Egilsstaðir

Egilsstaðir is first mentioned in written records in the 15th century, as a place where a legislative assembly met. Nothing certain is known about the Egill whose farm gave it its name, which makes it unusual among Icelandic towns, most of which are named after landmarks. The nearby river Eyvindará appears in the Saga of the Sons of Droplaug and in the saga of the people of Fljótsdalur.

The town's story really begins with Jón Bergsson (1855–1923), a farmer who bought the Egilsstaðir farm at the end of the 19th century because of its position, predicting "Crossroads will be here." He built a large residential building at the start of the 20th century and, with others, founded the cooperative Kaupfélag Héraðsbúa there in 1909. Bridges over Lagarfljót and Eyvindará and a road over Fagridalur to Reyðarfjörður followed, and the regional headquarters for post and telephone services moved here.

In 1947 the government took the unusual step of founding a new town by act of parliament, with its site chosen by the state planning committee; it began with only 110 people. By 1980 the population had passed 1,000, and in 1987 the town became Egilsstaðabær. It grew quickly during the boom of 2004 to 2008, when the Kárahnjúkar hydropower plant and Alcoa's aluminium smelter at Reyðarfjörður were built, and more slowly after the banking collapse of 2008. A series of mergers followed, and in 2020 the town became part of the new municipality of Múlaþing.

As the largest town in the east, Egilsstaðir is where people from across the region come for school, shopping, health care and administration, and its institutions — the upper secondary school, the regional heritage museum and the cooperative tradition begun by Jón Bergsson — reflect that role.

Folklore runs close to the surface. Lagarfljót, the long lake beside the town, is said to hide a serpent, the Lagarfljótsormurinn, which some believe lives in its depths, much as Scotland's Loch Ness is said to. Beside the church stands Gálgaás, the rock where, by legend, the farmer Valtýr in the green jacket was hanged for a murder he did not commit, before the real killer, another Valtýr, was found fourteen years later and hanged on the same spot. The writer Jón Björnsson revived the story as a play staged at the National Theatre, and children still play on the rocks.

Reindeer, introduced to Iceland in the late 18th century, are found only in the east, and herds can be seen in summer around the mountain Snæfell. Respect for the land and the weather governs daily life here as everywhere in Iceland.

About 2,630 people lived in Egilsstaðir in 2024, making it the largest settlement in East Iceland. It is the region's main centre for services, transport and administration, with an airport, an upper secondary school and a health clinic, and it sits near the Lagarfljót bridge where the Ring Road meets the main routes to the rest of the east. Fellabær lies directly across the bridge, and the municipality has run a free shuttle between the two towns.

The town's growth has followed the region's big projects. The construction of the Kárahnjúkar dam and the smelter at Reyðarfjörður brought a rapid expansion between 2004 and 2008, and the population rose by about 40 per cent between 2001 and 2011. Since then growth has been slower, and a new plan for the town centre was drawn up in 2018.

Life here follows the inland climate. Summers bring warm, bright days in the valley, sometimes the hottest in the country. Winters are colder than on the coast, and the passes to the fjords close in storms, but Egilsstaðir's airport and roads keep it the east's link to the rest of Iceland.

Reindeer is the east's own game. The animals live wild on the moorlands of the east, and their meat is considered a special delicacy in Iceland and is usually very expensive. Lamb, whose quality is a point of national pride, is the everyday meat, and fish, dairy and lamb are the pillars of Icelandic cooking as a whole.

The Hérað valley around the town holds Hallormsstaðaskógur, one of the larger forests in Iceland and the country's first national forest. Out in Fljótsdalur, Klausturkaffi at Skriðuklaustur, in the writer Gunnar Gunnarsson's mansion, is a well-known restaurant, and the town's own cafés serve visitors and locals in the centre.

National staples complete the picture: hangikjöt, smoked lamb; harðfiskur, fish dried by cold air and wind and traditionally eaten with butter; skyr, which has the consistency of strained yogurt but is classed as a fresh sour milk cheese; and the pylsa, a hot dog of Icelandic lamb, pork and beef with raw and fried onion, ketchup, sweet brown mustard and remoulade. Bónus and Nettó supermarkets make Egilsstaðir the place to stock up before a drive into the fjords.