Húsavík is the most beautiful and charming town in the world. Ok, it’s our town, so we are biased. For sure, though, you will not regret having a stop here.


Húsavík is known as the Whale Capital of Iceland, and it is considered to be the best spot in Europe for whale watching.
It is also important for historical reasons. The name means “bay of the houses“. As a matter of facts, Húsavík was the first place in Iceland to be settled. Around 860s, the Swedish viking Garðar Svavarsson, while sailing towards the Hebrides, due to a storm was pushed up to the coasts of Iceland. Vikings are believed to be the best explorers of all times, so we are not surprised that he decided to circumnavigate this new land to find out something more about it. Once arrived in Skjálfandi bay, it was winter, and since this is a well sheltered area, he chose it as the place to build himself a house and stay for the winter. Since then, it has been called Húsavík.


Eurovision Song Contest – The Story of Fire Saga

However, many of you now might know our town thanks to the Netflix movie Eurovision – The Story of Fire Saga, the comedy starring Rachel McAdams and Will Ferrell as the duo from Húsavík who takes part in the famous Song Contest.
The production came to shoot here in October 2019, and the project, at the time, was super secret. Nobody knew the role that Húsavík would play. It was just amazing that something like this was happening in such a small and remote town, and no one was really and properly thinking about what that would mean.
When the movie was released, in May 2020, it was such a joy, because not only Húsavík is mentioned by its real name, but it also is kind of a character, it is shown quite often during the movie and the last, beautiful song is a love letter dedicated to this town. As Sigrit sings: “All I need is you and me and my home… Vera með þér, með þér Í Húsavík við Skjálfanda Í heimabærinn minn”.