Sixty Years of Flókalundur

In the summer of 1966, a society of Barðaströnd natives living in Reykjavík began building a hotel in Vatnsfjörður, the fjord where Hrafna-Flóki spent his winter more than a thousand years earlier. Sixty years later, Flókalundur still welcomes travellers at the crossroads of the Westfjords, in a quiet fjord covered in birch woods.

Flókalundur on a summer's day, 2 August 1991. Photo: Hjálmar R. Bárðarson / Þjóðminjasafn Íslands, sarpur.is

In the footsteps of Flóki

Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson, known as Raven-Flóki, wintered in Vatnsfjörður. According to the Book of Settlements, he climbed a mountain in spring, looked out over a fjord filled with drift ice and gave the country its name: Iceland. Ruins linked to Flóki can still be seen near Brjánslækur, and his name lives on in the hotel further up the fjord.

The story of the hotel begins in the mid-1940s. Barðstrendingafélagið, a Reykjavík society for people from the Barðaströnd region, decided to build two hotels back home: Bjarkalundur in Reykhólasveit, which opened in 1947, and a second one further west. The first plan was to build at Brjánslækur, and a foundation was poured there. When the new road was laid into Vatnsfjörður, the plan moved to the abandoned farm of Hella by the river Penna, where the roads to Patreksfjörður, Ísafjörður and Reykjavík meet.

Hotel manager Heba Ólafsson and Guðbjartur in 1976. Photo: Morgunblaðið, 1976 / timarit.is

From roadside café to hotel

In the spring of 1961, a small café was built on the site, and it served its first travellers that summer. The foundation for a hotel was poured the following year, but money was short and the work stalled. Building finally began in earnest in the summer of 1966.

The project was put out to tender, and the best offer came from Norway. The house arrived in prefabricated panels together with two Norwegian craftsmen, and four men had it closed in within a month. At its annual meeting in the spring of 1967, the society agreed to name the hotel Flókalundur. The first guest rooms opened that same summer.

The whole project ran on goodwill. Members held a lottery, the counties and parishes of the Westfjords contributed, and the Icelandic Tourism Fund lent most of the building costs.

Hótel Flókalundur shortly after it opened in 1968. Photo: timarit.is

At the crossroads

The new hotel opened fully in the summer of 1968. The 260-square-metre timber house had a bright dining room seating eighty, a well-equipped kitchen and four double rooms named after places nearby: Kleif, Mörk, Hella and Penna. Power came from a diesel generator, and the only phone line was a radio link through Gufunes.

Two stuffed ravens, Flóki's ravens, greeted guests in the lobby, and the hotel soon became a favourite. Families from all over the Westfjords drove to Vatnsfjörður on Sundays, the way people in Reykjavík drove to Þingvellir. Flókalundur hosted meetings and celebrations, and in 1971 the Westfjords nature conservation association was founded there.

A meeting in the wood-panelled dining room, 1980–95. Flókalundur has long been a gathering place for the Westfjords. Photo: ASÍ collection, Þjóðminjasafn Íslands / sarpur.is

Flowers presented at a gathering at the hotel, 1980–95. Photo: ASÍ collection, Þjóðminjasafn Íslands / sarpur.is

Growing with the fjord

Work on an extension began at the end of 1971. By 1973 the enlarged hotel was in full use, with fifteen rooms, each with its own bathroom. A year earlier, a company called Gestur had been set up to run the hotel. Its owners were the society together with counties, parishes and individuals across the Westfjords.

The Viking ship from the 1974 national festival in Vatnsfjörður, which marked 1,100 years of settlement in Iceland. Photo: Bæring Cecilsson / Bæringsstofa, sarpur.is

The seasons have always set the pace. The hotel opened in late spring, once the mountain passes were clear, and closed in mid-September. In the summer of 1976, hotel manager Heba Ólafsson said: "Flókalundur has a future ahead of it." She was right.

Camping in the birch woods by Flókalundur in the 1970s. Photo: Byggðasafn Dalamanna / sarpur.is

Flókalundur today

Today Hótel Flókalundur has 27 rooms, a restaurant and bar, and a campsite sheltered by birch woods. Down by the shore, a short walk from the hotel, is Hellulaug, a natural hot spring where you can soak while looking out over the fjord.

The hotel is an ideal base for exploring the southern Westfjords, including Dynjandi, Látrabjarg and Rauðisandur. The Baldur ferry docks at Brjánslækur, only a few kilometres away. The crossroads that decided the hotel's location sixty years ago is still the starting point for journeys across the region.

Vatnsfjörður is a protected nature reserve, and the landscape remains wild and unspoiled. Hótel Flókalundur is part of KNOX Hotels, a collection of hotels around Iceland, each with deep roots in its surroundings.

Timeline

• 1947: Barðstrendingafélagið opens Bjarkalundur

• 1961: First roadside café in Vatnsfjörður

• 1966: Building of the hotel begins

• 1967: The name Flókalundur is chosen

• 1968: The new hotel opens

• 1973: Enlarged hotel with 15 rooms

• 2026: Flókalundur turns 60

Thank you for sixty years

Sixty years is a long time for a hotel. The roads over the mountain passes are better, the radio link through Gufunes is long gone, and guests now come from all over the world. Some things have not changed: the birch woods, the fjord, the hot spring by the shore and the quiet that Flóki knew more than eleven centuries ago.

We are proud of this milestone and grateful to everyone who has made the trip to Vatnsfjörður over the past sixty years: our guests, our neighbours and our staff. Here's to the next sixty.

The hotel seen from across the river in the 1970s. Photo: Byggðasafn Dalamanna / sarpur.is

The head chef at work in the kitchen, 1976. Photo: Morgunblaðið, 1976 / timarit.is

Making soup in the hotel kitchen, 1980–95. Photo: ASÍ collection, Þjóðminjasafn Íslands / sarpur.is

Dinner at Flókalundur, 1980–95. Photo: ASÍ collection, Þjóðminjasafn Íslands / sarpur.is

Flóki's ravens keep watch over a meeting at the hotel, 1980–95. Photo: ASÍ collection, Þjóðminjasafn Íslands / sarpur.is

Deep snow around the hotel in 1995. Photo: Lárus Ó. K. Magnússon / Byggðasafn Dalamanna, sarpur.is