Stykkisholmur town, West Iceland

GPS POINTS N65° 4′ 11.531″ W22° 44′ 8.004″

Stykkyshólmur, west Iceland

Location: West Iceland
Directions on Google maps

Stykkishólmur is a small town located in the West of Iceland. It is a popular tourist destination, due to its charming architecture and stunning natural surroundings. There are many things to see and do in Stykkishólmur, making it the perfect place to visit on your journey around West Iceland.

Since the 19th century, the town has been a center of trade and services for Breiðafjörður and the surrounding area. The oldest records of trade in Stykkishólmur are from 1597, when a German named Carsten Bache received a permit to trade there. At that time there was also a store in Búðarnes, but it closed three years later. Since then, there has been uninterrupted shopping in Stykkishólmur, as the place was considered to ideally located as a shopping center for the whole of Snæfellsnes.

Today, Stykkishólmur is a popular tourist destination, with many visitors coming to admire its picturesque buildings and stunning natural surroundings.

There are plenty of things to see and do in Stykkishólmur. The town’s main attraction is the Local Folk Museum, which houses a collection of traditional Icelandic buildings, including a turf-roofed church and a replica of an old farmhouse. The museum is a great way to learn about the history and culture of Iceland.

Stykkishólmur is also home to the Breiðafjörður Bird Sanctuary, where you can see a variety of native Icelandic birds, such as puffins, eider ducks and gannets. The nearby town of Grundarfjörður is also worth a visit, as it is home to the country’s tallest mountain, Kirkjufell.

Whether you’re interested in history, nature or simply want to relax in a beautiful setting, Stykkishólmur is the perfect place to visit on your journey around West Iceland.

Getting to Stykkisholmur is easy and is only in a 172km distance from Reykjavik. Just follow route one from Reykjavik to Borgarnes. When you exit Borgarnes, at the roundabout, you will see a sign marked “Stykkisholmur”. Follow that direction, on road 54. After a while, you will have another sign that says “Stykkisholmur”, where you will have to make a right turn on road 56.

We recommend using your phone (Google Maps) or GPS for detailed navigation.

Stykkisholmur is located on the Snæfellsnes peninsula and thus surrounded by amazing attractions. On the south coast of the Snæfellsnes peninsula is a village with only a tiny black church called „Budarkirkja“. Budir sits within the Budahraun lava field, an expansive environment of torn-up earth that has grown over with grassy flora. One could easily imagine creatures from fairy tales living amongst the jagged rock formations and in the deep holes that have formed here. Visitors can walk along the fields and down to the coastline along trails that look and feel unending.

Another attraction worth mentioning is Kirkjufell, a 463 meter high mountain on the Snaefellsnes peninsula. Because of its shape and stand alone location by the sea with waterfalls close by, it has become one of the most iconic landscapes in Iceland, as thousands of photographs of Kirkjufell are to be found on the web. It is about 5 min walk from the parking lot to the famous photo-scenic view where you will have the Kirkjufellsfoss waterfall in the foreground and Kirkjufell mt. in the background.

If you want to explore further, you might want to visit Arnarstapi and Hellnar. Both Hellnar and Arnarstapi are ancient fishing villages, a cluster of old houses, on the westernmost part of the Snaefellsnes peninsula. Placenames in the vicinity of Arnarstapi and nearby Hellnar village are inspired by Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss, an Icelandic saga relating the story of Bárður, a half human and half ogre.