Laufás Museum
Laufás Museum is a landscape in North Iceland, Iceland — about 416 km from Reykjavik and reached by a straightforward drive from the nearest highway turnoff. 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
An old farmhouse in northern Iceland. Laufás turf house now belongs to the National Museum of Iceland and is run by the Akureyri Museum.
As a photography stop, Laufás Museum is a landscape in North Iceland, roughly 416 km from Reykjavik, reached by a straightforward drive from the nearest highway turnoff. Plan the shoot during the summer window, when light, road status, and crowd levels line up for photography. The downloadable Landscape 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.
Laufás Museum is one waypoint of many — you can load all 62 landscape viewpoints before you leave signal.
Notes on this location
Compiled from published sources rather than a visit. Sources are listed below.
A turf farmhouse in Eyjafjörður built in the latter part of the 19th century, in the gable-end style and sized for a priest with a large household. The National Museum has preserved it since 1948; the church beside it dates from 1865.
- The farmhouse
- Turf, latter 19th century, a gable-end design for a priest with a large household
- Preservation
- In the care of the National Museum of Iceland since 1948
- The church
- Built 1865 by Tryggvi Gunnarsson and Jóhann Bessason
- Inside it
- A pulpit from 1698, carved by Illugi Jónsson
- Older still
- A manor farm of medieval origin, with records of a church here from 1047
- Where
- Eyjafjörður, north Iceland
A gable-end turf farm presents a row of repeated triangular faces rather than one building, which is a frontal, almost graphic subject — and because the roofs are living turf, the same row changes colour completely between June and October. The 1698 pulpit is the interior subject, and interiors in a museum building mean whatever light comes through small windows rather than anything you bring.
Light & aurora at this spot
Calculated from this location’s coordinates (65.874, -18.114). Iceland stays on UTC year-round, so these are local times.
- Summer
- Midnight sun in June — the sun does not set, so golden light runs for hours either side of midnight.
- Winter
- December: only 3 h of daylight (11:36–14:39), but the sun never climbs above 0.8° — the entire day is golden hour. Sunrise bears SSE, sunset SSW.
- Aurora
- Aurora-grade darkness Sep–Mar, peaking at 13.1 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
Laufás Museum is a landscape in North Iceland, Iceland, approximately 416 km from Reykjavik. Exact GPS coordinates are included in the downloadable Landscape map.
The recommended season for Laufás Museum 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 access. A standard rental car works in most seasons; check road status in winter before committing. The downloadable GPS map puts the waypoint on your phone; your own app routes you to it from wherever you are.
Laufás Museum is best visited during Summer. Outside that window, expect limited access, weather closures, or significantly different photographic conditions.