June

The Viking reenactment group Rimmugýgur hosts the annual Hafnarfjörður Viking Festival, the oldest and largest event of its kind in Iceland. Held each year around 17 June, the festival runs five to six days in the picturesque Víðistaðatún Park in the centre of Hafnarfjörður. Almost overnight, the tranquil green space is transformed into a bustling viking marketplace, with tents spread across the field and visitors stepping straight into the past. Traders offer handmade leather goods, fur, silver jewellery, swords, and exquisite drinking horns. Throughout the festival, you will see vikings roasting lamb, staging mock battles, dancing, telling stories, and demonstrating traditional ways of life. The group behind it all, Rimmugýgur, takes its name from Njáll's Saga, the crown jewel of the Icelandic sagas, where it appears as the name of a battle axe, roughly meaning "female battle troll". Founded with just seven members in 1997, the group has since grown into the largest viking re-enactment community in Iceland, with around 200 members today.

Set sail to Iceland and join the viking festivities!