Westfjords
A claw of deserted fjords hooked towards the Arctic Circle, a bridal-veil waterfall and Europe's most vertiginous puffin cliffs: the reward for leaving the Ring Road.
Suggested stay — 2 to 4 nights
The Westfjords receive under 10 % of the island's visitors: slow roads hugging every fjord, gravel passes, fishing villages pinned beneath table mountains. You come for Dynjandi, a 100-metre waterfall fanned like a veil; for the Látrabjarg cliffs — 14 km long, 440 m high, where puffins let you approach within metres — and for Rauðisandur, ten kilometres of red-gold sand edged with turquoise water.
It is a 2-4 day add-on for travellers with 12 days or more, between Snæfellsnes (the Stykkishólmur–Brjánslækur ferry helps) and the North. Distances deceive twice over: 60 km of fjord is an hour's drive, and you stop constantly.
Don't miss
- Dynjandi and its staircase of falls (the path passes six daughter falls)
- Látrabjarg on a summer evening: puffins at arm's length — never past the grass line
- Rauðisandur beach at low tide (a steep, spectacular access track)
- Ísafjörður, the tiny living capital and base for Hornstrandir trips
Our tips on the ground
- Part of the network is still gravel: the region is best June to September, and an SUV/4x4 adds serenity without being compulsory in summer.
- Fill up systematically: stations are rare and often automatic (a PIN-code bank card required).
- At Látrabjarg the cliff edge is an unstable grassy overhang: lie down to photograph, never approach the rim standing.
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1. What you need
Before you go
Readers' questions about Westfjords
Are the Westfjords worth sacrificing another region?
If you're after the Iceland of before tourism, yes: it is the favourite region of most travellers who've been. But it demands time (2 days minimum, 4 to enjoy) — on a first 8-10 day trip, the south coast keeps priority for its density of wonders.
When can you see puffins?
Mid-May to mid-August, with peak activity in the evening as the adults return with beaks full of sand eels. After 20 August the cliffs empty within days: one of the parameters that fixes the dates of a summer Westfjords trip.