Akureyri · With kids

The forest south of town is Akureyri's playground, with paths through the trees and, at the Hamrar campsite alongside, a boating pond where the warden hires out pedal boats and life jackets. Full service runs from the beginning of May to the end of October.

Ten minutes' drive south of town, and open all year: 10:00–18:00 from June to August, 12:00–18:00 September to December and 14:00–18:00 January to May. There is no bus, so it needs a car or a taxi.

One 2,800 ISK ticket covers seven museums for the rest of the calendar year and children go in free. Most open daily 11:00–17:00 and include Nonnahús, the childhood home of the children's writer Jón Sveinsson, and a toy museum.

Distances up here are longer than the map suggests: Goðafoss is 45 minutes away, Mývatn about 89 kilometres, Húsavík an hour and a half each way. With small children, plan a single destination a day and let the town pool or the woods absorb the rest.

In June and July it never really gets dark this far north, and children who sleep by light cues simply do not go to bed. Bring eye masks, or expect very late nights and a lie-in that wrecks the morning boat.