1238: The Battle of Iceland

The exhibition is built around ten minutes of virtual reality. The headset puts you inside the battle, and the rest of the museum explains who was fighting and why: panels, interactive screens and medieval gear you can try on. Texts run in English as well as Icelandic.

Everything on display is a replica. Original artefacts from the period are held in the museums in Reykjavík, not here. The museum is small and the whole visit takes about an hour, so treat it as a stop rather than a day out. It also gives context to the battlefield itself, which lies nearby.

• The VR is the centrepiece — it runs ten minutes, and the rest of the museum is small; the whole visit takes about an hour.
• Replicas, not originals — the objects on show and the gear you can try on are copies; the original artefacts are in Reykjavík.
• Bilingual — the exhibition is in English as well as Icelandic.
• On site — a café serving coffee and snacks, a gift shop and toilets.
• Children — the displays are hands-on and the museum caters for children.

Visitors arrive by car. The museum stands in Sauðárkrókur itself, on the western side of Skagafjörður, with a car park at the door and street parking around it. The entrance is step-free from the car park, and there is wheelchair-accessible parking. The whole visit is indoors, so nothing about the approach calls for boots or extra time.

Best: a weekday, with an hour set aside for the exhibition and the virtual reality battle.

Avoid: the weekend — the museum does not open on Saturday or Sunday, which catches out people passing through Skagafjörður on a Saturday drive.

The visit runs from start to finish indoors, which makes it a sound plan for a wet or windy day.