- Where
- North Atlantic, about 7 km off
Iceland’s south coast - Coordinates
- 63.4330° N
20.2670° W - Area
- 13.4 km²
11.2 km² before 1973 (Wikipedia) - People
- 4,414 (2022)
- Newest volcano
- Eldfell, just over 200 m
erupted January–July 1973 - Getting there
- Herjólfur ferry from Landeyjahöfn
about 30–45 minutes - Best visited
- May to September
From the ferry the harbour looked ordinary: fishing boats, sheds, gulls. Then the street stopped at a wall of black rubble taller than the houses, and past it a raw red hill, still too new for grass. I climbed it in a cold wind, puffins whirring along the cliffs below, and looked down at gardens planted almost against the stone. I liked whoever planted them enormously.
The short answer
Heimaey is the largest island of the Vestmannaeyjar, the Westman Islands, an archipelago off the south coast of Iceland, and the only one of them that is inhabited. It covers 13.4 square kilometres and lies about seven kilometres (four nautical miles) offshore, Wikipedia records, and it had 4,414 people in 2022, most of them in the town of Vestmannaeyjar around its harbour, long one of the most important fishing ports in Iceland. The island’s skyline is two volcanic cones: Helgafell, about 5,000 years old, and Eldfell, which did not exist before January 1973.
Why it's worth knowing
A volcano in the back garden. Early on 23 January 1973 a fissure opened on the eastern side of Heimaey, barely a kilometre from the centre of the town, with almost no warning, Wikipedia records. Within hours almost all of the island’s people, about 5,000 by Wikipedia’s article on Heimaey and 5,300 by its article on Eldfell, had been taken to the mainland, most of them on the fishing fleet, which storms had kept in harbour; the elderly and hospital patients were flown out. Over the following weeks a cinder cone rose to about 200 metres. Ash buried much of the town and lava overran its eastern edge: around 400 homes were destroyed, by Wikipedia’s account, and the US Geological Survey, in its booklet Man Against Volcano, writes that about a third of the town was obliterated. One man died, from carbon dioxide that collected in a cellar.
Seawater against lava. The greatest threat was that the lava would close the harbour, on which the island’s fishing depended. From 6 February crews sprayed the front of the flow with seawater to chill it and slow it, at first with a single small pump, then from the dredging ship Sandey and through pipes laid across the moving lava, and later with dozens of pumps brought from the United States, Wikipedia records. Its articles put the water at about six million tonnes and at about 7.3 million cubic metres; the physicist Þorbjörn Sigurgeirsson, who advised the crews, said the flow failed by only about 100 metres to block the harbour entrance. The USGS credits the cooling with slowing, stopping or diverting flows from the undamaged part of the town. The entrance was narrowed but not closed, and the new lava now works as a breakwater, sheltering the harbour better than before. The new lava added more than two square kilometres to the island, which grew from 11.2 to 13.44 square kilometres.
The field notes
Houses dug out of the ash
After the eruption the islanders used heat from the cooling lava to warm water and generate electricity, and used the ash to lengthen the airport’s runways and as fill for about 200 new houses, Wikipedia records. Some of the buried houses were later excavated. The museum Eldheimar, opened in May 2014, is built around one of them, a family’s single-storey house at Gerðisbraut 10, which archaeologists uncovered from the ash in the 2000s, CNN Travel and the museum’s own listings report in indexed text.
Pufflings in the streets
The Westman Islands hold large colonies of seabirds, and the puffin is the most plentiful and the islands’ emblem, Wikipedia records. In late August and early September young puffins leaving their burrows for the sea at night are drawn by the town’s lights and come down in the streets instead. Islanders, children and their parents among them, go out after dark to collect the stranded birds and set them free at the sea, a practice National Geographic reported in 2002 and Boing Boing described again in 2024; Boing Boing dates its beginnings to the early twentieth century, when electric light came to the town.
An older loss
In 1627 pirates from the Barbary Coast raided the south coast of Iceland and Heimaey, where they killed or carried off almost half the island’s people to be sold in Algiers, Wikipedia records; the event is remembered in Iceland as the Turkish Abductions. One captive, Guðríður Símonardóttir, was ransomed a decade later and married the poet Hallgrímur Pétursson.
The harbour and town of Heimaey, with Eldfell and Helgafell behind, July 2012.
Photograph: Andreas Blome · Heimaey Island · CC BY-SA 3.0
July 1974: the lava field beside the town, with steam rising (historic photograph).
Photograph: Christian Bickel · Heimaey 08 · CC BY-SA 2.0 DE · cropped
From Eldfell's summit: the islands of Elliðaey and Bjarnarey, with the mainland glaciers beyond.
Photograph: Szilas · Public domain · cropped
Atlantic puffins on a grassy clifftop in the Westman Islands, August 2026.
Photograph: MSK · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
- Find out the night before which harbour the ferry will sail from. The sea chooses, and it changes its mind.
- Climb the new hill toward evening, slowly, keeping to the trodden way. The slope shifts underfoot.
- Walk through the dug-out house as you would through anybody’s home: quietly, and with your hands behind your back.
- Begin a page for the puffins. Then another. The list now has a puffin annexe, and the annexe has a waiting list.
- If the young puffins come down into the town while you are there, help only as the islanders show you, with a box and gentle hands.
Eldfell. The cinder cone, just over 200 metres high, that rose at the eastern edge of Heimaey’s town from 23 January 1973, its lava running north and east into the sea and toward the harbour until July. Its name means “hill of fire”, and its ash went to lengthen the island’s runways and to build ground for new houses. It stands where it rose, behind the town, and is climbed on foot by its path.
Tally, in the marginI spent the afternoon treating it with the respect one keeps for mountains. On the ferry home a deckhand asked whether I had enjoyed the new one. I have revised my manners ever since.
Getting there
How to get there. By the Herjólfur car ferry from Landeyjahöfn, a harbour on the south coast about 140 kilometres from Reykjavík; the crossing of about 12 kilometres takes about 30 minutes by Wikipedia’s account and 35 to 45 minutes by the ferry and tourism office’s. Landeyjahöfn is built on sand and silts up, and in bad weather and high waves, especially in winter, the ferry sails instead from Þorlákshöfn, a crossing of about three hours. The ferry company announces each day which harbour it will use. Norlandair flies from Reykjavík in winter, by Wikipedia’s listing of the island’s airport.
When to go. May to September, when the ferry is least often diverted to Þorlákshöfn; late August and early September for the pufflings. Iceland’s parliament heard in spring 2026 that the ferry had been damaged and had sailed only a fraction of its scheduled trips in March, so check the current service before planning around it. Ferry bookings for the islands’ festival, Þjóðhátíð, at the start of August, open separately.
What to arrange ahead. The ferry, booked ahead for a car and in summer, and a bed on the island if you mean to stay; a day trip from the south coast is possible when the ferry runs from Landeyjahöfn.
Safety. The State Department has Iceland at Level 1, exercise normal precautions (advisory dated 5 May 2026 in its feed, read 5 October 2026), noting quickly changing weather, dangerous natural features, active volcanoes and earthquakes. The hazards here are the place’s own: loose slopes on Eldfell, cliff edges, sudden wind and rain, and a ferry that weather can divert or stop.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is Heimaey?
Heimaey is the largest island of the Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands), about seven kilometres off the south coast of Iceland. It covers 13.4 square kilometres and is the only inhabited island in the group, with 4,414 people in 2022.
What happened on Heimaey in 1973?
On 23 January 1973 a fissure eruption opened at the eastern edge of Heimaey’s town and built a new volcano, Eldfell. Almost the whole population was evacuated within hours, mostly by fishing boat; ash and lava destroyed around 400 homes, and the eruption lasted until July. One man died.
How did Heimaey stop the lava?
From February 1973, crews on Heimaey sprayed the advancing lava with seawater, from a dredging ship and through pipes laid across the flow, to cool and slow its front. Wikipedia records about six million tonnes of water pumped; the US Geological Survey credits the operation with slowing, stopping or diverting flows that threatened the harbour and the rest of the town.
How do you get to Heimaey?
By the Herjólfur ferry from Landeyjahöfn on Iceland’s south coast, a crossing of about 30 to 45 minutes. In bad weather, especially in winter, the ferry sails from Þorlákshöfn instead, about three hours. Norlandair flies to Heimaey from Reykjavík in winter.
What is Eldfell?
Eldfell is the volcanic cone, just over 200 metres high, that formed on Heimaey in the eruption that began on 23 January 1973. Its name means “hill of fire” in Icelandic. It stands at the eastern edge of the town of Vestmannaeyjar, beside the older cone Helgafell.
Did Heimaey get bigger after the eruption?
Yes. Lava from the 1973 eruption flowed into the sea along Heimaey’s east coast and enlarged the island from 11.2 to 13.44 square kilometres, according to Wikipedia. The flow also narrowed the harbour entrance without closing it.
What is the puffling rescue on Heimaey?
In late August and early September, young puffins leaving their burrows at night on Heimaey are drawn to the town’s lights and land in the streets. Islanders, many of them children with their parents, collect the stranded birds after dark and set them free at the sea.
What is Eldheimar?
Eldheimar is a museum on Heimaey, opened in May 2014, about the 1973 eruption. It is built around a family house at Gerðisbraut 10 that was buried by ash in 1973 and excavated by archaeologists in the 2000s.