Keflavík

Reykjanes

Most travelers pass through Keflavík without stopping, which is a mistake. The town traces its roots to a 16th-century fishing settlement, and its working harbor still lands cod and haddock today. The seafront is walkable, lined with colorful houses and a handful of decent restaurants serving the catch more honestly than most places in Reykjavík. The strongest reason to linger is Víkingaheimar, the Viking World museum just outside the town center. Its centerpiece is the Íslendingur, a full-scale replica of a 9th-century Gokstad ship that sailed from Iceland to New York in 2000 to mark the thousandth anniversary of Norse settlement in North America. The ship is enormous up close and the exhibitions on the sagas are genuinely engaging — allow at least two hours. Keflavík also carries a more recent layer of history: American forces were stationed at a NATO base here from 1951 until 2006. The Blue Lagoon is a short drive east along the peninsula, and Reykjavík is roughly 50 km away on Route 41 — making Keflavík a practical overnight base for the first or last night of any trip.

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