Laufás is a historic vicarage in Eyjafjörður where a large turf farm, a 19th-century church and furnished rooms preserve the story of a prosperous rural household in North Iceland.
Culture snapshot
The old farm, church and furnished rooms make Laufás one of the clearest places to see how a substantial rural household once worked in North Iceland.
Laufás appears in records soon after Iceland's settlement and has had a church since the country's early Christian period. Priests are documented here from at least 1047, and the site developed into a wealthy vicarage with enough land and resources to support a much larger household than a small subsistence farm.
The old farm commonly housed 20-30 people. Most of the connected turf buildings seen today date from the mid-19th century, although older timbers survive within the complex. Their white gables face the yard while turf walls and roofs provide the insulation that shaped traditional Icelandic building.
History of the vicarage, farm buildings and collection.
Historic-building ownership and conservation context.
Photo guide
1 / 2
Season and visitor details can change the practical feel, so keep Laufás flexible on tighter days.
The interior is a maze of passages and rooms rather than a single preserved cottage.
Household objects, clothing, storage spaces and work areas recreate the farm around 1900. Moving between them shows how domestic life, food storage and farm work shared one connected structure. A bridal room, where women prepared for weddings in the neighboring church, ties the house directly to the site's religious role.
The present church is younger than the religious history of the site but contains objects that reach further back.
Laufáskirkja was built in 1865 beside the turf farm. Its most notable object is a carved pulpit dated 1698. Seen together, the church, farmyard and repeated gables explain why Laufás is a complete historic place rather than a collection of detached exhibits.
About 45-90 minutes suits most visits, depending on current interior access and how closely you explore the rooms.
Laufás is a compact cultural stop in North Iceland, roughly half an hour by road from Akureyri. The exterior still communicates the site's form, but the furnished rooms provide much of its depth, so check the museum's visitor information before relying on an indoor visit. Goðafoss provides a strong natural contrast when the day has room for both.
Current seasonal opening and group-access details from Akureyri Museum.
By ThorPublished Updated
