town · Iceland · Southeast
On the route
- Time needed
- 30 min – 12 h
- Price
- Free — No charge to stop; supermarket, fuel and pool at regional prices.
- Season
- Year-round.
- Access
- 6 km off the Ring Road on route 99; flat town streets with large car parks by the harbour and shops.
- Checked
- not yet confirmed on an official source
64.254, -15.208 · Iceland
Höfn í Hornafirði
Photograph: Höfn harbour with the Vatnajökull outlet glaciers across the bay — Holger Uwe Schmitt / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Höfn is the natural second night on an anticlockwise Ring Road and the last full-service town before the East Fjords. It sits a few kilometres off the Ring Road at the end of a spit, so it is a deliberate detour rather than a drive-through, which keeps it calmer than Vík.
On a route plan Höfn does three jobs. It is the sleep after a Skaftafell-and-Jökulsárlón day. It is the shop: Nettó has a supermarket here (netto.is, confirmed today), the only chain store between Vík and Egilsstaðir on this coast. And it is the fuel before the gap: Olís has a station (olis.is, confirmed today), and from here the Ring Road runs more than a hundred kilometres along the fjords to Djúpivogur with no town of any size. The separate "Höfn fuel" entry covers that gap.
There is a municipal pool, a campsite and a harbour where the langoustine boats land, which explains the restaurants. The Vatnajökull National Park has an information point in town for conditions on the glacier routes and the Stokksnes road.
Timing: an hour from Jökulsárlón, two and a half from Skaftafell, and the morning drive east to Egilsstaðir is three and a half to four hours with the tunnels. Quiet most of the year; busy in July and August when every Ring Road car stops here on the same evening. Winter storms close the coast road east of here at Lónsheiði and Hvalnes; check umferdin.is before leaving.
Something changed here? Tell us; we re-check against the source and print the new date.
What you can do from Höfn í Hornafirði
- Boat on Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon
A 30–40-minute amphibian ride or a 75-minute Zodiac among the icebergs, May to October, 7,100 or 16,600 ISK an adult; the lagoon shore itself is free.
boat · Iceland40–75 min · Mid costadds 3 h 30 to a day - Diamond Beach (Fellsfjara) at sunrise
Ice from Jökulsárlón stranded on black sand, best in the first light; computed sunrise from 02:37 in June to 10:55 on 1 January. An hour's drive from Höfn.
other · Iceland30–60 min · Low costadds 3 h to a day - Glacier hike from Skaftafell
A three-hour guided walk on a Vatnajökull outlet from the national park car park, all year, from EUR 118; a 4.5-hour version with ice climbing runs May to September.
glacier walk · Iceland3–4.5 h · Mid costadds 5 h 40 to a day - Zodiac boat on Fjallsárlón glacier lagoon
A 75-minute Zodiac trip among icebergs to the face of Fjallsjökull, April–November, 11,300 ISK; ten minutes west of Jökulsárlón, on the Vík–Höfn road.
boat · Iceland75 min · Mid costadds 2 h 05 to a day
Journeys that pass Höfn í Hornafirði
- Iceland Ring Road in 7 days
Anticlockwise from Keflavík: about 1,555 km and 19.5 hours at the wheel in seven days, with nights in Vík, Höfn, Egilsstaðir, Mývatn, Akureyri and Borgarnes.
7 days · Iceland1,555 km · 19 h 35 drivingChecked 1 Nov 2026 - Iceland Ring Road in 10 days with Snæfellsnes
The 7-day loop plus Snæfellsnes, a second east night and the full Diamond Circle: about 2,160 km and 27.5 hours of driving, with a half-day kept for weather.
10 days · Iceland2,160 km · 27 h 40 drivingChecked 1 Nov 2026 - Iceland and the Faroe Islands by ferry, 12 days
Copenhagen to Hirtshals, two nights on the Norröna, three days of Faroese roads, then Seyðisfjörður to Keflavík by north and south: 2,519 km, 36 h driving, 47 h at sea.
12 days · Iceland + Faroe Islands + Denmark2,519 km · 36 h 05 driving · 47 h 30 ferryChecked 1 Nov 2026
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