Kjarnaskógur forest is approximately 1.5 kilometers south of Akureyri town in the North of Iceland. People started to plant trees in Kjarnaskógur around 1950. Previously, the area was agricultural area with large potato fields. Today Kjarnaskógur covers an area of 800 hectares of land.

Photo from www.akureyri.is

Kjarnaskógur is a great outdoor area, with varied range of walking and running routes, bike routes, downhill bike trail, playgrounds and more, also during winter there are trails for cross-country skiing. For the past years rabbits have been settling the forest, in the beginning they were brought there by people that were getting rid off their pets, today there are around 600-800 rabbits in Kjarnaskógur. Even though the rabbits are cute animals they are harmful for the area, especially new species like the apple trees.

Kjarnaskógur is a great place to visit when in Akureyri both during winter and summer, for people that wants to enjoy outdoor activities in beautiful surroundings and ideal place to experience Icelandic forest.

You can find a map of Kjarnaskógur here 

Directions:

Kjarnaskógur is located about 5 hours (390 km) from Reykjavík and about 15 minutes (7 km) from Akureyri. Take road nr. 821 from Akureyri and turn where the sign says Kjarnaskógur.