Djúpivogur
Where Life Goes Slowly
Last update: 24. November 2025
Djúpivogur has around 500 inhabitants and is the only Cittaslow village in Iceland. Cittaslow means that emphasis is put on local production, easy and calm lifestyle, and living in the now!
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Djúpivogur´s local economy has long been based on commercial fishing, fish processing and more recently fish farming. Tourism has grown to have a big role in the local’s day to day lives. Our village looks and feels magical with its beautiful nature and wonderful people, who live here all year round. Please help us keep tourism sustainable by conserving nature and respecting local culture.
Public Art in Djúpivogur
Eggin í Gleðivík – The Eggs of Merry Bay are an art piece by the respected Icelandic artist Sigurður Guðmundsson. The piece represents 34 eggs from species of birds that nest within the Djúpivogur area. Don´t be shy to touch the eggs, pose next to them or on top of them, at your own risk of course.
Ars Longa is a contemporary art museum overseeing the old harbour, owned by the two respected artists Sigurður Guðmundsson and Þór Vigfússon, Djúpivogur locals.
Frelsi. A memorial sculpture, “Liberty”, is dedicated to a slave (Hans Jonathan) from the Danish Virgin Islands that escaped and settled in Djúpivogur. He married a local woman, and their two children now have around a thousand descendants. The memorial is the work of renowned Icelandic artist Sigurður Guðmundsson.
Tankurinn is an old fish oil tank that has been converted into an exhibition space for art and music. Always open, go inside and enjoy the marvellous reverb.
Experience Djúpivogur
Bóndavarðan – The farmer’s cairn, stands high on the ridge just seawards of the village. The view from Bóndavarðan cairn is great and oversees the entire village. There is a view
indicator at the top, so don´t hesitate to stroll up there and take a look.
Services in Djúpivogur
Public bathrooms are available to all guests and locals by the harbour in the basement of the house of Faktor (the black building). Open all year round, day and night. Please help keep them clean and use with respect and care.
Sit down and enjoy a refreshment or fine meal at Hótel Framtíð, Við Voginn or Langabúð. Buy some handicrafts from local artists and designers at Bakkabúð, Bones Stick & Stones, Auðunn´s Rock Collection, and the JFS arts workshop. For local food products to take with you, ask at Við Voginn, Langabúð or Kjörbúðin.
Guidelines
- Locals live in this town all year. Please be respectful of people´s privacy by not
entering homes and private gardens even if the doors are unlocked. - You can of course take pictures of the beautiful sights in the village but please
ask permission before taking pictures of locals or private properties. - Photographing using drones, respect all wildlife and especially the birds during the nesting period. This goes for the everyday life of locals as well.
- The town is full of children playing experiencing their own remarkable adventures. Please be respectful of them they are our most valuable treasures.
- Fish and the fishing industry is this town´s bread and butter. The harbour is also an attractive place to visit to see the life of the town. This however is a working area, and it is forbidden to enter the fish factory and interrupt working people.
- Please watch from a safe distance for your own safety and the employees’.
- Most of Djúpivogur’s unique cliff formations have names and a story and usually there is a troll or an elf behind it. Locals approach them with caution
because of our rich mythic beliefs, even though we don´t necessarily admit it. So please pay the same respect to nature as locals do and please don´t make your own cairns or wards, they have a purpose and a meaning in Iceland. - In Djúpivogur our sidewalks are sometimes in poor shape or nonexisting. We ask pedestrians to stay off the streets and as far to the side of the road as possible for everyone’s safety.
- Day to day, all year, the village of Djúpivogur has few inhabitants. Some days in the summer the population triples or quadruples overnight. Local businesses try to prepare accordingly but sometimes things take time and the transition from few to many can be cumbersome. We ask you to show us understanding, and stay positive, we are doing our best.
Cittaslow
Djúpivogur adopted the ideology of Cittaslow and became a member of the association in 2013, the first municipality in Iceland to do so.
Emphasis is put on human values, promoting the local uniqueness conserving nature and cultural heritage and welcoming guests with hospitality and kindness.
The main idea behind Cittaslow is to take your time to enjoy life – speed does not need to be a lifestyle.
When travelling through our community, look for the Cittaslow logo: an orange snail carrying a village on its shell. It appears as a sign of quality in the stores, shops, and restaurants in Djúpivogur, promising that what they sell – whether food, handicrafts or other goods – is sourced within the community.
With our Cittaslow mindset we try to seize the moment and enjoy it, we ask you to do the same.
