Bjarnarhöfn Shark Museum
Bjarnarhöfn is a working family farm on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula that has been producing hákarl, Iceland's famous fermented Greenland shark, for over 400 years. The museum is small, genuinely quirky, and one of the most memorable stops on the peninsula for anyone curious about the stranger corners of Icelandic food culture.
A Working Shark Farm and Museum on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula
The Bjarnarhöfn farm sits on the northern edge of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, surrounded by lava fields and with views across the fjord. The Hildibrandsson family has been processing Greenland shark here for generations, and the museum they run is less a polished exhibition and more an honest look inside a living tradition. Exhibits include original fishing boats, tools, bones, and a mix of curiosities that have accumulated over centuries of working with one of the ocean's most unusual creatures. It has the feel of a very interesting neighbour's garage, and that's entirely the point.
The centrepiece of any visit is learning how hákarl is made. Greenland shark meat is toxic when fresh, containing high concentrations of ammonia compounds that make it inedible without treatment. The traditional process involves burying the shark for six to eight weeks, then hanging the meat in a drying shed for several months until a brown crust forms and the toxins have broken down. You can visit the drying shed out the back of the farm, where strips of shark hang in various stages of the process. The smell alone is unforgettable. The guided talk covers both the biology of the Greenland shark, which can live for over 500 years and is the longest-living vertebrate known to science, and the history of shark hunting in Iceland dating back to the 14th century.
Every visit ends with a tasting: a small cube of hákarl accompanied by a shot of Brennivín, the Icelandic schnapps traditionally used to wash it down. Reactions vary considerably. Bjarnarhöfn is located off Route 54 via Route 577, roughly two hours from Reykjavík and easily combined with a broader Snæfellsnes Peninsula itinerary that includes Kirkjufell Mountain and Snæfellsjökull National Park.
