A lovely Visit to Mt. Vestrahorn and Stokksnes in Southeast Iceland

On my 10-day trip around Iceland, I visited one of the most breathtaking locations in southeast Iceland, Mt. Vestrahorn and the Stokksnes peninsula, and stayed overnight at the Viking café.

This is one of the must-stop locations when visiting this part of Iceland. Mt. Vestrahorn is one of the most photographed mountains in Iceland and I have seen some amazing photos of this beautiful mountain. 

Top photo: Mt. Vestrahorn

Mt. Vestrahorn

Iurie Belegurschi's photos of Mt. Vestrahorn are ever so beautiful, as is his whole collection of photos of Iceland.

He has allowed me to use his photos for my travel blog and I show his photos here in comparison with my amateur photos ;)

Mt. Vestrahorn is a 454-meters-tall gabbro mountain with granophyre and by the foot of the mountain, you will find a Viking village, which is a movie-set.

Iurie's photo of Vestrahorn

Mt. Vestrahorn isn't the only prominent mountain in this part of Iceland, as there are several other "horns", the best-known of which are Mt. Brunnhorn and Mt. Eystrahorn. 

These 3 mountains are often referred to as the 3 horny mountains of Iceland.

But there are more mountains here with this name, f.ex. Mt. Litlahorn and Mt. Kambhorn.

Mt. Brunnhorn aka the Batman Mountain

Mt. Brunnhorn is also often referred to as the Batman mountain as when you are driving on the other side it looks like a huge Batman sign.

I never tire of taking photos of cars on the road that look like they are being followed by Batman :)

Vestrahorn - Viking café

Vestrahorn Viking Café

We had been driving from Hengifoss waterfall, where we had stayed for the previous night, and as we had stopped in many, many locations on the way it was getting late when I started looking for a room for the night.

On this trip around Iceland, we were just winging it and allowed fate and the weather forecast to decide where we would be staying for the next night (not recommended in this area though as it is very popular).

Our large room had a sea view, and the bathroom had a mountain view

I found one room that was available at the Vestrahorn Viking Café, and as I had wanted for the longest time to stay in this location and explore it thoroughly, then I jumped at the chance and booked the room.

We were in luck that somebody had canceled their reservation, and even though the room was for 4 persons, and there were only the 2 of us traveling together, I decided on splurging a bit. 

Our room at the Vestrahorn Viking Café was lovely, spotlessly clean with a beautiful view.

Our room at the Viking Café

Ómar Antonsson, the owner of Viking Café at Stokksnes, greeted us and offered us some coffee and even though it was getting late we had a long chat. The working days are long for the people in the tourist industry.

Ómar then showed us to our room and left us with: "Have fun, kids", which made me burst out in laughter as I was traveling with my father-in-law, just the 2 of us for 10 days around Iceland ;)

It was late and getting dark so we didn't explore the surroundings that evening. I just ogled longingly out of the windows waiting for the morning to arrive.

Ómar made waffles for us

The following day Ómar was up early and offered us some waffles he was baking.

It was his birthday and 50th engagement anniversary, so he was making waffles for all the guests.

I love family-run businesses where you can sit down and have a chat with the owner and get local knowledge.

Mt. Vestrahorn

This land is owned by Ómar and his family and you pay a fee of ISK 1,000 to visit the Viking movie-set and the beach.

Unless you stay for the night at the Viking Café, then the entrance fee is included in the price of the room.

We had such a wonderful stay, and the following day we spent hours at the beach and in the Viking village and took in the beautiful scenery.

Mt. Vestrahorn from another angle

There are many photo stops for Mt. Vestrahorn, some of which are marked on the map you get at the Viking café so that you can take the best photos of the mountain.

I stopped in many places to get a photo from different angles of Mt. Vestrahorn.

It didn't make much of a difference on this day and I couldn't get a decent photo, the light was not right and the mountains look kind of flat in my photos.

Enjoying a walk on Kirkjusandur - the black beach 

But we had a wonderful visit and took home some wonderful memories and that is what matters.

Maybe one day I will get a decent photo of Mt. Vestrahorn.

The ever-so-popular music video Gerua for the Bollywood movie Dilwale was shot in many locations in Iceland, with some beautiful scenes shot here at Mt. Vestrahorn.

While watching it you can see what a difference the light makes when taking photos here at Mt. Vestrahorn.

The lighthouse at Horn

After photographing Mt. Vestrahorn we drove further down the road on Stokksnes peninsula for some seal spotting, which is very popular here.

During WW2 the British army had a base here at Horn. You will also notice the radar station in a restricted area, which is now operated by the Icelandic coast guard.

The radar station was erected by the American army in 1955 and was in use until 1988.

The Viking village movie set

Exploring the Viking village

Next, we visited the Viking village. The Viking village is a movie-set erected in 2009, but the shooting of the movie was supposed to start in 2010.

It never started and the Viking village is now a tourist attraction.

Most of the material used for building the Viking village is driftwood from the beach.

The movie-set Viking longhouse

There are all kinds of structures here, be careful though as they are not maintained to my knowledge and were a bit dilapidated when I visited back in 2020. 

At the movie-set the biggest structure is a majestic replica of a Viking longhouse at the foot of Mt. Vestrahorn. The longhouse is 38 m long and the ridge is some 7 meters tall.

It is a beautiful filming location for a movie, and finally, in 2021, a TV mini-series was shot here: the Witcher Blood Origin.

The Viking village longhouse

At the Viking village movie-set you will see a heathen temple, a stable, a brewery, a smithy, a storage room for slaves, and some small cottages  (ref. Vikingaþorpið hefur staðið autt í 9 ár). 

Those of you, who have read my travel blog know that I love Viking stuff and turf houses and have written many articles about the Vikings.

At the Viking village

If you want to know more about Viking stuff in Iceland then I have made a list of the Viking museums and Vikings activities that I have joined:  The Icelandic Vikings - a List of Viking Activities and Viking Museums in Iceland.

It is quite magical visiting the Viking village. The latest addition to Vestrahorn is a Viking ship that you can visit on your way to the Viking village.

It is a replica of the late 9th-century Gokstad ship, Norway's most famous Viking ship. The name of the Vestrahorn Viking ship is Drakar.

The movie-set

The white stuff in my photo above covers the old farm Horn. When you walk behind the village reality kicks in as then you see the house itself.

Behind and beside the movie-set you will find ruins of the old turf farm at Horn. It is now abandoned, but here at this location, people lived since the settlement of Iceland.

This was a good place to live, with fishing in the sea and fjord, eider ducks and seals, and driftwood in abundance.

Parts of the movie-set - the abandoned farm at Horn

But accidents have also happened here at sea like in so many other locations in Iceland, and approximately 200 French sailors lost their lives here on the 3rd of March 1876 when 14 French sailboats perished in the fjord.

Fortunately, 50-60 of the French sailors were rescued.

The farmers at Horn were given a gold medallion for their part in the rescue and first aid of the French sailors  (ref. Gönguleiðir RÚV).

The ruins of the old turf farm at Horn

The settler Hrollaugur Rögnvaldsson settled in this area of Iceland, but we don't know where exactly his homestead was located. Maybe we will find it one day buried in the ground.

I have seen photos of the Viking village movie-set with the caption "An ancient Viking village in Iceland", but that is not the case, it only dates back to 2009.

We don't have any old Viking villages here in Iceland, but we do have archaeological sites, where you can see the ruins of old Viking structures.

A beautifully carved door at the Viking village

And we have some reconstructions like Þjóðveldisbærinn Saga Age farm in Þjórsárdalur valley and Eiríksstaðir longhouse in West Iceland.

I have written another travel blog about Ancient Ruins and Burial Mounds I have visited on my Travels in Iceland.

We are always finding more and more Viking ruins around Iceland, and I add the latest ones to my travel blog when I visit them, so that travel blog is always getting longer and longer.

This Viking greets you at the Viking Café 

I wanted to stay for another night here at the Viking Café, but they were fully booked, so we explored Höfn village and the beautiful surroundings and drove up to the Hoffellsjökull glacier lagoon in glorious weather.

There are so many interesting sights here and we visited several churches and drove along the levee leading to Skógey island to have a look at a view-dial in Sandhraun in Hornafjörður fjord.

Bjarnaneskirkja church is unusually shaped

My father-in-law is the main view-dial maker in Iceland, so we always stop by view-dials, of which there are more than 90 in the whole of Iceland. The one in Skógey was made by Ragnar Imsland in 1989.

I also stop by all the churches in Iceland, as I have told you in many of my travel-blogs. 

After a full day of exploring southeast Iceland, we drove back and visited Skútafoss waterfall, and stayed in a small cottage right in the middle of Mt. Vestrahorn and Mt. Eystrahorn with a lovely view of both mountains.

Skútafoss waterfall

We were so much in love with this area and the weather was so beautiful that we didn't want to leave yet.

Do take your time when exploring this area and stay for a night or two. Also, be on the lookout for reindeer, I have spotted many reindeer in this area.

I have written another travel blog about Skútafoss - the Hidden Waterfall of the Cave in East Iceland, which I think is a must-stop while visiting this area.

A small turf sheep barn from Horn is at the foot of the majestic Mt. Vestrahorn

I have also written a long travel blog about other beautiful locations in East Iceland: East Iceland is dotted with beautiful little Villages and Hidden Secrets, which you might want to read before visiting Iceland.

Have a lovely time in Iceland :)