Image a distant panorama of historic mountains, the strata layers of volcanic creation seen to the bare eye. These mountains unfold out like fingers of a hand, surrounded by water and sparsely dotted with red-roofed farmhouses. The rugged lands of Iceland’s Westfjords are far sufficient away from the touristed Ring Highway to supply an genuine and transformative expertise for guests, but shut sufficient to suit it in with simply 5 days in Iceland.
Whilst you discover the whole lot right here that makes Iceland so magical — glaciers, cliffs, puffins, waterfalls, and sizzling springs — the Westfjords are far sufficient off the well-trod vacationer path to make it a super vacation spot for folks returning to Iceland for his or her second or third journey. If it sounds intriguing however you don’t know the place to start out planning, comply with this Iceland Westfjords itinerary to prepare your journey.
If you’re taking an extended Iceland street journey across the total Ring Highway, it’s possible you’ll solely need to spend someday within the Westfjords. You may nonetheless slot in a few of the highlights that I’ll level out beneath, however I’d encourage you to remain a couple of days.
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I lately spent 4 days within the Westfjords on my third journey to Iceland on a women’ journey. On this journey, as a substitute of heading south or to the Golden Circle, like most first-time guests, we headed west. We first spent a full day on the Snaefellsnes peninsula, earlier than heading as much as the Westfjords.
On this journey, as a substitute of self-driving and exploring on our personal, we paired up with Hidden Iceland to expertise a non-public model of their four-day Westfjords tour. Hidden Iceland volunteered to indicate us round in order that we might expertise and evaluation their tour, however we coated our personal lodging and meals.
We completely liked our time with Ryan from Hidden Iceland and I’d extremely advocate becoming a member of one in every of their excursions when visiting the Westfjords — for causes that I’ll element later. If you wish to e book one in every of their scheduled group excursions, you may obtain 10% off utilizing my referral code of WE3TRAVEL.
Attending to the Westfjords
Your drive from Reykjavik to the sparsely populated Westfjords of Iceland will take about 4 to 5 hours, relying on the place you begin your exploration of the Fjords. An alternative choice can be to spend an evening in West Iceland or in Stykkisholmur on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula.
From Stykkisholmur, you may also take a automobile ferry to the Westfjords. Nonetheless, it takes about the identical size of time as driving so should you undergo from movement illness, it’s possible you’ll simply need to drive it.
Since we stayed in Stykkisholmur, we drove from there to our first cease in Heydalur within the northern fjords on our first day on Route 54 and 60.
Here’s a map of the route I’d advocate for this Westfjords itinerary.
Map supply: Google My Maps
The place to remain within the Westfjords
Whereas there are fewer motels within the Westfjords, in addition they aren’t as crowded or costly, making a visit to the Westfjords perfect for somebody eager to expertise Iceland on a tighter funds. We liked our lodging on the following locations:
Iceland Westfjords Itinerary
Right here is the day-by-day breakdown of our Iceland Westfjords itinerary so that you can comply with:
Westfjords Day 1
Erpsstadir
On our method to the Westfjords from Stykissholmur, our first cease of the day was at Erpsstadir, a dairy farm providing selfmade ice cream, Skyr, cheeses, and different merchandise. This family-run enterprise is a good pit cease alongside your drive, providing entry to a playground and cattle (for a price), loos, and scrumptious dairy merchandise.
In the event you get an opportunity to take a farm tour — do it! The dairy is fascinating and the child cows — simply too cute. Double test on their open hours and if you’re visiting outdoors of the summer season, you’ll want to name forward to make an appointment.
Eiriksstadir
Only a bit additional down the street, you may go to a recreation of a Viking longhouse and study Iceland’s Viking roots at Eiriksstadir. This homestead of Erik the Purple and Leif the Fortunate provides excursions by guides in conventional Viking clothes.
It pays to hitch an organized tour to study the fascinating historical past — and perhaps even meet a real Viking descendent. Whereas a lot of a go to to Iceland is concerning the panorama, don’t miss out on this opportunity to study somewhat concerning the historical past and tradition too.
Budardalur
After leaving Eiriksstadir, we stopped for lunch within the small city of Budardalur. Bear in mind, in these elements of Iceland cities are few and much between. You might want to use the chance to make use of the washroom, seize some meals, and replenish on fuel when you could have it.
We had a tasty lunch in Veidistadurinn, a restaurant proper off the primary street. They focus on fish and the fish and chips had been fairly tasty!
Lodge Heydalur
As you make your manner north on Route 61, you’ll start to note the altering panorama. The mountains will get taller and extra rugged. You might be coming into the oldest a part of Iceland, as these mountains are 15 million years outdated.
You’ll start to wind your manner alongside the fingers of the Fjords and be tempted to cease at each unmarked waterfall and charming farmhouse to take footage. Simply keep in mind that you’ve a number of driving forward!
We spent the evening on the Nation Lodge Heydalur, which provides reasonably priced single, double, and even triple rooms. This charming guesthouse is quintessential Icelandic — easy Scandinavian decor, charming hosts, and home-cooked meals in a country setting.
There’s a pure sizzling spring throughout the river, an indoor swimming pool and greenhouse and on-site self-catering cabins to lease. This conventional Icelandic horse farm additionally provides horseback using, mountaineering, fishing, and sea kayaking excursions. It was a stunning keep and the comfort of the on-site eating and included breakfast made it a super cease on our journey.
Westfjords Day 2
Arctic Fox Centre
Our first cease on our second day within the Westfjords was on the Arctic Fox Centre in Sudavík. This can be a rescue and academic heart for rehabilitating wild arctic foxes. There are 6,000-8,000 wild arctic foxes in Iceland, which is the fifth largest inhabitants on the planet behind Siberia and Canada.
The arctic fox is the one place of birth mammal to Iceland, the whole lot else has been introduced over by the Celts, Vikings, or later settlers. The data inside is pretty fascinating, however the actual deal with is getting to satisfy the rescue foxes outdoors.
Since rescues are typically launched again into the wild, you by no means know what can be there throughout a go to. We obtained fortunate to see a child fox, which was simply concerning the cutest factor ever. Our tour information even gave me an opportunity to feed it some small dried fish pellets.
Ísafjordur
Our subsequent cease was within the city of Ísafjordur, the unofficial capital of the Westfjords. You can actually make this your house base for a few days of exploring as there are many lodging and restaurant choices.
We had one of the best meal of the journey (and that’s saying lots!) at Tjöruhúsid in Ísafjordur. This inconspicuous restaurant within the fishing village provides the freshest and tastiest fish dishes — on par with something you will discover in a serious metropolis — with a barn-like, cozy however rustic inside. The meals are served buffet fashion, however with a steady stream of various pans of sautéed and baked fish recent off the range.
Vigur
After lunch, we hopped aboard a ship with West Excursions for a visit out to Vigur, also called Paradise Island or Puffin Island, a distant island within the fjord that’s residence to over 80,000 puffins in the summertime. Sadly throughout our go to the final week of August they’d already departed for the season.
Solely two folks dwell on this island year-round and so they make a dwelling harvesting the down from Eider geese. Don’t fear, they don’t damage the geese, they pluck the feathers out of the nests. This laborious activity explains the excessive price ticket related to eiderdown duvets.
After a strolling tour across the island, we popped into the cafe for espresso, tea, and a collection of selfmade desserts — which had been scrumptious! Simply don’t overdo it as a result of the boat journey generally is a bit uneven.
Kirkjuból
After a fast cease in Flateyri, as a result of how might we resist testing the oldest retailer in Iceland, which simply occurs to be a e book retailer, with continued on to our lodging for the evening at Kirkjuból Visitor Home.
We had an uncommon family-style dinner at Kaffi Sol close by, though you might simply keep and have dinner in Isafjordur. And though there are motels in Isafjordur, we discovered the Kirkjuból Visitor Home fairly charming and reasonably priced, with lovely views of the encompassing mountains.
Westfjords Day 3
In the event you solely have someday within the Westfjords, that is in all probability the place you need to spend it as these are the sights with the most important wow issue and essentially the most well-known of the locations to go within the Westfjords.
Dynjandi Waterfall
We actually lucked out on our third day within the Westfjords with sunny skies. This was an enormous day and if we might have spent 5 days within the Westfjords, I’d have cut up this into two separate days to cut back the quantity of driving.
Our first cease was on the 100-meter-tall Dynjandi waterfall, one in every of Iceland’s tallest waterfalls. You really want to present yourselves not less than an hour right here to climb to the highest and take photographs of the bridal veil falls and decrease falls from a number of angles.
Simply don’t neglect to show round and take within the view of the fjord beneath. The reflections off the water could be fairly gorgeous and through our journey in late August, the autumn colours had been already draped throughout the fields.
Patreksfjordur
After visiting Dynjandi, and making numerous picture stops, we made our method to Patreksfjordur, which is the place we had been planning to remain the evening on the beautiful and fashionable Lodge West. We had views overlooking the fjord that had been fairly lovely.
Stúkuhúsid in Patreksfjordur made an important cease for lunch with scrumptious salads, sandwiches, and dessert. Whereas Patreksfjordur was beautiful, we had extra to see that day earlier than returning for a scrumptious dinner on the Fosshotel West Fjords.
Látrabjarg Cliffs
After lunch, we launched into the lengthy drive over primarily gravel roads to a different one of many Westfjords’ most well-known sights, the Látrabjarg Cliffs, the westernmost level in Iceland. Our first cease was the Gardar BA 64 shipwreck, an outdated whaling ship that was beached in 1981 and in the present day is a well-liked picture opp.
We thought-about stopping at Raudisandur, a red-sand seaside alongside the coast, however all of the driving was attending to us and we determined to skip it. Simply the glimpses of the seashores alongside this southern fjord had been fairly spectacular although, with vast, flat sand stretching out to the ocean. If we had cut up today into two, I’d have loved a pleasant, lengthy stroll on a kind of seashores — whether or not it was purple or yellow sand.
I’m glad that we didn’t lower our time brief on the Látrabjarg Cliffs as a result of we might have walked endlessly alongside these towering cliffs. These cliffs are residence to hundreds of puffins in the summertime, however they left for his or her winter within the Atlantic Ocean after we arrived on the final day of August.
Just like the Cliffs of Moher in Eire, however taller, these cliffs tower as much as 400 meters with a sheer drop to the ocean beneath. As with most pure sights in Iceland, you received’t discover any guardrails alongside the delicate cliff edge so stick with the trail and take care, particularly when it’s windy. It actually looks like a robust gust would blow you proper off.
It really turned out to be an ideal climate day as a result of not solely did the solar shine on us for many of the day, however the circumstances for the aurora borealis had been prime. That night we saved an eye fixed on the aurora forecast and headed out with our cameras and tripods to see if we might spot the Northern Lights. We actually obtained fortunate with an attractive show — really a bucket checklist expertise!
West Fjords Day 4
Grábrók
Our ultimate day within the West Fjords was actually all concerning the drive again to Reykjavik. In the event you had been persevering with on to Northern Iceland or spending a while in West Iceland, you might actually add in additional stops within the Westfjords. Nonetheless, simply the drive up and over the mountains and alongside the fjord was simply gorgeous and the proper capstone to our time in Iceland.
As soon as we reconnected with the Ring Highway, we stopped on the Grábrók Crater. You may climb alongside the edges of three volcanic craters and check out the remnant of Viking settlements.
Glanni Waterfall
The ultimate cease on our journey was on the Glanni Waterfall, simply previous Grabrok close to the city of Bifrost. Significantly, who wouldn’t need to cease at a spot known as Bifrost?! It makes me need to attend the College there.
Glanni is about within the Nordura River, which is a salmon fishing river. You park close to a golf course after which it’s a brief stroll to the overlook of the falls.
From Glanni, it’s one other 1.5 hour drive again to Reykjavik (see my submit on the place to remain in Reykjavik.)
Ideas for Visiting the Westfjords
I LOVED my time within the Westfjords and I’m so glad I obtained to expertise this distant a part of the nation. Nonetheless, there are positively a couple of issues that you just want to concentrate on earlier than you e book a visit.
- As a result of nature of the geography, there’s a LOT of driving concerned in a go to to the Westfjords that it’s worthwhile to be ready for.
- Lots of the roads within the Westfjords are gravel, with various levels of upkeep and street circumstances. A few of these roads cling to the cliff’s edge.
- We visited the Westfjords in early September and this Iceland Westfjords itinerary is greatest for a summer season go to from Could-early October. Many of those roads are closed completely for stretches of time within the winter. I’d NOT advocate making an attempt to go to the Westfjords within the winter. Plan to go to between June-August for one of the best circumstances.
- Give your self not less than 4 days to benefit from the Westfjords. Don’t attempt to squeeze it in throughout a 7 or 10-day Ring Highway journey. Both make a separate journey for the Westfjords, mix it with West Iceland, or plan to spend 2-3 weeks exploring the whole nation.
- I like to recommend reserving a tour versus self-driving if this makes you in any respect uncomfortable. It was so pleasing to let another person take management of the driving! Bear in mind, you will get 10% off a gaggle, scheduled tour with Hidden Iceland with promo code WE3TRAVEL.
- Carry Dramamine or ginger sweet/drinks/tablets should you get movement sick because the winding roads are certain to set off it.
- Get fuel, use the bathroom, and get meals when you could have an opportunity — you by no means know when the subsequent alternative could come up.
- Remember that lodging are extra reasonably priced within the Westfjords than in different elements of the nation, however they’re additionally restricted so reservations are extremely beneficial.
Steadily Requested Questions
100%! The Iceland Westfjords is one in every of my favourite areas. First, as a result of it’s extra distant and never as well-known or serviced by giant tour firms, the Westfjords will not be crowded in any respect. It’s straightforward to benefit from the pure wonders of this area with hardly anybody else round. Second, as a result of there isn’t the identical demand, motels and guesthouses within the Westfjords are rather more fairly priced. And eventually, this space is simply gorgeous. It’s the oldest area in Iceland and its rugged magnificence is in contrast to what you see in different elements of the nation.
I’d extremely advocate renting a 4WD automobile with a excessive clearance in your journey to the Westfjords. We traveled in a station wagon, however lots of the roads are gravel and a few are fairly pitted with giant potholes. An SUV or 4×4 would make for a neater drive.
Completely, however I’d advocate having a GPS and never relying completely on cell service and Google Maps. You need to be sure to additionally carry alongside a paper map or have clear instructions to every of your locations. Nonetheless, I liked taking a non-public tour of the Westfjords with Hidden Iceland and letting them deal with the driving and navigation.
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