Top 8 Must-See Stops in Iceland’s Westfjords

In this post, we’re going to drive around the Westfjords and find the top 8 must-see stops in Iceland’s Westfjords. We will start in Hólmavík and end at a waterfall called Þingmannaá. In between, we’ll see several amazing waterfalls, go to a popular puffin spot, visit a red sand beach, and take a peek at a shipwreck on land. Let’s go!

Head to Hólmavík

These directions go to the N1 for fuel. The N1 is right by the Krambúðin Supermarket. They, too, were out of ice when we were there.

After driving that road to get to the Westfjords, we were ready to move our legs. Rick had found a hike in Hólmavík for us to take. There was free parking at the Hólmavík Sports Center, and the trailhead was roughly across the street from the N1. You can park here — the trail winds around a hill, which affords fantastic views of the sea and the town. Here’s what the trail looked like and the views along it.

Hit the Road for Holt Inn

The drive to Holt Inn takes you around the fjords from which you can see glaciers and fabulous views. Try to pay attention to the road, though, since it’s fairly windy. Here’s an example of one of the views we saw on this drive.

We got to Holt Inn pretty late. As was becoming common, our key was lying on the front desk when we arrived. This place has a large kitchen/events space, which they use to serve breakfast. We took advantage of the opportunity to make a quick dinner and store our groceries in the refrigerator (with a freezer). They also had an ice maker in the lobby near the liquor fridge. Score!

Stay at Holt Inn, Farm and B&B

Here’s what the Holt Inn accommodations look like. It’s a comfortable, tasty, and educational place to stay. One morning, we learned that a cruise ship crowd was expected at the Inn because the proprietor gives a presentation on what it’s like to run a farm in Iceland. We were invited to attend. It sounded like a very interesting presentation, but we’d already planned to see waterfalls.

A Volcanic Eruption Impacts Icelandic Life

The first morning after we woke up at Holt Inn, we learned that a volcano had erupted on the Reykjanes Peninsula. While we were concerned for the people who live in Grindavik (frequently disrupted by erupting volcanoes), we didn’t feel under imminent threat from the eruption. This shows how little we understood living on the island.

The Reykjanes Peninsula is roughly a six-hour drive from where we were staying. But, as the crow flies, it is about 145 miles away. Yet the eruptions began to affect the weather almost immediately. During breakfast, we checked the weather, and the app was predicting rain. That was new. We figured we better get going.

Visit Beautiful Bunárfoss, Just Not During a Thunderstorm

The waterfall we planned to visit is called Bunárfoss. It’s next to a campground. When we got there, the weather was cloudy with patchy sun. But, as you can see from the photos, the thunder clouds were visible in the distance over Islafjordur, the prominent cruise ship port.

This is a fairly arduous hike. In some of the photos, you can see how steep the trail was. Parts of it had anchored ropes that you could hold onto, but when the thunderstorms (with lightning) began, it was a slippery slide downhill. When we returned to Holt Inn, the woman in charge there told us this was their third thunderstorm in the last 40 years.

Here’s the video Rick got.

Drive to Valagil

Thankfully, the thunderstorm took a break after we ventured over to where our next waterfall was. This one is known as Valagil or Valagilfoss. It’s not the only waterfall in the area. The hike to it is quite boggy. Good, waterproof hiking boots are essential. On our way to Valagilsfoss (its proper name), we met a man returning from the falls. He was from Scotland and had tromped his way to the falls in dress shoes. He told us he wished he’d known better since he now had to return to his cruise ship with ruined dress shoes. The cruise ship provides a tour bus for passengers to see Valagil, but evidently, they don’t mention the trail conditions.

We walked along the trail, trying to avoid the soupy areas, and got to the base of Valagil, where Rick put up the drone, and I waited for the young man who’d scurried up to the base of the falls to finish whatever he was doing in front of the falls. Here are the shots we got along the trail and of Valagil and the other falls past Valagil.

Here’s a video Rick took of Valagil.

And here’s a video he took of the waterfalls at the far end of the trail past Valagil. The video starts with the waterfall on the left. You’ll see a higher fall above where this video goes. He couldn’t fly up that high due to altitude restrictions there. We could have hiked up there so he could fly higher, but to hike up there would have taken another couple of hours, and we didn’t have the time or the energy.

We decided to return to the Holt Inn for dinner, then happily went to bed early to get up and go again in the morning.

Take a Road Trip to Spectacular Dynjandi

This road trip was made more difficult by road construction near Dynjandi. Despite the road conditions, there were plenty of tour buses and people. The lines for the restrooms were ridiculously long. The hike up to the top involved a paved path partway up, and stone steps some of the way, and some muddy, rocky trail the rest of the way. This is where you’ll see the impact of the volcanic eruption the most.

Hike to the Top of Dynjandi

You can see in these pictures how the volcanic particulates were clouding the air and the views. Here too, we ran into the young man who’d been front and center at Valagil. Again, he was front and center here. This is also where Rick discovered he’d forgotten to leave the key at Holt Inn. I tried messaging the B&B, but got no answer. So we decided to head back the 43.8 km to return the key. When we arrived in the Holt Inn’s parking lot, I got a reply to my message asking me to send it in the mail. Oh well.

Drive to Garðar BA 64

Our journey takes us to the next fjord, Patreksfjörður, where our hotel is. But on the way, we go southwest a bit to see Garðar BA 64. According to Guide to Iceland, what’s special about the Garðar BA 64 shipwreck is that it’s not technically a shipwreck. It’s a ship that became unsafe to use. So it was beached here to allow people to peruse it. But don’t go inside. It’s unsafe to climb on it or enter it. It is kind of a strange juxtaposition of it plunked down in the wild nature of the Westfjords. While we were there and when we drove past it several times, there were seals nearby.

Here’s what the ship looks like.

Visit Rauðisandur Beach

Unless a volcano has recently erupted or there’s bad weather in the forecast, you should visit Rauðisandur Beach. Judging from other people’s photos, it’s quite lovely. However, it’s a hazardous drive out there if fog or volcanic ash has rolled in. Here’s what it looked like in the haze. We had the place entirely to ourselves, except for the sheep.

Sleep at Hotel West

We really liked staying at Hotel West. The best thing about it is that the proprietor used to be a guide in various areas of Iceland. He talked about the glaciers and the glacier lagoons. He also talked about where to see puffins. I’d already researched the puffin cliffs near here, so that wasn’t a surprise. But he also said that when there’s weather like what we were having, the puffins will be near the parking lot, and they were. But before I get to that, here’s what our room looked like.

Make Your Way to Látrabjarg Cliffs

Driving to the Puffin Cliffs

The bumpy drive out there was very foggy due to the volcano. Road construction was underway while we were there, and more is planned for June/July 2026 to make it easier to get there for the solar eclipse, which is anticipated in August. The road construction will close sections of 612, so check road.is before you go. Here’s some video Rick took while I was driving our rented 4×4 Jeep Renegade.

When you’re almost to the cliffs, you’ll see a rest stop with WCs. We took advantage of those, not knowing whether there were WCs at the cliffs, which there weren’t.

Hike Látrabjarg Cliffs Trails

We hiked 2.5 miles along the cliffs and saw puffins toward the end. Then we hiked all the way back and found many of them near the parking lot. They were very entertaining and probably used to humans taking their pictures.

You can see how the volcanic weather was impacting our views here. But later it did clear up a bit. The “trail” is quite narrow, too. We ran into the guy we’d seen at Valagil and Dynjandi again. He was coming back from higher up the trail.

Visit the Unnamed Falls at Þingmannaá

If you’re into waterfalls, this one is not to be missed. It’s away from crowds, and its beauty is unrivaled.

When we got there, there was one other car in the parking lot. We saw a couple at the first set of falls, which we could see from partway up the trail. They were having a great time posing for their own photos. A little while later, they came walking down the trail and stopped to chat with us. They were from the Netherlands and were using Polar Steps, which their family used to follow them on their journey. We also use Polar Steps. Rick put up the drone to get this video (there are multiple falls along the Þingmannaá river).

We stayed so long at both Látrabjarg Cliffs and Þingmannaá that we had to skip two of the sights we’d planned to see later. Those were the Guðrúnarlaug hot spring, which is discussed in this Guide to Iceland story, and Eiríksstaðir, the Viking Longhouse. The Eiríksstaðir Viking Longhouse Museum’s website has more information about that. If you don’t have time for these. Then, the next stop is Stykkishólmur, which is on the Snæfellsjökull peninsula. It’s about a three-and-a-half-hour drive. We’ll show you that area in our West Iceland post, which includes the Snæfellsjökull peninsula.