The Annual Viking Festival in Hafnarfjörður Town in Iceland

Hafnarfjörður town, the neighbouring town of Reykjavík where I live, hosts the annual Viking Festival, which is the oldest and biggest festival of its kind in Iceland.

Visiting this festival will make you feel like you have been transferred back in time a thousand years or so.

The festival, which has been held since 1995, takes place on the second weekend of June and lasts for 4 days! For me, this is the most fun time to be in Hafnarfjörður.

Gudrun the Seeress from Denmark and Guðmann the Shaman from Iceland have a booth at the Viking Festival

I have photos from many Viking Festivals, but some of the photos in this travel-blog are from the festival in 2015 at the Viking Village.

The Viking Village hosted the festival for many years, and a Middle Ages market was set up in between and in front of the buildings of the Viking Village.

This beautiful Valkyrie is the first woman to be accepted into the Rimmugýgur Viking club - Elín Reynisdóttir 

The new location for the Viking festival is at Víðistaðatún Park and the market is open from 11-18 with free entrance. 

The Vikings sell their wares at the market;  leather goods, fur, jewelry, swords, and exquisite horns made of bones. They roast a lamb, fight, dance, tell stories, and show us the ways of living of the old Vikings. 

Food preparations at the Viking festival

The Viking Festival 2018 was held in another location, at Víðistaðatún Park, where it all began, and which is a much bigger venue. Look up the Viking club on Facebook Rimmugýgur, for dates and participation in the Viking Festival. 

Crowds of Vikings from all over the world (mostly Scandinavia, England, and Germany, plus Icelanders of course) gather at Víðistaðatún park and the fun goes on for 4 days.

The Viking Festival is becoming more and more popular and it is estimated that some 250-300 Vikings took part in the festival in 2015. 166 Vikings took part in the Viking Festival in 2023.

Guðrún the Seeress drinking from the Viking horn

The major part of the Vikings come from Hafnarfjörður and other parts of Iceland, and a Viking club was founded in association with Fjörukráin at the Viking Village.

This Viking club is called Rimmugýgur, which is a name from the Saga of Njáll, the jewel in the crown of the Icelandic Sagas - the axe Rimmugýgur in that Saga belonged to Skarphéðinn Njálsson and means a fighting troll!

With the Danish Gudrun the Seeress (Völva) at the Viking Festival in 2019

This biggest of all Icelandic Viking clubs has grown in size through the years with around 200 members today - around 60 of which partake in the Viking reenactment fights. 

You can read much more about Rimmugýgur in my travel-blog about Viking activities in Iceland today.

The Vikings at the Viking Festival teach us how to throw spears and axes, shoot with bows and arrows, there is wood-carving, etc, etc.

With Guðrún and Elín at the Viking festival in 2023 in misty weather which affected my photos

And from time to time you can have your fortune told by a fortune teller in a tent at the market. The Seeress Guðrún, who is with me in some of the photos, tells your fortune in runes.

She just published a book about her life as a Völva - a Seeress, which I bought from her at the Viking market.

Iceland is the "Mekka" of Vikings and visiting the festival is a must if you are visiting Iceland on the second weekend of June. I make sure not to miss the Viking Festival.

A Viking combat at the Viking Festival in 2018 - in heavy rain and hail! 

On the last day of the festival, on the 17th of June (the 18th of June will be the last day in 2023), Iceland celebrates its National Day, so imagine how much fun there is on that day in Hafnarfjörður town - Vikings and a local parade with festivities all over town!

The Viking market is open from 11-18 and after the Viking market closes the fun doesn't end, as that is when the Vikings start partying.

There will probably be a Viking feast at the Fjörukráin restaurant at the Viking Village - and the fun will last until the wee hours of the morning with a concert and dancing - Viking style! 

Jón Gestur of Rimmugýgur in a Viking Reenactment battle

To me, the highlight of the festival is the Viking reenactment battles! The Vikings put on quite a realistic battle twice daily during the Viking Festival.

Visitors are asked to keep their distance, as it can get scary. And I can tell you that the battles are quite realistic - minus the blood, of course.

At the end of the battle, a lot of Vikings lie "dead" in the field, probably on their way to Valhalla, where they can continue fighting. Be aware that they then get up and run screaming toward the crowd!

Vikings attacking at the Viking festival

It is all just for fun, but when I brought my little nieces to watch the Viking battle, I held on to them when the Vikings ran screaming toward the crowd.

If you look at the photo above I know you will understand why ;) 

This Viking couple is so beautiful 

But these Vikings have a heart of gold so there is nothing to worry about. And this is just a reenactment of a Viking battle.

There are also different Viking battles when the kids "fight", so the Viking Festival is also good fun for the kids.

When I visited the Viking Festival on the first day of the festival at Víðistaðatún Park it was crowded with kids, as you can see in some of my photos here.

Children at the festival being taught how to use Viking weapons

They can take part in the Viking School for children, where the children f.ex. learn how to use Viking weapons and fight. Viking swords for children made of wood are sold at the Viking Festival.

On the webpage of the Viking Village, I saw this lovely video of the Viking Festival, and they were kind enough to let me use it here in my travel-blog. It was shot by Netkynning - I just love the music they have added to the video!

My photo below is of the initiation of the Viking Festival in 2018 at Víðistaðatún. I had visited the festival so many times, but this was the first time I got the chance to witness the initiation.

Jóhanna Kjalnesingagoði set the Viking Festival

Jóhanna G. Harðardóttir, Kjalnesingagoði - the Priestess of the old Norse faith, set the festival by invoking the old Norse gods of the old Icelandic faith.

The Viking Festival is such good fun - don't miss it if you are visiting Iceland at this time, the second weekend of June. The last festival was held on the 14th - 18th of June 2023 - here is the Facebook event. 

You can contact the Viking club Rimmugýgur for more information. This is just my travel-blog about the festival, but I don't represent the Viking festival in any way, I am just a fan :)

Jökull Tandri set the Viking festival in 2022

I have written another travel-blog about the Viking Village restaurant, Fjörukráin, and the hotel in the Viking Village, Hotel Viking. I am totally in love with this place and take all my foreign guests there :)

And, if you are interested in the Vikings, then I have written another travel-blog about Viking Ruins and Burial Mounds I have visited on my Travels in Iceland - which is a list of all the archaeological sites and burial mounds, I have visited in Iceland.

A Viking at the festival

To visit Víðistaðatún from Reykjavík you can either take bus number 1 or rent a car in Reykjavík and drive there yourself. 

While visiting Hafnarfjörður you might also want to check out the elf locations in this beautiful town, which is also nicknamed Álfabærinn - the Elf Town of Iceland