Fishing villages in Iceland

Although natural wonders like waterfalls, hot springs and iceberg lagoons are the main attraction in Iceland, there’s a lot more to see in this fascinating country. Many visitors choose to take the four to five-day drive around the island, on the so-called Ring Road— a trip along the coastline to other specially exciting places.

Siglufjörður in North Iceland

THE NEW TOWNS

From the times of settlement, in the middle of the ninth century, until the middle of the nineteenth century Iceland was an agricultural society. Almost everyone lived on farms and made their livelihood based on resources the land and livestock offered. And even though Icelanders traded during this time, very few trading posts developed into villages; the rest remained small hamlets or a cluster of houses. The same applies to fishing. Iceland has always been rich with fertile fishing grounds within a short distance from the shore and in all regions of the country. But surprisingly, only small season-based hamlets or clusters of houses, so-called fishing posts, developed by the coast before the seventeenth or eighteenth century. So most of the towns and villages are relatively new, and some have only been around for a few decades.

Ólafsvík on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula.

TRADING POSTS AND FISHING STATIONS

Surprisingly, for such a small country, the coastline in Iceland houses about 65 towns and villages. A vast majority are located on the shore by the ocean, and only six are inland. So, Iceland has around 60 towns and villages that we can refer to as fishing towns. Although most of them are in many ways similar, their origins are not always the same. Some developed early on as fishing posts from where cod, haddock, and halibut were caught near the shore. At that time, and all the way up to the early 20th-century, small rowing boats were used as motor boats were not available to Icelanders at the time. Others had whaling stations for a short period. Around the mid-20th century, an enterprise developed due to a herring frenzy that captivated the nation, as herring was the first commodity Icelanders could trade internationally on a large scale—Iceland’s first big business if you will. Furthermore, some started out as trading posts but later developed into a combination of a fishing town and trading post.

THE DECLINE OF THE SMALL TOWNS IN ICELAND

Iceland introduced and implemented the law of quota in the fishing industry in the early 1990s. This affected many small villages that had supported an increasing number of people for decades, when access to the fishing grounds was unrestricted. Many lost their livelihood while others gained in their resources as access to the fishing grounds was reallocated and limited. Today, there are only a few towns with a thriving fishing based economy, large fishing vessels and modern fish processing firms. Others sustain themselves on the limited access and permissions granted to small boats. And sadly, some towns and villages don’t have any access to the fishing grounds and are struggling to survive.

Grindavík on the Reykjanes Peninsula.

If you are traveling through Iceland, visiting some of the small towns and villages has many advantages. All of them, despite the decline factor, have excellent facilities for tourists, like accommodation, camping areas, swimming pools, small cafés, restaurants, a harbor and other charming places to visit.

FAVORITE TOWNS AND VILLAGES

There are delightful towns and villages in every region in Iceland. In the north, Húsavík is the most interesting. Having developed from both fishing and trading, it has since transformed into a spectacular tourist center as Iceland’s whale watching capital. In the east, Seyðisfjörður with its many charming houses and stunning landscape is a great old fishing town at the base of a beautiful fjord.

Húsavík in North Iceland.

At the harbor in The Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar) in the southern region, you will feel the pulse of the thriving fishing industry. This town is most famous for having been totally evacuated in 1973 because of a volcanic eruption only a few meters from the town’s edge.

The Westman Islands harbor.

Stykkishólmur in the Snæfellsnes Peninsula is a town of exceptional beauty situated near the large Breiðafjörður Bay with its many islands and rich history. And last but not least, the hidden but not forgotten, mysteriously powerful little village of Ísafjörður in the West Fjords is waiting to be explored.

Flateyri in the West Fjords