Church in Víðimýri
Church in Víðimýri is a church in North Iceland, Iceland — about 292 km from Reykjavik and reached by a drive to the trailhead and a short walk in (footwear and weather check). Shoot it during the summer window, when light, road status, and crowd levels line up for photography, then use the GPS coordinates, parking notes, and nearby waypoints below to fold this stop into a longer photography route.
Overview
Víðimýrarkirkja church is one of Iceland's very few turf churches to have been preserved
As a photography stop, Church in Víðimýri is a church in North Iceland, roughly 292 km from Reykjavik, reached by a drive to the trailhead and a short walk in (footwear and weather check). Plan the shoot during the summer window, when light, road status, and crowd levels line up for photography. The downloadable Church map pins exact GPS coordinates, parking, and nearby waypoints so you can fold it into a wider route instead of hunting for the pull-off on arrival.
Planning more than one stop? Open all 10 church and chapel stops to put Church in Víðimýri on the same offline layer as everything nearby.
Notes on this location
Compiled from published sources rather than a visit. Sources are listed below.
A turf-and-timber church at Víðimýri in Skagafjörður, built in 1834 to a design by Jón Samsonarson. The National Museum acquired it in 1934 and it is held up as a fine example of old Icelandic building technique.
- Built
- 1834
- Materials
- Turf and wood
- Designed by
- Jón Samsonarson, a member of Parliament, who also oversaw construction
- Preservation
- Acquired by the National Museum of Iceland in 1934 and substantially improved since
- Where
- Víðimýri, an estate in Skagafjörður south of Varmahlíð
- Older ground
- Remnants of a fort said to have been built by Snorri Sturluson around 1220 were visible into the 20th century before being levelled
Turf walls and a turf roof mean the building changes colour with the season and half-disappears into the ground it stands on — the reason it reads so differently in green summer and brown autumn, and the reason a low angle separating roof from hillside matters more here than at a painted church. It is also the second turf church in this catalog, after Hofskirkja, so the two are worth planning as a pair rather than duplicates.
SourcesVíðimýri — Wikipedia
Light & aurora at this spot
Calculated from this location’s coordinates (65.539, -19.470). Iceland stays on UTC year-round, so these are local times.
- Summer
- 22.7 h of daylight in June and the sun barely sets, dipping only 1.1° below the horizon — effectively continuous golden light through the small hours.
- Winter
- December: only 3.3 h of daylight (11:34–14:52), but the sun never climbs above 1.2° — the entire day is golden hour. Sunrise bears SSE, sunset SSW.
- Aurora
- Aurora-grade darkness Sep–Mar, peaking at 13 h a night in December. Not possible Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug — the sky never gets dark enough.
Bar height is daylight hours. Months marked • have enough astronomical darkness for aurora; the rest do not.
Questions & answers
Church in Víðimýri is a church in North Iceland, Iceland, approximately 292 km from Reykjavik. Exact GPS coordinates are included in the downloadable Church map.
The recommended season for Church in Víðimýri is Summer. For light, plan around blue hour and the first hour after sunrise; Iceland's long shoulder-season twilight extends usable conditions on either side.
Drive/Hike access. Bring weather-appropriate footwear and check conditions before setting out. The downloadable GPS map puts the waypoint on your phone; your own app routes you to it from wherever you are.
Church in Víðimýri is best visited during Summer. Outside that window, expect limited access, weather closures, or significantly different photographic conditions.