Húsavík
Húsavík is a coastal town of around 2,300 people on Skjálfandi Bay in northeast Iceland, about an hour north of Akureyri, and Iceland's most established whale watching base. Tours have operated from the harbour since 1995, and the nutrient-rich shallow waters of the bay attract humpback, minke, and blue whales alongside white-beaked dolphins and harbour porpoises through the summer months. The town also has a well-preserved early 20th-century harbour district, a distinctive 1907 church with a red roof overlooking the bay, the Húsavík Whale Museum, the GeoSea geothermal sea baths, and a place in film history as the setting for the 2020 Will Ferrell comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.
North Iceland's Whale Watching Town, Where Humpbacks Breach Against a Backdrop of Snow-Capped Mountains
Húsavík sits on the eastern shore of Skjálfandi Bay, a wide, relatively shallow bay in northeast Iceland that concentrates marine life in a way that has made it one of the most reliable whale watching locations in Europe. The bay's depth and temperature encourage dense concentrations of the small fish and krill that large cetaceans feed on, and from May to October humpback, minke, and blue whales are present with a high degree of regularity. White-beaked dolphins are a frequent companion on tours and blue whale sightings, while rarer, are recorded most summers. North Sailing, founded in 1995, is the oldest whale watching operator in the country and helped establish the template for the industry across Iceland. Several other reputable operators now work from the same harbour. Tours run on traditional oak boats and typically last around three hours, combining whale watching with views of the surrounding mountains and the occasional puffin colony.
Beyond whale watching, Húsavík has enough on land to justify a night's stay. The Húsavík Whale Museum, housed in a former slaughterhouse by the harbour, holds eleven full whale skeletons and covers the biology, ecology, and history of whaling in Iceland across eight exhibition rooms. The GeoSea geothermal sea baths sit on a cliff above the bay north of town, with infinity pools heated by geothermal seawater giving views directly out over Skjálfandi. The Museum of Exploration covers the history of North Pole expeditions and the early Norse and Inuit presence in the region. Húsavík's church, completed in 1907 and built from Norwegian timber, is one of the most photographed in North Iceland. The town became internationally known after the 2020 Netflix film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga used it as a filming location and featured its name in the plot.
Húsavík is on the Diamond Circle route, which connects it with Dettifoss waterfall, Lake Mývatn, and Ásbyrgi Canyon. The town is about 90 kilometres northeast of Akureyri and roughly 75 kilometres from Mývatn along Route 85. From Reykjavík the drive takes around five hours. Whale watching tours run from April through October, with June to August offering the highest sighting rates and the most settled weather. Booking in advance is strongly recommended in July and August as tours fill quickly.
