Gistihús Jóa
Strandgata 2 625, Olafsfjordur 625 Iceland
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About
4.5
#1 of 1 guest house in OlafsfjordurLocation
Cleanliness
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Set in central Ólafsfjördur, this guest house overlooks the Eyjafjördur Fjord. It offers rooms with modern décor and views of the surrounding mountains. Joe's Guesthouse opened on June 17th 2012. All six rooms are on the second floor. There is a common area with a fridge and electric kettle, two bathrooms, one with a shower. Every room has free Wi-Fi. Besides the new and comfortable beds there is a closet, bedside table and washbin in every room. Since the summers in Iceland are bright 24/7 there are room darkening curtains for every window.Since the house was built as a post office we wanted to have that visible in the rooms. All of the rooms have parquet on the floors and we chose three different kinds of parquet that are intended to refer to the previous time and the use of the building. Room 201 has wooden stamps on the floor while others have two types of parquet, which are as old boxes with various stamp boards. This flooring has gained much attention. On the ground floor is the café - Kaffi Klara, where breakfast is served and you can enjoy a variety of coffee, cakes and a hot meal during the working days. There is allways soup and you can ask for the choice of the day. A supermarket, bank and post office are found next door. Akureyri Airport is a 1-hour drive from Jóa Gistihús.Sundlaug Fjallabyggdar swimming pool is 300 metres away. Hiking trails are found close by. On-pier fishing is just 3 minutes’ walk away.
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Property amenities
Free parking
Free High Speed Internet (WiFi)
Wifi
Bar / lounge
Restaurant
Non-smoking hotel
Shared bathroom
Laundry service
Breakfast available
Room features
Clothes rack
Room types
Non-smoking rooms
Family rooms
Good to know
HOTEL STYLE
Romantic
Languages Spoken
English, French, Spanish, Danish and 1 more
Location
Strandgata 2 625, Olafsfjordur 625 Iceland
Getting there
Car recommended
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
Grade: 40 out of 100
40
3 Restaurants
within 10 kilometers
2 Attractions
within 10 kilometers
25Reviews0Q+A2Room tips
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Detailed Reviews
Our best experience in travel on the Iceland thus far. We stopped at the place to have a bite but first they told us that they had no food as they were about to close. But then we had a stupendous spread of what they had on hand!
All local food, either made on premises or locally. We were offered home made lox, lamb (hangilegg, loftskiptar umbudir), and hard smoked lamb (smalabiti, lettreyktur of graffin), peas in mayo, omelette, and then for dessert the owner, Ida, brought home made white chocolate and rubbard cakes. To top it off, she brought some rubbard jam.
She couldn't have been friendlier. She wrote the recipe for the jam for us to make back home.
Make sure to not miss this gem of a place!
All local food, either made on premises or locally. We were offered home made lox, lamb (hangilegg, loftskiptar umbudir), and hard smoked lamb (smalabiti, lettreyktur of graffin), peas in mayo, omelette, and then for dessert the owner, Ida, brought home made white chocolate and rubbard cakes. To top it off, she brought some rubbard jam.
She couldn't have been friendlier. She wrote the recipe for the jam for us to make back home.
Make sure to not miss this gem of a place!
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Date of stay: July 2021Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Gistihús Jóa Joe's Guesthouse, Owner at Gistihús Jóa
Responded 27 Jul 2021
Thankyou - it was a pleasure to have you. Safe travels and enjoy your further stay. Regards, Ida Kaffi Klara
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
We dropped in after skiing a nearby mountain. The owner and her Son made us very welcome indeed and offered us a try of their delicious cake. We asked lots of questions about the village and enjoyed talking to them very much. Really recommend these lovely people and their cafe/guesthouse. Thank you. We'll be back.
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Date of stay: May 2016Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from GistihusJoa, Owner at Gistihús Jóa
Responded 30 May 2016
Thank you for you comment, it was a pleasure to meet you and we surely hope to see you again. Many regards from both of us ;-) Ida
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Found this little cafe - Kaffe Klara- out front of this guesthouse and stopped for coffee and cake. A real surprise in a part of Iceland that can seem a bit sleepy and deserted at times!
Warming vegetable soup and home baked bread. If you are passing this fiord, drop in for interesting conversation and nourishing tasty food.
Warming vegetable soup and home baked bread. If you are passing this fiord, drop in for interesting conversation and nourishing tasty food.
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Date of stay: May 2016Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Rooms
Location
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Room Tip: Room with a view of the harbour
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
So nice to visit this wonderful place.
The rooms are great and very comfortable.
Ida and Bjarni made us feel like home.
Looking forward to coming back in the summer to visit you and your cafe 😀 Thank you so much 😀
The rooms are great and very comfortable.
Ida and Bjarni made us feel like home.
Looking forward to coming back in the summer to visit you and your cafe 😀 Thank you so much 😀
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Date of stay: March 2016Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Located above a coffee shop in a fishing village. Spacious room with a glimpse of the harbour from our balcony. 3 single beds with space around them to move, plus room for bags. Super clean shared bathroom plus extra toilet. Quiet location. Lovely linens including fluffy bath robes. While the coffee shop closed at 6pm, they heated up a homemade quiche & prepared a salad so we didn't have to go to the next village to dine. Delicious home made cakes for dessert. Wonderful icecream. Best we ate in Iceland in 3 weeks. Breakfast was fantastic - not the usual fare - best breakfast we had in Iceland. Smoked fish compote, proper ham, prosciutto, warm rolls & cheese twists, huge variety of other delicacies. Excellent value.
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Date of stay: June 2017Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from GistihusJoa, Owner at Gistihús Jóa
Responded 9 Jun 2017
Dear guests, thank you for the kind review, we are pleased that me made is so pleasant. Best regards Ida and staff
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
I stayed at the Olafsfjordur campsite which is next to the town's activity center. Payment is not collected at the campsite, but at this guesthouse. The campsite is very basic, no showers in easy access for campers, just a toilet house. It was an ok place to stay for the night, aside from the entire town smelling strongly of fish. As a fishing village it makes a lot of sense, but just thought I'd mention it.
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Date of stay: May 2017Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
very cozy guesthouse, the cafe downstairs offers a very nice breakfast with coffee, juice, home-made bread, eggs and much more. The owner and staff was very welcoming and informed us about events in the town. The town is a perfect starting point for ski-tours and the cafe is very nice to hang out afterwards.
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Date of stay: March 2017Trip type: Travelled with friends
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Lovely Village/Town on a Fjord, but that is as far as it goes... The Guesthouse was nice, great rooms, warm and lots of hot water from Shower. Even had dressing gowns! The Outdoor Swimming Pool was just down the road and was nice to sit in a hotpot in the cold winters air! The Landlady didn't seem rather bothered by welcoming us in a "welcome to the north" manner and I asked about breakfast as it was booked - she said we don't do Breakfast in Winter..Now that really annoyed us! We booked breakfast too! She said she could of done us a Tea/Coffee in the morning, but that wouldn't of filled us up. Everything shuts down on a weekday about 5pm, so we managed to find a Restaurant 15 minutes away North by car..Again annoying, but the Restaurant was lovely! I wouldn't bother with Winter here..Stay in Akureyri!
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Date of stay: March 2017Trip type: Travelled with family
Value
Rooms
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The new owners are super friendly and helpful. They've only been running the place for a month, so I expect they're still finding their feet a little. It'll be nice when they manage to open the downstairs cafe full time, as there's nowhere else to sit except in your room (although some other guests did make their breakfast on the landing where there's a kettle and microwave.) Six rooms shared a single shower, so I imagine there could be queues when the guesthouse is full. The rooms could do with a little TLC, but nothing that spoilt our stay.
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Date of stay: March 2016Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from GistihusJoa, Owner at Gistihús Jóa
Responded 16 Apr 2016
Thank you for your positive comment, it means a lot for us to know that we are on the right way and we will hopefully be able to open very soon all day so that people can stay elsewhere than in their room. Best regards, Ida
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
We booked this last minute after we needed a break from camping (was freezing and raining). It was a bit of an excursion getting here (had to go through a one way tunnel past Dalvik) but we were so happy once we got here. A bit of an isolated town (but what part of Iceland isn't?). Had a typical breakfast in the morning after a much needed night's sleep. I liked seeing the historic photos around the hotel and it was very cozy.
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Date of stay: August 2015Trip type: Travelled with friends
Location
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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LOCATION
IcelandNortheast RegionOlafsfjordur
NUMBER OF ROOMS
6
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Frequently Asked Questions about Gistihús Jóa
Which popular attractions are close to Gistihús Jóa?
Nearby attractions include Pálshús (0.03 km) and Olafsfjordur Swimming Pool (0.3 km).
What are some of the property amenities at Gistihús Jóa?
Some of the more popular amenities offered include free wifi, an on-site restaurant, and a lounge.
What food & drink options are available at Gistihús Jóa?
Guests can enjoy an on-site restaurant, a lounge, and breakfast during their stay.
What are some restaurants close to Gistihús Jóa?
Conveniently located restaurants include Kaffi Klara, Hollïn, and Brimnes Restaurant.
Is Gistihús Jóa located near the city centre?
Yes, it is 0.2 km away from the centre of Olafsfjordur.
Which languages are spoken by the staff at Gistihús Jóa?
The staff speaks multiple languages, including English, Spanish, French, Dutch, and Danish.