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Isafjordur Tours › 12 Facts About IsafjordurUpdated 2026-09-05

12 Facts About Isafjordur That Surprise First-Time Visitors

Hours, prices and access verified by the Isafjordur Tours team — last checked 2026-09-05

Cyclists passing the painted timber houses of Ísafjörður in the rain

The short answer

The sun disappears behind the mountains from about 24 November to about 25 January. The oldest timber-frame houses in Iceland stand at the end of the spit. July averages 9.9 °C. And Iceland's only windmill and its smallest post office are both on one small island half an hour out into the fjord.

1. The sun leaves for two months, and the town has a party when it comes back

Ísafjörður sits in a bowl of mountains high enough that from about 24 November the sun does not clear them at all. If you visit in December you will not see it rise, whatever the clock says. The town gets none until roughly 25 January. Its return is marked with sólarkaffi — sun coffee — served with pancakes, and there is a running disagreement about when to hold it: some keep to the 25th, some wait until the sun reaches Sólgata, and some wait until it reaches their own window.

2. This is not the Arctic Circle, and it behaves as if it were

The town sits at 66°04′33″N. The Arctic Circle is at about 66°34′N, so Ísafjörður misses it by roughly half a degree. What produces the dark months is not latitude but the mountains, which is a different and rarer thing.

3. The oldest timber houses in Iceland are at the end of the runway

Neðstikaupstaður, the old Danish trading post on the spit, holds four buildings that predate almost everything else standing in the country: Krambúð from 1757, Faktorshús from 1765, Tjöruhúsið from 1781 and Turnhúsið from 1784. You can walk between them in five minutes, and you will pass all four on the way to the museum.

4. One of them is a fish restaurant now

Tjöruhúsið, built as a warehouse in 1781, serves seafood, so you can eat your way through one of them. Turnhúsið, three years younger, is the Westfjords Heritage Museum. The key highlights page has the museum's season and admission.

5. The whole region has fewer people than a small town

PopulationAs of
Ísafjörður, the town2,7441 January 2023
Ísafjarðarbær, the municipality4,1301 October 2025
The Westfjords, the whole region7,3412026

That last figure makes the Westfjords the least populous region in Iceland, and Ísafjörður its unofficial capital.

6. The warmest month averages under ten degrees

July's daily mean is 9.9 °C. The annual mean is 3.1 °C, and the climate classification is tundra rather than temperate. Pack for the coolest inhabited part of Iceland at sea level, because that is what you are visiting.

✅ Useful tip. That number is why every operator here talks about layers rather than sunscreen, and why an open deck on the fjord feels nothing like nine degrees. See the weather page.

7. A five-kilometre tunnel replaced a road nobody wanted to drive

Vestfjarðagöng, 5.4 km, was completed in 1996 and links the town to Bolungarvík. Before it, the road ran beneath a cliff with a reputation for avalanche and rockfall. A second tunnel, Dýrafjarðargöng, opened in October 2020 and took the mountain pass out of the route south to the waterfall.

8. Iceland's only windmill is on an island you can visit in three hours

Vigur, out in Ísafjarðardjúp, holds the country's only remaining windmill and its smallest post office, alongside a working eiderdown farm. It is about two kilometres long and a few hundred metres wide, and you can be standing on it half an hour after you leave the harbour. The boat tours page covers both sailings.

9. You may be handed a stick before you are allowed to walk

In July, when the Arctic terns on Vigur are nesting, you are handed a stick to carry above your head. Terns dive at the highest point they can see, and the stick is there so that it is not your scalp. The island's own team describe it as generally only needed that month.

10. The eiderdown is collected after the birds have finished with it

Eiders nest close to the houses on Vigur because proximity to people protects them from predators, and the down is gathered from the nests once the chicks have hatched and gone. It is then dried, sorted and cleaned by hand. The arrangement is centuries old and it is the reason the island is farmed at all.

11. There is a platform 638 metres up that only exists in summer

The steel viewing platform on Bolafjall, above Bolungarvík, opened in 2022 and juts out over the cliff edge. From it you look over Ísafjarðardjúp, Jökulfirðir and Hornstrandir. Check your dates before you count on it: the road up is typically passable only from mid-June to mid-September.

12. The reserve you can see from up there has been empty since 1952

Hornstrandir has been protected since 1975, covers about 580 km², and has had no permanent residents since 1952. There are no roads into it. Boats run from Ísafjörður mostly between June and mid-August, and it is a multi-day hiking area rather than an afternoon — which is why no day tour here reaches it. Things to do covers what does run instead.

What none of this tells you about the waterfall

Nothing above is about Dynjandi, which is deliberate: the fall is an hour south and it is a different subject with its own guide. What the twelve facts here are about is the town at the near end of that road, which most visitors pass through without looking at.

Where these came from

  • Population, coordinates, climate and the tunnels: the town's own encyclopaedia entry and the Icelandic figures it cites.
  • The sun dates and sólarkaffi: the University Centre of the Westfjords, which is in the town.
  • Vigur, Bolafjall and the museums: Visit Westfjords, the regional tourist board.
  • The terns and the eiderdown: the island's own operators, in their own words.

Every trip named here is compared on price, hours and what the fare covers at Isafjordur Tours.

Frequently asked questions

Is it true the sun disappears in winter?
Yes. The mountains around Skutulsfjörður are high enough that from about 24 November the sun does not clear them, and the town sees none until about 25 January. Its return is celebrated with sólarkaffi — coffee and pancakes. It is the single most distinctive thing about living here.
What is the weather like?
Cool and changeable. July averages 9.9 °C, November is the wettest month at about 120 mm, and the classification is tundra rather than temperate. Wind is the thing that actually changes plans here, not temperature.
When can I see puffins near Isafjordur?
The Vigur colony arrives in mid-April and starts leaving in early August, and sightings are few from mid-August onward. Other seabirds build again through to the end of September. If puffins are the reason you are coming, aim for May, June or July.
When is the best time to visit Isafjordur?
June to August, if you want everything open at once: the puffins are on Vigur, the whale boats are running, the Bolafjall road is passable and the daylight barely stops. May and September are quieter with most of the same trips still going. October to April is a different town, and most of these tours do not run.
Do I need a car?
Not for the trips listed here: every one of them starts within about a kilometre of the cruise dock. A car is worth having if you are staying several days and want Bolungarvík, Súðavík and the smaller villages at your own pace. The town itself is walkable end to end.
Is there a walking tour of Isafjordur?
Not among the trips listed here — no operator on either platform sells a guided walk of the town. The town is small enough to walk end to end in about twenty minutes, and the old trading post at Neðstikaupstaður is a ten-minute stroll from the pier. If you want a guide with you, the two-hour e-bike tour is the closest thing on offer.

Trips that reach the facts above

Most of what makes this town unusual is either free or half an hour away, and the trips below are the ones that close that half hour.