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Traveling on Iceland’s Ring Road (Day 5 – 3rd May 2023) – Husavik to Akureyri

Florian Buechting Trip Reports No Comments

We arrived significantly later than expected in Husavik on Day 4, so that Day 5 was packed with Husavik action before our Icelandic Ring Road trip headed to my favorite city, Akureyri. This day of our trip was thought to be the shortest in regards of travel distance – after 400 km on Day 4, Day 5 was expected to feature less than 100km.

 

Topic of the Day – Whales

Husavik is known as the whaling city of Iceland. Yeah, there is a history of whale hunting in this region as well, but nowadays, the giant mammals are only explored from a boat. We had a three hour whaling trip with one of the local companies, North Sailing. The did a great job and we actually came very close to some humpback whales, but overall, I just explored more and more that I am not a whale watching person. The experience on board is just a bit too hectic for me.

After that sail, visiting the Husavik Whale Museum almost felt mandatory to us. The museum is actually quite nice and came with a couple of original skeletons, which especially illustrates the sheer size of the animals.

 

Husavik – Globally known for Eurovision

Since the Netflix production Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, Husavik is in focus of the fans of the music contest. We were very lucky to visit the Husavik Eurovision Exhibition, which is the only museum worldwide featuring the annual competition. The museum is battling for a permanent home ground and is currently located in Eurovision-featured cafe.

Right in front of the temporary site of the museum, there is a memory sign for the 1960’s training of US astronauts on geology for their moon landing. However, the place would be worth visiting anyway, as it gives a beautiful view of the harbor area and the whole city. While going back to our car, we also passed the bus station, which has been used in the movie. Fun fact is that neither before nor after the movie there has never been a scheduled bus operating from that station.

 

Falling in Love with Cows

Our fifth day had only a short driving distance of less than an hour. One reason for that was also that we went to the shortest route along road 85 – my aim of the whole Ring Road Trip was that I had driven every section afterwards, not necessary as part of our 2023 travel. En route, we also passed by the lovely Ystafell Car Museum I loved during my previous visit. Right at the Vadlaheidargong / Akureyri Tunnel area, we went for a detour and headed South to route 833. We wanted to have some family content. However, we first did not spot the Dalardyrd Petting Zoo located in a farm and explored the whole road with picturesque scenery. The more we later fell in love with some of the farm’s animals, mainly the cute cows.

 

Great Relax – and Great Views

After this encounter, we took the longer but toll-free pass road (see my Akureyri Tunnel posting) of road 84 to my favorite Icelandic city. The Hafdals Hotel on the hills opposite the most important Northern Iceland city comes with amazing views.

After we checked into our room, we visited the second geothermal bath scheduled on our trip, the rather new Forest Lagoon (or Skogarbod, what the Icelandic name is). The place is absolutely stunning and definitely beat Vök Baths we visited on the third day of our trip. We enjoyed the place that much that we stayed there much longer than in the Egilstadir peer and also had a nice dinner there. Good choice – as the place finally even gave us an outstanding sunset.

 

 

Iceland’s Ring Road Trip Report – Daily Episodes

Here are the episodes planned for this trip report. The reprise posting is also holding a gallery of major size pictures of the whole trip:

There will be no Day 9 report, as this would only cover the flight back to Germany.

 

Postings about Akureyri

Here are all my postings related to Akureyri in Northern Iceland:

 

20 Worst Hotel Reviews so far

Here are the 20 Hotel & Accommodation reviews with the lowest rating so far:

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