Litlibær: A Turf-House Café for Waffles on the Ísafjarðardjúp Drive

A Farmhouse Rebuilt by the National Museum

Litlibær is a turf house on the shore of Skötufjörður, one of the smaller fjords branching off Ísafjarðardjúp in the Westfjords. The current building is a reconstruction of a farmhouse originally built in 1895 by two families who settled the land here. Around 20 people lived in the small turf-and-timber house at its busiest, and it stayed occupied until 1969. Thirty years later, in 1999, the National Museum of Iceland rebuilt Litlibær in its original turf-house form, and it’s now kept as one of the museum’s protected historic buildings.

Coffee and Waffles, Run by Local Farmers

Since 2010, a café has operated inside Litlibær each summer, run by farmers from nearby Hvítanes. It’s a simple setup — coffee, homemade waffles and pastries, and a small selection of local handicrafts for sale — but that’s the appeal. There’s no gift shop gloss, just a family keeping a 19th-century farmhouse in use the way farmhouses along the Djúp always were: as a place travelers stop, warm up, and talk to whoever’s behind the counter. The café is open in summer only, roughly from mid-May to early September, so it isn’t a year-round option if you’re driving the Djúp outside the warmer months.

A Natural Midway Stop on Route 61

Litlibær sits directly on Route 61, the road that loops around Ísafjarðardjúp and connects Ísafjörður to the rest of Iceland via the Westfjords Way. Route 61 is fully paved but winding, climbing to about 440 meters at Steingrímsfjarðarheiði, and driving it end to end without stopping takes most people three to four hours. Because of that length, a stop roughly midway is worth planning around rather than skipping. Litlibær works well for this — it also sits near Reykjaneslaug, the geothermal pool and former boarding-school site a short distance further along the fjord, so the two make a natural pairing if you want both a coffee break and a soak on the same drive.

• Getting there: On Route 61 (Djúpvegur) in Skötufjörður, on the southern side of Ísafjarðardjúp
• From Ísafjörður: Part of the wider Route 61 loop around the Djúp; allow a full morning or afternoon if you’re combining it with Reykjaneslaug
• Duration: 20-30 minutes for coffee and a look at the turf house; longer if the café is busy
• Timing: Open in summer only, roughly mid-May to early September — check ahead if traveling in shoulder season
• What to bring: Cash or card as backup, a light jacket even in summer — fjord-side wind picks up quickly

Where to Stay

The Ísafjörður Inn is an easy base for a Route 61 day around Ísafjarðardjúp — you’re back in town for the harbour, pool, and restaurants by evening, with the whole Djúp loop, Litlibær included, doable as a there-and-back or half-loop drive from your door. Book direct on Ourhotels.is for the best rate.

Photo: Christian Bickel (Fingalo) via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 DE.