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Akureyri, Iceland
Iceland

Things to do in Akureyri

Why you should go

Ninety seconds on Akureyri

Iceland's largest town outside the capital region, about 20,000 people, set near the head of Eyjafjörður on the fjord's western shore. Permanent settlement dates from 1778 and the municipal charter from 1786. The fjord keeps the winters mild enough that a botanic garden has grown here since 1912 without glass, and Guðjón Samúelsson's concrete church of 1940 sits on a stair above the harbour.

6 places on record
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Things to do

6
  1. Akureyri Art Museum

    Akureyri Art Museum

    Museum · 1.5 hr

    The north's serious exhibition programme, housed in a dairy building that is a good example of Bauhaus influence in Iceland.

  2. Akureyri Botanical Garden

    Akureyri Botanical Garden

    Garden · 1 hr

    Evidence of how much will grow just short of the Arctic Circle when a fjord does the heating.

  3. Goðafoss

    Goðafoss

    Waterfall · 30 min

    A wide, low waterfall readable from both banks, 45 minutes from Akureyri on the ring road.

  4. Akureyrarkirkja

    Church · 30 min

    The building that gives Akureyri its skyline, and a compact record of Iceland's state architect at work.

  5. Forest Lagoon

    Hot Spring · 2 hr

    Hot water found by accident inside a mountain, now poured out above the longest fjord in Iceland.

  6. Hof Cultural and Conference Centre

    Landmark · 30 min

    Make Akureyri's concert hall your first stop in town: the tourist information desk, the gift shop Kista and the Mói bistro are all inside the same building.

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