Icelandic Sea Monster Museum

Arnarfjordur has more recorded sea monster sightings than anywhere else in Iceland, and the museum at Bildudalur is built on those records rather than on invention: it collects the eyewitness accounts, many of them written down at the time, and presents them alongside the creatures of Icelandic folklore - the shell monster, the sea horse, the wave-cow and others described in the old sources. The approach is to show what people said they saw and let visitors decide, with recorded testimony and reconstructions in a darkened space. It occupies a building by the harbour in a village of a couple of hundred people at the head of the fjord.

What's there

• Recorded sightings from Arnarfjordur - more than anywhere else in Iceland.
• Folklore creatures described - shell monster, sea horse, wave-cow.
• Eyewitness testimony - presented as what people said, not as proof.
• A darkened reconstruction space - the museum's main room.

When to go

May to September for full hours. One to two hours.

Things to know

It is a small museum in a very small village, and an hour covers it. The tone is atmospheric rather than scientific. Bildudalur is a long way round on Westfjords roads. Services in the village are limited.

Nearby

Selardalur is out along the fjord; Dynjandi is east.