Even though fishing and fish processing are important industries in Húsavík, the town is now well known as the whale watching capital of Europe. Whale watching trips from Húsavík harbour on traditional wooden fishing boats, schooners and passenger boats are getting increasingly popular.
Húsavík is a fishing village in the Northeast of Iceland. It is located on the Eastern Shore of Skjálfandi Bay and is facing the impressive Kinnarfjöll mountains across the bay. The town has good service amenities and facilities and boasts a good swimming pool.
Húsavík offers an ample selection of easy hikes through varied landscape, for example, along the shores of the bay, up the Húsavík mountain or around the lake Botnsvatn.
The Húsavík Whale Museum is the first information centre on whales in Iceland. The church in Húsavík, built in 1907, is said to be the most beautiful wooden church in Iceland. The Museum House consists of a folk museum for the area, a nature museum, art gallery and the library with district archives. The Exploration Museum offers an opportunity to explore history, nature and space.
Húsavík, being located just south of the Arctic Circle, enjoys 24 hours daylight in summer and the romantic midnight sun frequently paints the evening sky with colours beyond imagination. In the winter when the days are short and the nights are long, the dark night sky is frequently decorated with millions of stars and stunning Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). A good example of geothermal activity in the area is The GeoSea Geothermal Sea Baths. High on a cliff, overlooking Skjálfandi Bay, these baths are filled with geothermally-heated sea water. The contrast of hot springs and geothermal areas against snow, ice and frozen waterfalls give explorers the experience of a lifetime.
