Husavik

Skeletons of whales washed up on the coast are gathered and hung from the ceiling. The largest belongs to a blue whale and runs 25 metres.

A wooden schooner rebuilt from an old fishing boat makes no engine noise. That quiet lets whales come right up beside the hull.

Pools of warmed seawater sit on a cliff top with the bay spread out below. From inside the water a whale spout is sometimes seen out on the bay.

Built in 1907 from timber shipped in from Norway, it takes the shape of a cross. The ceiling inside is painted sky blue with stars across it.

Cliffs curve like a horseshoe around a floor of birch woods. Myth explains the shape as the hoofprint of Odin's horse.

It is counted the most powerful fall in Europe, passing 500 cubic metres of water a second. Spray rises without pause, so the view blurs from close up.

Tens of thousands of puffins gather on a small island inside the bay each summer. Boats circle it without landing and the burrows are seen from the water.

Walking the breakwater to its end puts the whole village in view behind. Gulls crowd in when a boat comes back and the noise rises with them.

Water gathered in a volcanic crater makes a lake of deep blue green. A geothermal power station stands beside it with steam venting between the pipes.

It gathers the record of astronauts training on the lava fields near here before the moon landing. The maps and photographs they actually used hang on the walls.

The 417-metre mountain behind town, with a gravel track running nearly to the top in summer. From the summit you take in Skjalfandi bay and the snowy peaks across it. Plenty of locals climb around midnight in high summer to watch the sun hang over the sea.

A little lake on the rise just above the town, with a five-kilometre trail around its shore. The path runs through birch and low scrub, out of the sea wind. Residents come up here to fish for trout.

Sea cliffs on the Tjornes peninsula north of town hold layer upon layer of fossil shells. Each band is a different age, so warm-water shells give way to cold-water ones higher up. For a close look, come at low tide and climb down to the shingle.

Inside the river canyon national park, basalt columns curl into rosette-like clusters of rock. A shout among them bounces from side to side, hence the name, echo rocks. You drive south along the canyon from Asbyrgi to reach them.

A large turf farmhouse in the Adaldalur valley south of town, now a folk museum. Its rooms connect like tunnels, so you walk from kitchen to bedroom without leaving the roof. An old church and graveyard stand beside it.

A huge stone sundial being built on a hill at Raufarhofn, a harbour in the far northeast. Its gates bear the names of dwarves from the old poem Voluspa. Only part of it stands so far, but in high summer the midnight sun lines up through the gates.