Eldheimar Volcano Museum

In the early hours of 23 January 1973 a fissure opened on the eastern edge of Heimaey. By morning almost all of the island's 5,300 people had been taken to the mainland, most of them on the fishing fleet. Over five months the eruption built the Eldfell cone and buried about 400 houses under lava and ash. Eldheimar is built around one of those houses, dug out of the ash decades later. Walkways let you look into the rooms as they were left, and an audio guide in several languages covers the eruption, the evacuation and the effort to save the harbour by pumping seawater onto the lava. Allow about an hour. The café upstairs looks across to Heimaklettur, and the trail up Eldfell starts a short walk away.