Skip to main content
Vidalumi

Iceland

Heimaey, Westman Islands, Iceland

Heimaey: Iceland's Volcanic Island Where Puffins Outnumber People

Heimaey is the only inhabited island of the Westman Islands, a volcanic archipelago off the south coast of Iceland, and about half of Iceland's puffins breed in these islands each summer. Stórhöfði, the headland at its southern tip, is one of the windiest places in the country, so bring a windproof layer even on a bright day.

Good to know

What Cruise Travelers Should Know About Heimaey

Heimaey's harbor can take ships up to 210 m long alongside; larger ships anchor and send passengers in by tender, a run of about 2.5 nautical miles. Your ship will tell you which applies. Either way you land in the town of Vestmannaeyjar, and the island is small enough that its main sights are within walking distance.

  • Heimaey is the largest of the Westman Islands and the only one where people live, with 4,414 residents in 2022.
  • The island is about 7 km by 4 km, and hiking paths cross it in every direction.
  • Iceland keeps UTC+0 all year and has no daylight saving time.

Heimaey on Your Own

Heimaey is made for a day on foot: the volcano museum, the folk museum, the stave church by the harbor and the lava field from 1973 are all within walking distance of the ship. If you are fit, add a climb of Eldfell, the volcano itself.

  • Eldheimar: The volcano museum is built around a house excavated from the 1973 ash, and it tells the story of the eruption and of Surtsey, the island that rose from the sea a decade earlier.
  • The lava field: Signposts on the 1973 lava field mark the streets and houses buried beneath it. In places you can still feel warmth in the ground.
  • Eldfell and Helgafell: The cone of Eldfell, just over 200 m high, and the much older Helgafell can both be climbed on foot.
  • Skansinn: By the harbor, at the edge of the lava, stand a timber stave church given by Norway in 2000 and Landlyst, one of the oldest buildings on the islands, which houses a small medical museum.
  • Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own. If your ship is at anchor, allow time for the tender back.
  • Watch the clock: All-aboard is given in ship's time, which may not match local clocks or your phone.

Getting Around Heimaey

Walking is the way to see Heimaey, since anyone reasonably fit can reach everything on the island on foot. Cars can be hired in town or at the airport, and local operators run bus, boat and hiking tours.

  • Boat trips around the islands are the way to see the sea caves, bird cliffs and rock stacks up close.
  • The car ferry Herjólfur links Heimaey with Landeyjahöfn on the mainland, a crossing of about 30 minutes; in bad weather it sails instead to Þorlákshöfn, which takes 2 hours 45 minutes.
  • Vestmannaeyjar Airport has a summer air link to Reykjavík; the airport and golf course together take up a good part of the island.
  • Stórhöfði, at the southern tip, is reached by road for views of the other islands and, on a clear day, of Surtsey.

What to Eat in Heimaey

Fish built Heimaey's fortunes, and the day's catch is still landed in its harbor. Icelandic cooking more broadly rests on fish, lamb and dairy, with skyr, smoked lamb and rye bread among the staples.

  • Fish: You can watch the day's catch landed at Friðarhöfn, the harbor's working quay.
  • Bird hunting: Hunting seabirds and collecting their eggs from the cliffs is a traditional part of island life.
  • Drinks: Icelandic tap water is safe to drink. The Brothers Brewery in the town center brews its own beer, and takeaway wine, spirits and full-strength beer are sold at the state shop, Vínbúðin, on Vesturvegur, which has limited hours and is closed on Sundays.
  • Cured traditions: Icelanders still ferment shark, skate and herring, an old way of preserving fish.

Tipping in Iceland

Tipping is not customary in Iceland and is never expected. Iceland uses the króna (ISK).

  • In rare cases an attempt to leave a tip may even be taken badly.
  • Some tour guides suggest a tip, but there is no obligation to give one.

Festivals, Puffins, and a Norwegian Stave Church

Heimaey keeps festivals of its own, and the biggest, Þjóðhátíð, draws more visitors from the mainland than any other festival in Iceland. The island's year is also marked by the end of the eruption in July and the puffling rescue in August.

  • Þjóðhátíð: The island's festival is held in the Herjólfsdalur valley over the weekend before the first Monday in August, with concerts, bonfires, fireworks and a Sunday-night sing-along. It began in 1874, when bad weather kept islanders from the national celebration on the mainland.
  • Pufflings: In August young puffins leave their nests and are drawn into town by the lights, and local children go out with cardboard boxes to rescue them.
  • The stave church: The church at Skansinn is a close copy of the 12th-century Haltdalen stave church in Norway, a gift from Norway marking a thousand years of Christianity in Iceland.
  • Landakirkja: The Lutheran parish church is the oldest building on Heimaey, and its pulpit stands above the altar.
  • End of the eruption: On the weekend after July 3, the day in 1973 when the eruption was declared over, the island celebrates with music in its pubs.

Eruption, Evacuation, and the Archaeology Beneath the Lava

Heimaey has been settled since Viking times and has survived a pirate raid and a volcanic eruption that nearly ended life on the island. Each time the islanders came back, and the harbor, saved in 1973, is still the town's livelihood.

  • Settlement: Tradition names Herjólfur Bárðarson as the first settler, farming in Herjólfsdalur around 900, but excavations there in 1971 found signs of settlement nearly a century earlier.
  • The fishing island: Despite poor water supplies, Heimaey became one of the most important centers of Iceland's fishing industry thanks to one of the few good harbors on the south coast.
  • 1627: On July 16, 1627, pirate ships from Algiers reached Heimaey. The raiders killed or carried off hundreds of islanders, burned the church and sold their captives in the slave markets of Algiers. One of them, Guðríður Símonardóttir, was ransomed years later and married the poet Hallgrímur Pétursson.
  • 1963: An undersea eruption built the new island of Surtsey between 1963 and 1967. It is kept as a natural laboratory, closed to visitors, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.
  • January 23, 1973: A fissure opened on the east side of Heimaey without warning. Because storms had kept the fishing fleet in harbor, almost all of the island's 5,300 people were taken to the mainland within six hours, most of them by boat.
  • Saving the harbor: As lava crept toward the harbor mouth, crews pumped seawater onto it for months, slowing and diverting the flow. About 400 homes were lost, but the harbor survived.
  • After the eruption: The eruption ended on July 3, 1973, having added about 2 square kilometers to the island. Islanders used heat from the cooling lava for hot water and electricity and spread the ash to extend the airport runway.
  • To learn more ashore: Eldheimar, the volcano museum, covers the 1973 eruption and Surtsey, and Sagnheimar, the folk museum, has displays on the 1973 eruption, the harbor's working life and the raid of 1627.

Heimaey with Children and Families

Heimaey suits active families: the volcano is close enough for children to climb, and puffins nest on the cliffs. Dress everyone for wind.

  • Younger children: Keep the walk to the harbor and Skansinn, where the timber stave church and the edge of the 1973 lava are close together.
  • School age: Eldheimar's excavated house shows what an eruption does to a home, and walking on the lava field to the signposts of buried streets makes the story real.
  • Teenagers: The climb up Eldfell rewards fit teenagers with warm ground and views over the town. Heimaklettur, the highest rock formation on the islands at 283 m, has ladders fixed on the steepest parts for those with a head for heights.
  • In August: If you are in port when the pufflings fledge, children may see young puffins being rescued in the streets.

Shopping in Heimaey

Heimaey's shops are concentrated in the compact town center. The choice is narrower than in Reykjavík, and hours may be shorter on weekends.

  • Gallery 24 on Bárustígur sells gifts made or designed in the Westman Islands and elsewhere in Iceland.
  • Wool clothing, hats and gloves for the island's wind are sold in town, including at Icewear on Vesturvegur.
  • Eymundsson on Bárustígur sells books, games and stationery and serves coffee.
  • Krónan on Strandvegur is the supermarket for snacks and supplies.

Coastal Landscapes and Wildlife Near Heimaey

Heimaey's coast is mostly steep cliffs, sea caves and rock stacks, and seabirds nest on the cliffs in summer. Boat trips and the island's hiking paths both give good views of them.

  • Puffins: The birds were almost wiped out here by overharvesting around 1900, and a 30-year hunting ban followed.
  • The islands: The archipelago has 15 to 18 islands, depending on how they are counted, and dozens of rock stacks and skerries, all built up by undersea eruptions over the past 10,000 to 12,000 years.
  • Sea caves: Waves have carved coves and grottos into the soft rock of the shoreline, seen most easily from a boat.
  • Whales: Whales and dolphins are often seen on boat trips around the islands, depending on the season.
Traveler photos

Photos from travelers

Reviews

Traveler reviews

Be the first to share your experience.

Suggest an edit

See something missing or incorrect?