Skrúður Botanical Garden: Iceland’s Oldest Garden in Dýrafjörður
A Walled Garden Facing Dýrafjörður
Most people drive the Westfjords for rock, moss, and waterfalls, so a formal garden feels almost out of place. Skrúður sits on a south-west-facing slope above Dýrafjörður, near the village of Þingeyri, enclosed by a low stone-and-turf wall that shelters it from the wind coming off the fjord. Established in 1909, it is the oldest botanical garden in Iceland, and the contrast with the bare mountains behind it is part of what makes it worth the stop.
Built to Teach, Not Just to Look At
The garden was the project of Rev. Sigtryggur Guðlaugsson, a pastor and teacher at the nearby Núpur school. He and his students cleared stones from the slope by hand and used the dug-out ground to plant the garden’s earliest trees, several of which are still growing. The idea was practical as much as ornamental: students learned cultivation and land care by working the plot themselves, an unusual undertaking this far north and this far from Iceland’s main population centers at the time.
Restoration and an International Prize
Skrúður fell into disrepair over the following decades, but a local restoration effort starting in 1992 brought it back, and the garden formally reopened in 1996. In 2013 it won the International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens, awarded by the Benetton Foundation, which recognized the site’s historical and creative value. It’s a small honor roll of a place — a century-old teaching garden in a fjord with a few hundred residents, judged internationally alongside far larger landscapes.
Combining Skrúður with Dynjandi
Skrúður sits directly on the route between Ísafjörður and Dynjandi waterfall, reached via the Dýrafjarðargöng tunnel that opened in 2020 and cut out the old mountain pass. It’s an easy add-on rather than a detour: stop in Þingeyri on the way to or from Dynjandi, walk the garden for twenty to thirty minutes, and continue on. Because the tunnel bypasses a pass that used to close in bad weather, this route is also usable for more of the year than the old road was.
- Getting there: Route 60 from Ísafjörður through the Dýrafjarðargöng tunnel to Þingeyri, then a short signed turn to the garden — the fjord-to-fjord drive is roughly 30 minutes from Ísafjörður.
- Duration: About 20-30 minutes to walk the garden at an easy pace.
- Combine with: Dynjandi waterfall, roughly another 40-50 minutes’ drive south from Þingeyri on the same route.
- What to bring: A waterproof jacket regardless of forecast, and sturdy shoes for the packed-earth paths.
- Timing: Best in summer when the plantings are in leaf; the garden is an outdoor, unstaffed site, so there’s no ticket booth to work around.
Where to Stay
The Ísafjörður Inn is an in-town base in the Westfjords’ capital, putting you at the start of the Route 60 loop that runs through the Dýrafjarðargöng tunnel to Þingeyri and on to Dynjandi — so a Skrúður-and-waterfall day starts and ends without backtracking through unfamiliar roads in the dark. Book direct on Ourhotels.is for the best rate.
Photo: Diego Delso via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.