Things to do
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Kirkjufell
A 463 metre hill standing almost alone at the mouth of the fjord, its layered flanks scoured into a blade by ice, and claimed as the most photographed mountain in Iceland. It appeared in Game of Thrones as the arrowhead mountain north of the Wall. The summit route is steep, roped in two places and has killed climbers, so most people photograph it from the road.
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Berserkjahraun
A moss covered lava field east of the town, poured from craters north of Kerlingarskarð and reaching the sea at Bjarnarhöfn. The sagas give it its name: Víga-Styr set two berserks to clear a track through it and had them killed once the work was done. The track, Berserkjagata, is still walkable, and a gravel loop off Route 54 crosses the whole field.
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Grundarfoss
A single tall drop off the cliffs southeast of the town, falling clear of the rock face and visible from Route 54 long before the turn. The walk in from the parking area crosses grazing land on a marked path and takes about twenty minutes each way. It is wet underfoot for most of the year and the spray reaches further than it looks.
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Kirkjufellsfoss
A low three step waterfall on the Kirkjufellsá, a few minutes on foot from a paid car park west of the town, and the reason the mountain behind it is so widely reproduced. The path crosses a footbridge that lines the falls up with the peak. It is busy from mid morning and quiet again after nine in the evening.
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Waterfront
Kolgrafafjörður
The next fjord east of Grundarfjörður, crossed since 2004 by a causeway and bridge that cut the coast road short. Tens of thousands of tonnes of herring died in the fjord in the winters of 2012 and 2013, which was blamed on oxygen starved water behind the fill. Seals, eider and white tailed eagles use the tidal narrows under the bridge.
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Melrakkaey
A small island out in the fjord, protected since 1972 for its seabirds, with puffin, kittiwake, shag and eider all nesting on it. Landing needs a permit from the national nature agency and shooting is banned within two kilometres. It is watched from the harbour road or from a boat rather than visited.