Explore a captivating peninsula featuring shipwrecks and remnants of old settlements, showcasing the area's rich maritime history and stunning coastal views.

Close to the town of Grindavík is a small peninsula called Hópsnes. There you can find about 10 shipwrecks and old abandoned houses. Before the current harbor at Grindavík, it was sometimes tough to enter the town’s harbor due to the strong waves and surf.

The peninsula is two kilometers long and one kilometer wide. It was formed about 2800 years ago when lava flowed into the sea. Hópsnes was created in an eruption from a series of craters named after the Sundhnúkur and is located a short distance north of the village Grindavík. Harbor barriers in Grindavík are good because of this lava flow and the lagoon created at the headland when the sea began to erode the lava and move loose material. If Hópsnes did not exist, it would not be easy to imagine a settlement in Grindavík.

When you go around the headland, you can see the wrecks of ships that ran aground there and nearby in the 20th century. Many of the wrecks have information boards on them. The first part of the 20th century was the heyday of settlement and shipping on the headland. Then many rowboats and later motorboats were made from Þórkátlustaðanes. Relics of the now-gone settlement can be seen in many places, such as entrance cairns, fish drying sheds, icehouses, fish processing houses, liver smelters, and salt huts. The fishing operation moved to what is now Grindavíkurhöfn Harbour in 1939. Hópsnesviti was built in 1928.