Deciding where to stay in Höfn, Iceland usually comes down to one thing: you have just spent the afternoon at Jökulsárlón, it is getting late, and this is the next town with a proper cluster of beds. Höfn is a working fishing port of about 1,700 people on a flat spit of land, roughly an hour east of the glacier lagoon. It is not pretty in the postcard sense. The reason to sleep here is the position, the harbour view across the water to Vatnajökull, and the fact that the alternative is another 100 km in the dark.
Driving Route 1 anticlockwise from Reykjavík, the south coast delivers waterfalls, black sand and then the lagoon. After that the landscape empties out fast. Höfn is the last town of any size before the East Fjords, and the next real cluster of rooms east of it is Djúpivogur, about an hour and a quarter further on. That geography is why almost every 7-day Ring Road itinerary puts a night here.
The town itself sits at the end of a spur road off Route 1, roughly ten to fifteen minutes each way. Worth knowing before you book, because it is not a place you drive past. You commit to the detour.
What you get for it: a supermarket, a fuel station, a swimming pool, a handful of restaurants, and a shoreline path where the whole Vatnajökull ice cap and its outlet glaciers sit across the shallow lagoon. On a clear evening that view alone justifies the stop.
Beds around Höfn split into three groups.
The one to skip: rooms marketed as Höfn that are actually 50 km away on the Ring Road with no kitchen. You get neither the town nor the self-catering. Check the map pin before you pay. The same logic applies further west in Vík, and across the country in our overview of where to stay on the Ring Road.
Rural Iceland has very few beds, so the price ladder is short and steep. Rough bands per night for two people:
July sits at the top of every band. Late September through April can drop a full tier. Also: many older guesthouses have no blackout curtains, and under the midnight sun in May to August it is broad daylight at 01:00. Bring an eye mask.
Höfn has maybe a few hundred rooms serving the entire eastern end of the glacier coast, and every south-coast road trip funnels through it on the same schedule. Summer availability disappears months ahead. For June to August, book by February or March. For a specific room type or a family room, earlier.
Two extra squeezes to watch. The town's langoustine festival, usually late June or early July, empties the whole area for a weekend. And any stretch of settled clear weather in winter pulls ice cave traffic east, which fills the cheaper guesthouses first.
If you are searching in high summer and everything shows sold out, widen the map west along Route 1 rather than east. There are more farm beds in that direction, and they leave you closer to the lagoon in the morning.
There is a marked campsite in town, and more along Route 1 in both directions. Expect roughly EUR 12-20 per person per night, with showers sometimes charged separately. Sites in the southeast generally run from late May to mid or late September; outside that window, assume closed.
Wild camping with a vehicle is illegal in Iceland. Campervans and roof tents must use marked campsites, and this is enforced. Do not plan on pulling into a gravel lay-by near Stokksnes.
Höfn is also flat and exposed. Wind here regularly makes tent camping miserable when the same night is fine 100 km inland. If the forecast shows sustained gusts, a EUR 100 guesthouse room is money well spent.
Rough one-way drive times from Höfn in good conditions, with no stops:
The Egilsstaðir leg is the long one, and it is the reason people sleep in Höfn rather than pushing on. Route 1 now runs along the coast through the fjords and tunnels, which keeps it open in most winter weather. The Öxi mountain shortcut (Route 939) saves distance but is steep, closes for much of the winter and is not something to build a plan around.
Höfn built its name on langoustine, and every restaurant in town lists it. Be aware that the Icelandic fishery has been under heavy restriction in recent years, so what reaches the plate is not always local. Ask. It is still good, and prices are what you would expect for shellfish in Iceland, roughly EUR 40-60 for a main.
The town pool is the cheaper evening. Icelandic pool etiquette is non-negotiable: you shower naked and thoroughly before entering, and attendants enforce it. No exceptions for tourists.
From September to March the aurora season overlaps with this stretch of coast, and Höfn has little light pollution. Walk out past the harbour or drive five minutes toward the spit. Natural ice caves run November to March, and most tours meet at the Jökulsárlón car park, which means an hour of pre-dawn driving from town. Book those and the glacier walks through our activities page before you fix your hotel, not after.
Three rules for this town specifically. First, take free-cancellation rates. Weather rules everything in the southeast, and a closed road east of Höfn can move your whole schedule by a day. Second, decide early whether you want the town or the farms, because those are two different trips: restaurants and a pool, or dark skies and an earlier start at the lagoon.
Third, book Höfn before you book anything else on the east side. It is the tightest bed market between Vík and Egilsstaðir, and the rest of your route can flex around it. Once it is locked, fill in the nights either side from all guides.
Worth a night if you are coming from Jökulsárlón in the afternoon. The next real cluster of rooms is Djúpivogur, over an hour further, and the road east of Höfn is the one most likely to close in wind. Höfn buys you a safe stop, dinner, a pool and a glacier view across the water.
About 80 km, roughly one hour each way on Route 1. That is comfortable for an evening or morning visit, but it means an hour of dark driving if you have booked a sunrise ice cave or glacier tour meeting at the lagoon car park in winter.
Guesthouses run about EUR 90-150 per night for two, usually with a shared bathroom and a communal kitchen. Mid-range hotels run EUR 150-250 with a private bathroom and breakfast. In a town this small the hotels are not dramatically better, so book on location and cancellation terms rather than category.
For June to August, aim for February or March. The whole eastern glacier coast has only a few hundred beds and every road trip passes through on the same schedule. The langoustine festival weekend in late June or early July sells out the area completely.
No. Wild camping with a vehicle is illegal in Iceland and it is enforced. Use marked campsites, roughly EUR 12-20 per person per night. Most sites in the southeast open from late May to mid or late September, and the exposed ground around Höfn makes tent camping unpleasant in strong wind.
About 250 km on Route 1, three to three and a half hours without stops, running along the coast through the East Fjords with tunnels. The Öxi mountain shortcut is shorter but steep and closed for much of the winter, so do not plan around it.