the Westfjords. The bumpy…
6.25 MILES
Part of a cluster of historic wooden buildings by the harbour, this museum is in the Turnhús (1784), which was originally a warehouse. It's crammed with…
Ísafjörður–Suðureyri–Flateyri Tunnel
7.57 MILES
Completed in 1996, this 9km-long tunnel network beneath the mountains becomes an unusual one-lane tunnel in parts of the 6km stretch from Ísafjörður to…
5.99 MILES
Celebrating the magic of the mundane is the aim of the powerful, creative displays here, where shoes, books and mini-movies each come with personal…
12.82 MILES
Charming Vigur is a popular destination for day trippers from Ísafjörður. In season it's a nesting site for hundreds of puffins, and the rest of the year…
10.44 MILES
The study of the Arctic fox has been underway on nearby Hornstrandir for years, and this locally loved exhibition details the life of the creatures, their…
Jón Sigurðsson Memorial Museum
27.89 MILES
Farmstead Hrafnseyri is the birthplace (on 17 June 1811) of Jón Sigurðsson, the architect of Iceland’s independence. The interesting, modern Jón…
1.05 MILES
Features a comprehensive collection of minerals (lignite from when Iceland was covered in forests) and taxidermied animals – including a giant blue…
5.71 MILES
Of minor interest is the whalebone arch made from a whale’s jawbone in the central town park.
5.72 MILES
The intensely close-knit nature of Westfjords life is evoked in the 2nd-floor displays in what was once the town hospital. Look out for vintage scales for…
5.76 MILES
Ísafjörður's big bronze Seaman's Monument depicts two fishermen with their nets and commemorates those who've lost their lives at sea.
5.8 MILES
More than 740 clay birds, arranged in flight soar above the altarpiece of this modernist church.They were made by locals during a group art project. Look…
5.99 MILES
Celebrating the magic of the mundane is the aim of the powerful, creative displays here, where shoes, books and mini-movies each come with personal…
6.06 MILES
Ísafjörður's historic quarter borders it's eastern edges. Start explorations in Tangagata to see gabled, tin-clad homes, often brightly painted in…
6.25 MILES
Part of a cluster of historic wooden buildings by the harbour, this museum is in the Turnhús (1784), which was originally a warehouse. It's crammed with…