Often called "the green town", the town enjoys thermal activity and a number of greenhouses have been built there. Since 1933 it has supplied the capital area with natural hot water for house heating, swimming pools, and other uses. The mountainous area around the town is visited for hiking, skiing and fishing for trout and char in the small lakes. The Nobel Prize laureate for literature in 1955, Halldór Laxness (1902–1998), was an honorary citizen of the town. He lived there all his life and based some of his novels on his experiences and impressions of his surroundings.