Westfjords Way: Iceland's Forgotten Corner

Westfjords peninsula · Iceland

Moderate6 daysEurope~£1,150 est.

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Overview

While the Ring Road crowds queue for waterfalls, the Westfjords — the great clawed peninsula in Iceland's north-west — stay almost empty. The Vestfjarðaleiðin circuit threads some 950 km of fjord-edge road, mountain passes and the odd single-lane tunnel through the least-visited quarter of the country. The moments stack up fast: Dynjandi, a 100 m bridal-veil of a waterfall widening as it falls; the Látrabjarg cliffs, westernmost point of Europe's road network, where puffins pose at arm's length above a 440 m drop; and Rauðisandur's kilometres of red-gold sand looking across Breiðafjörður to the Snæfellsjökull ice cap. Base a night in Ísafjörður for the fish restaurants, and add a boat day into the roadless Hornstrandir reserve if the weather gives. The variables: gravel still covers stretches of the high passes, fuel stops are far apart, and the season is honestly June to August — shoulder months bring closures. Take the Baldur ferry across Breiðafjörður one way to save a day's driving. Six days from Reykjavík runs about £1,150 per person with guesthouses and the hire car's gravel-protection excess.