A Heavenly Lobster Sandwich in Hofn!

We sent Travel Specialist, Drifa, to the small harbor town of Hofn in the southeast of Iceland, who came back with an extraordinary travel tip!

Located almost on the doorstep of Vatnajökull glacier, there are plenty of excursions into the national park and around the grand old glacier in the summertime – for example superjeep tours or snowmobiling on Vatnajokull glacier itself.

It was these excursions which my colleagues and I had come to experience. Did you know that Höfn is also one of the best places in the world for lobster and also known as the ‘lobster capital of the north’? We discovered the truth of this almost by accident…

He suggested Discover the World should start a special lobster sandwich excursion to Hofn!

The town didn’t look very festive (unless you count the reindeers we saw just outside of town) when we arrived at the beginning of May 2014. It’s a good place to stop if you’re driving around route 1 though, as there are a few restaurants and a couple of interesting museums. These include the Glacier Museum where you can learn about the area, the nature and basic glaciology, and also the art gallery ‘Svavarssafn’ which opened in 2011 in memory of the local artist Svavar Guðnason.

My main concern, however, was whether the town might have a shop that would sell hiking boots as my 14 year old boots (which I had believed would last forever!) had given way on top of the mighty Eyjafjallajökull glacier a couple of days earlier. We were booked to go on another glacier hike on Solheimajökull the next day, and I was starting to feel a little desperate as I would otherwise only have trainers to wear.

Asking around, the locals kindly pointed me into the direction of ‘Verslun Doru’ (or ‘Dora’s shop’). Dora herself greeted me and led me through a couple of rooms full of haberdashery, winter coats, party dresses etc. to the back of the shop which contained only boots and shoes. Dora found a pair in my size: my glacier hike was saved!

To celebrate, Dora recommended ‘Kaffihornid’ or ‘the café on the corner’ for a Höfn specialty: a traditional Lobster sandwich. My, oh my! Words cannot describe how delicious the lobster sandwich was… a big portion and very reasonably priced (for Iceland) at about £15. One of my colleagues followed my lead and ordered the same lobster sandwich and was so impressed he suggested Discover the World should start a special lobster sandwich excursion to Höfn! And our other two colleagues who ordered beef burgers were desperately envious of our choice, even though their burgers were very tasty too.

Right next door to the café is a swimming pool with slides for kids and hot tubs for the adults – perfect for relaxation after your meal. The glacier hike the next day was exhilarating, and my new boots did their job. But even if you only go to Höfn to taste their lobster sandwich and don’t do any activities it will be worth your while – they’re truly heavenly.

Feeling inspired?

For help and advice with planning a trip to Hofn, enquire online or speak to a Travel Specialist.