Now that there is a ferry terminal only 64km west of the hotel you can easily take in a day, or part of a day, on the main island, Heimaey where the volcanic eruption occurred in 1973. You can take your car with you or rely on your two feet. The crossing takes just 30 minutes and sails past several of the imposing outlying islands. You can but wonder as to how people managed to erect houses there! Thanks to the eruption the harbour is now well protected by the lava flow. The energetic may wish to climb the volcanic cone. Less energetic but truly beautiful is a walk along the western coastline to the narrows at the southern end giving views along the southern chain of islands that end on Surtsey, which erupted from the sea floor in 1962. In season you may see thousands of puffins at the south end (Stórhöfði). Within the confines of the town there is plenty to see and do: the excavations of the ‘Pompeii of the North’, the Surstey exhibition, folk museum, aquarium, the churchyard once buried in volcanic ash, relax by the harbour or stroll the footpaths within the 1973 lava.