A ten-minute walk from the Maritime Museum at Vitastígur 3, the town’s only other attraction is the Natural History Museum down by the harbour; to get here, follow the main road into town, Þuríðarbraut, across the Hólsá river, and head straight on into the main street, Aðalstræti, then right into Vitastígur. Inside there’s an excellent collection of stuffed seals, arctic fox and various birds – everything from a wigeon to a pink flamingo, which oddly turned up out of the blue in eastern Iceland – you name it, they’ve got it stuffed. The prize exhibit, though. is the 3-year-old male polar bear (minus penis, which was claimed by the Phallological Museum in Reykjavík) found floating on spring pack ice off Hornstrandir a few years ago. The bear was snared by local fishermen who spotted him drifting, exhausted, on the ice, and the fact that its death was most likely caused by dragging the animal to shore, half-hanging over the side of a fishing boat, came in for much public criticism.
Travel offers; book through Rough Guides
In-depth, easy-to-use guides filled with expert advice.
The latest articles, galleries, quizzes and videos.
Iceland is famous for majestic glaciers and snow-covered houses, for the Northern Lights and blue-lit ice caves. But visit in summer and it can feel like a tot…
Going for a spa in Iceland can feel wonderfully alien. Against a backdrop of barren moonscapes and denuded hills, the waters are so preternaturally blue, so exa…
Reykjavík, a bustling port and the world’s most northerly capital, draws visitors from across the globe in record-breaking numbers – and its popularity sho…
