Eldheimar Museum, Heimaey

In January 1973 a fissure opened at the edge of the town on Heimaey, and over the following months lava and ash buried several hundred houses while the population was taken off the island by the fishing fleet. Eldheimar is built over one of those houses, excavated from the tephra and left as it was found, roof caved in and rooms half full of ash, with a walkway around it. The rest of the museum tells the eruption through film, photographs and the accounts of people who came back. Upstairs, a second exhibition covers Surtsey, the island that rose out of the sea nearby a decade earlier.

What you actually see

• The excavated house - one buried home dug out and left in the state it was found.
• The eruption record - film, radio and photographs from the months of 1973.
• The residents' accounts - audio from people who were evacuated and later returned.
• The Surtsey exhibition - the birth of a new island off this coast in the 1960s.

When to go

Any time the ferry is running, though the museum keeps longer hours in summer and a reduced schedule in winter. Allow for the crossing from Landeyjahofn and for it being diverted to Thorlakshofn in rough weather, which turns a short hop into a long one. Book the ferry ahead in July and August.

Honest expectations

It is a single exhibition and takes about ninety minutes, so the price lands harder if you crossed specially for it. The subject is a disaster that islanders still remember, and the tone inside is accordingly sober. Ferry cancellations are common enough to wreck a day trip. Little of it holds young children.

Nearby

The Eldfell crater and the lava field above the town are a short walk, and the harbour cliffs are close.