Höfn is located in the region Austurland, by Hornafjörður. Here you can find several guesthouses and good restaurants.
From Höfn you have a splendid view westwards to Vatnajökull’s plentiful extensions.
At the western side of Höfn, by the seaside, there is a nice hiking trail. The starting point is by the harbor, and the theme is astronomy. The solar planets are located along the path, sizes and distances are made to scale. Fascinating! By a small headland you will find an outdoor exhibition, with beautiful pictures of Vatnajökull, local happenings, and also a stone exhibition.
Arriving Höfn one late evening in September, we went to this headland to have a bath. It was perfect. A cliff hanger to be used as a natural wardrobe – it couldn’t be better!
What wasn’t perfect was the weather – gale. It was a rather cool experience. Because of the wind, we were freezing cold long before entering the water, and the bay of Hornafjörður is affected by melting water from the glaciers. Besides the cold, the Höfn ‘beach’ consisted of small, pointed stones… Not the best bathing experience, really. But we were contended (and no, we have never regretted a bath). After the bath we went straight to a restaurant for a wonderful dinner.
Back in Höfn in March, we wanted to give our favorite wardrobe another chance, calm seas were a promising start. Knut was ready to enter the fjord first – wearing swimming shoes this time. But he didn’t throw himself into the water right away. Halfway out he stopped, wondering, looking around. ‘Strange. There are a lot of feathers here. Plenty!’ Then he was silent for a while, until he suddenly shouted: ‘We shall not swim here! Those are not feathers, but toilet paper!’
The conclusion was basically that a bath in Höfn is not right. At least not right there, right then.