Skógar Museum, the perfect stop before doing a glacier tour

Visitors driving along the Southern Ring Road can't miss a small but beautiful village Skógar which lies just a few kilometres away off it. It's popular summer destination offering a lot to see also throughout the year. Translated into Icelandic, Skógar (pronounced [ˈskou.ar] , means forest and it has a population of 25 inhabitants living in this area between the rivers Skógá and Kverná. There is an infamous Eyjafjallajökul l glacier close by, which eruption highly affected the town in 2010.

Skógar is divided into two parts not far from each other, the eastern part Eystri-Skógar and the western one Ytri-Skógar, commonly referred to as Skógar is the main settlement. For a such a tiny place, you might be nicely surprised how many interesting spots you can find around. The most famous is the waterfall Skógafoss which can be seen straight from the Ring Road, welcoming all curious travellers. The waterfall is quite impressive and powerful.

The waterfalls off the 60m high eroded cliff from the river Skógá. The access is easy and it only takes a couple of minutes from the parking lot. If you don't mind getting wet you can get close to it and if you´re lucky enough you can see a vivid rainbow created by raindrops which would look fabulous on your pictures! For those who are more adventurous and want to take a different perspective of the waterfall, there is an option to take the stairs on the right side and walk up on the cliff and enjoy the breath-taking view of Skógafoss and scenic surrounding. At the eastern side of the waterfall, a hiking trail leads up to the Fimmvörðuháls between the glaciers Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull . It continues down to the popular Þórsmörk on the other side and connects with Laugavegur trail to Landmannalaugar.

There is a legend about the hidden treasure of the settler Þrasi Þórólfsson who hid his chest of gold underneath the Skógafoss. When the sun shines you might see a glimmer of gold reflecting in the water. Nearly in each small settlement or village in Iceland, you can find a neat church which is taken a good take care of. Skógar is not an exception. The first church in Skógar is dated back to 1100 AD, dedicated to St. Nicolaus, the last wooden one was built in the mid-19th century and demolished in 1890.

The present Skógar Church is part of the famous Skógar museum (Skógasafn in Icelandic). It was founded in 1949 by Þórður Tómasson who curated the museum until his retirement in 2013.

The museum is divided into the three parts: the folk museum which offers a huge variety of old Iceland artefacts dated back to the Viking age as well as tools for fishing and farming. In the open-air museum, you´ll find excellently preserved old turf houses and you can experience the how Icelanders lived many centuries ago. A few steps away from the folk museum, there is a technical Museum, which shows the history and evolution of transport in Iceland. Skógakaffi Café and excellent souvenir shop might be an interesting spot for visitors to stop by.

Arcanum Glacier Tours activities are just a few kilometres away from Skógar and if you continue the Ring Road in the eastern direction, you´ll experience great adventures either on Sólheimajökull glacier or Mýrdalsjökull.

We offer Glacier Hike, snowmobile tours and ATV tours.

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