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Iceland

Things to do in 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

Things to do

6
  1. 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.

  2. Akureyrarkirkja

    Church · 30 min

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

  3. 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.

  4. Forest Lagoon

    Hot Spring · 2 hr

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

  5. Goðafoss

    Waterfall · 30 min

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

  6. Hof Cultural and Conference Centre

    Landmark · 30 min

    The clearest piece of contemporary Icelandic architecture in the north, and the town's tourist information desk is inside it.

Basemap Meridian · data © OpenStreetMap
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