Photo spot in Stykkishólmur
The painted timber houses on Hafnargata
A run of nineteenth-century wooden houses in mustard, red and black above the quay — including Norska húsið, built from Norwegian timber in 1832.
About The painted timber houses on Hafnargata
Get directionsStykkishólmur kept its old harbour quarter, which is rarer in Iceland than it sounds. Along Hafnargata and up into Aðalgata stands a run of nineteenth-century timber and corrugated-iron houses painted mustard, ox-blood red, white and black, most of them still lived in or working as cafés and small museums. The oldest is Norska húsið, the Norwegian House, put up in 1832 from timber shipped in from Norway and now the district museum.
Work it as a walking sequence rather than one shot. Doorways and painted board fronts give tight portraits with a clean colour block behind; step back and the street's slope stacks three or four house-fronts into one frame; turn toward the water and the boats fill the background. It is a five-minute stretch, which makes it the reliable bad-weather half of a Stykkishólmur session.
Morning light is best, when the sun rakes low across the boards and the street is empty — this is a working town, not a resort, so cars and deliveries appear as the day starts. In summer the evening light comes back around and warms the same fronts from the other side.
Remember these are homes. Photograph from the street, don't lean on gates or block doorways, and keep an eye out for parked cars intruding on an otherwise clean facade — a step to the left usually fixes it. Cafés along the street are the practical warm-up point between sets on a cold day.
Best time to shoot
Morning, before the working town wakes up; summer evenings warm the same fronts again
Tips
Use each painted facade as a flat colour block behind a tight portrait, then step back so the sloping street stacks several house-fronts. Watch for parked cars — a step sideways usually clears the frame.
Other spots in Stykkishólmur
Súgandisey lighthouse over the harbour
A squat red lighthouse on a basalt island, reached by a causeway and a flight of steps — the whole harbour and the islands of Breiðafjörður spread below.
Stykkishólmskirkja on the hill
A white concrete church that curves up from the slope like a whale's jaw — pure shape outside, pure light inside, and the whole town below it.
Berserkjahraun lava field
Four thousand years of moss-covered lava under red cinder cones, twenty minutes west of town — the wildest scene on Snæfellsnes that you can drive into.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know The painted timber houses on Hafnargata — free of charge.