Skógar Folk Museum

Skógasafn

South Coast

The Skógar Museum sits directly beside Skógafoss, making it easy to treat as an afterthought — but it's one of the most substantive regional museums in Iceland. Founded in 1949 by Þórður Tómasson, who spent over six decades gathering objects that would otherwise have been discarded, the collection has grown to more than 18,000 artifacts across three separate museums and several historic outdoor buildings. The Folk Museum covers three floors of fishing gear, farm tools, textile equipment, and natural history, with a centrepiece eight-oared fishing boat, Pétursey, built in 1855 and used until 1946. The Open Air Museum lets you walk through original turf farmhouses, a church, and a schoolhouse. A third wing, the Technical Museum, traces transport and industry from the 19th century onward. Skógar sits on Route 1, roughly two hours east of Reykjavík. Most visitors arrive after the waterfall — consider doing the museum first, while energy is high. Budget at least two hours; a café is on site.

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