Old Plant Nursery

The walk starts at the Ice Rink (Skautahöllin). From there, cross the road Miðhúsabraut and walk uphill along the street. At the first curve, cross the road and head south along the hot water pipeline.

Along this road, you will see the old plant nursery and the town’s vegetable gardens on your left. Continue along the road until you reach another road crossing, where you will see an old tractor and the building Galtalækur. Turn left there and continue down to the main road. Cross the main road (be careful, as there is no pedestrian crossing at this point).

Follow the path toward town for a few minutes until you reach the Motorcycle Museum. Cross the main road again (again, be careful as there is no pedestrian crossing) and walk toward the Old Plant Nursery, an old three-storey wooden building by the forest.

Turn right just after passing the Motorcycle Museum, and continue along the road past the Industrial Museum toward town. Then follow the path along a small pond, which leads back to the starting point by the Ice Rink, completing the circular route.

A nice short detour is to explore the paths within the small forest by the Old Plant Nursery, and of course you may also want to visit the two museums along the route: the Industrial Museum and the Motorcycle Museum.

The Old Plant Nursery and the Nursery Garden at Krókeyri

At Krókeyri, one of the small headlands beneath the Akureyri slopes, stands the Old Plant Nursery, a notable wooden building from the early 20th century. The house was built in 1905–1906 by the Northern Iceland Cultivation Society (Ræktunarfélag Norðurlands), which had been founded in 1903. The society’s goal was to promote tree planting, horticulture, and agriculture in North Iceland at a time when such ideas were still new and many people doubted whether forestry could succeed in Iceland.

The Old Plant Nursery was built as a multi-purpose building. It housed a laboratory, offices, a classroom, seed storage, living quarters for staff, and sleeping space for students. The building therefore served as a research station, school, and residence for those working with plant experiments and cultivation. Courses for farmers and other teaching activities were also held there.

The building itself is a two-storey wooden structure on a high basement with an attic, clad in corrugated iron and featuring decorative rafter ends typical of the so-called Swiss or catalogue houses, which were popular at the time and often built following Norwegian designs. Despite its age, the house has been well preserved and was renovated in the early 21st century.

Surrounding the building is the Nursery Garden, where various plant species were cultivated and horticulture was taught. Over time, the area developed into a lush wooded grove, which today is a quiet and attractive place for outdoor recreation.

Today the Nursery Garden is something of a hidden green oasis in the southern part of Akureyri’s old town. The trees, walking paths, and the historic building together form a unique setting that reflects the beginnings of forestry and horticulture in the Eyjafjörður region. The history of the area now spans more than 120 years and is closely connected to the major cultivation movement that took place in Iceland at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Old Plant Nursery is therefore not only a beautiful and historic building, but also an important monument to the early development of organized forestry and horticulture in North Iceland.