Town of Akureyri

Akureyri is located at the head of Iceland's longest fjord surrounded by 1,000 to 1,500 meter mountains. Akureyri is about 60 km south of the Arctic Circle, but summer days can reach 25°C. Winters provide the opportunity to experience heavy snowfalls and the occasional cold day interspersed with calm and still weather.

The town has long been known as a centre for education and culture. The rich cultural life in Akureyri often takes visitors by surprise, especially when they hear that the town houses a professional theatre and a symphony orchestra. The newest addition to this circle is the Listagil Art Foundation, with an art gallery, art school, artists' workshops and a cultural coffeehouse.

Sports and leisure activities are also well represented. Akureyri swimming pools are excellent and heated with hot water from deep in the earth. There are several gymnasia, golf courses, sports grounds, and the skiing area is the best in the country. Akureyri is truly a winter sports enthusiast's paradise. The town boasts an excellent skating rink, superb cross-country skiing trails through an ever-changing landscape and fantastic slopes for slalom skiers and snowboarders. Winter brings the opportunity to enjoy several national and international skiing competitions. The rivers and streams of Northern Iceland offer some of the world's best sport fishing for salmon, trout, and char.

The town's verdant surroundings have earned Akureyri the name the Green Town. Within the town limits there is a forested area (Kjarnaskógur) that is a popular re-creational area both in summer and winter. The area offers a number of walking and cross-country skiing trails. The Botanical Garden is the most northerly one of its kind in the world, with a great number of plants and flowers. This is a particularly popular attraction for overseas tourists.

Akureyri is located at 65°40′N 18°10′W. Positioned at the bottom-west side of the fjord Eyjafjörður. It is surrounded by mountains, the highest being Súlur 1213 meters (3980 feet) and Hlíðarfjall 1116 meters (3661 feet). The coast in the area is a narrow strip of flat land before a steep but low hill. In earlier times a few spits of land (Icelandic: eyri, thus Akur-eyri) jutted from the narrow coast but a lot of land has since been claimed from the sea so that today the coastline is more even except for the largest spit of land (eyri), Oddeyri, which was formed by the river Glerá that runs through the town. The body of sea between Oddeyri and the fjord's bottom is known as Pollurinn and is known for calm winds and a good natural harbour.

The centre of Akureyri today is at Ráðhústorg square near the northwest corner of Pollurinn. The neighbourhoods of Akureyri are: Innbær, the oldest part of town on the land strip between the hill and Pollurinn south of the centre area; Brekkan, on top of the hill; Oddeyri on the peninsula with the same name and Glerárhverfi on the north bank of Glerá river(also referred to as Þorpið which is more of a slang version, in English: the Village). Because of the town's position at the bottom of a long fjord surrounded b y high mountains, the climate is actually more inland than coastal meaning greater variants in temperature (warmer summers, colder winters) than in many other parts of Iceland. The surrounding mountains also shield the town from blowing winds.

Live webcam from downtown Akureyri

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