I admit I was a little intimidated about the idea of driving Iceland’s Westfjords on my own. The roads in this remote part of Iceland are notorious for being difficult given the widely indented coast of fjord after fjord and even more so because of the many unpaved, steep mountainous roads.

However, from the photos I’d seen and from what I’d read the Westfjords were Iceland on a whole another level. That meant I desperately wanted to see this wild place for myself.

So after a lot of research I decided driving the Westfjords as a solo female was possible and I set out to make it a reality as part of a bigger three week adventure through Iceland.

This is my personal account of driving the Westfjords as a solo female. Be warned – there are many, many photos of epic landscapes!!

Day One – Getting to the Westfjords

Given I was driving around Iceland I have two options to get to the Westfjords from my first stop, the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. Drive or take the local ferry.

Wanting to see as much of Iceland as possible I initially contemplated driving from Grundarfjordur on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. That drive is 345 kilometres and Google Maps was telling me it would take close to five hours of driving. That’s without any stops!

But I knew I had a lot of long, difficult days of driving ahead and the idea of the ferry sounded like a unique experience.

So ultimately I decided to take the ferry from Stykkisholmur to Brjanslaekur with Seatours.

It meant I also got to explore a bit of Stykkisholmur, which I love. Stykkisholmur is a seaside village  on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula with cute houses, a headland with wonderful views and an unusual futuristic church, what’s not to love. 

Stykkisholmur is also the place where the helicopter scene from ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ was filmed – one of my all-time favourite movies, and how great is that scene!

The loading of my hire car and the other cars waiting on to the ferry was a very efficient process. Soon I was on the deck watching the ferry depart. 

 

The ferry trip was smooth and it was great to be crossing the huge Breiðafjörður.

Part way across we stopped at the island, Flatey. A small island with colourful houses but what a remote place to live!

The ferry arrived at Brjánslækur at the bottom of the Westfjords. Following Route 62 it took me around 45mins to reach Patreksfjörður and on the way I crossed Kleifaheiði, the first mountain road in my Westfjords adventure.

The drive down from Kleifaheiði to Patreksfjörður was spectacular and had me excited for what was ahead for driving the Westfjords.

Patreksfjörður is a small town in the south of the Westfjords and it was the perfect place to spend my first night given the ferry had arrived at 6pm.

Day Two -Patreksfjörður to Isafjordur

This is the day that driving the Westfjords began in earnest!

I started out early to make my way to Raudasandur beach. The road here on Route 614 is heart-stopping stuff!! A dirt road clinging to a sheer mountainside which looked to me like an old volcano – all shades of black and grey with a tinge of red, and very desolate.

When you reach the bottom of the mountain road I recommend you turn left and follow the signs to Melanes. This provides the easiest access to the beach from a small campsite.

Raudasandur beach is famous for it’s reddish-coloured sands which are quite the change from Iceland’s usual black volcanic sand beaches. The beach stretches far into the distance and you really feel in an isolated, remote location.

On the way back to Patreksfjörður I couldn’t resist stopping at Garðar BA 64. This the oldest steel ship in Iceland which was launched the same year as the Titanic, and has been marooned here since 1981. It makes for a dramatic scene, and great photos.

From Patreksfjörður I followed Route 63 over more mountainous roads down to Bildudalur.

From Bildudalur the road hugged the coast before becoming unpaved and heading back up into the mountains to cross Dynjandisheiði.

This drive was incredible! Autumn colours of the mountain heath contrasted with the metallic waters of the fjords and the steep-sided mountains which rose straight up from those fjords. Beautiful and crazy epic views.

As I continued driving north on Route 60 I knew I was headed towards one of the most famous sights in the Westfjords, Dynjandi.

At 100m high Dynjandi is the biggest waterfall in the Westfjords and has six smaller waterfalls below the largest fall. Dynjandi means thunderous and with all those waterfalls and huge amounts of water you can understand why.

This waterfall is awesome and is one of the best waterfalls in all of Iceland!

 As I continued along the fjord the view of Dynjandi slowly grew smaller and smaller in my rearview mirror.

Route 60 then turned from the fjord to climb Hrafnseyrarheiði. This mountain road provided more spectacular views. And yes it was super windy, and unpaved! It was also a little bit wet when I did the crossing. But with care, and driving slowly, it was okay.

The road then descended to Pingeyri. A short drive further north and I reached the Ísafjörður–Suðureyri–Flateyri Tunnel. It was quite the experience to drive through this 9km tunnel network – yep that’s right 9km!

And part of the tunnel is one-lane!!  There are plenty of pull-outs to cater for this but driving in a dark narrow tunnel through a huge mountain seeing oncoming headlights makes for a pretty crazy driving experience.

The tunnel brings you out a little above Isafjordur, the Westfjords largest town. This was my destination for the night and I stayed here for two nights to allow for some exploring in this far north-western part of Iceland.

Day Three – Isafjordur

Today was a day off from driving and originally I’d wanted to visit the incredible Hornstrandir Nature Reserve while in the Westfjords. However day trips were really expensive at ISK41,900 which is over AUD500!

The weather was also not the greatest. So instead I headed to the helpful information centre who gave me maps and detailed information to hike in the hills nearby.

I left Isafjordur and set out for the nearby Engidalur valley. The hike started off well marked but steep. But it wasn’t long before the path wasn’t always easy to see.

Whilst I knew Isafjordur wasn’t that far away the lack of easy clear paths made you feel a million miles away. It also meant that during the hike I felt immersed amongst Iceland’s delicate plantlife of emerald green spongy mosses, grey-green lichens, boggy marshes of wild cotton tinged autumn auburn, and so much more. 

It made for quite a special and unique experience, and there was no-one else hiking up there. 

But because of the lack of clear paths it wasn’t easy and it was a rough uneven hike. I have to say when I could finally spot my car way in the distance I did feel a sense of relief. By the end of the hike I was exhausted.

Back in town I had the chance to explore Isajordur with it’s cute wooden houses before driving out to Bolungarvik and onto the lookout at Bolafjall. Rumour has it on a clear day you can see Greendland from here! There was not a chance of that when I arrived as dense fog clouded in the views.

That evening I was lucky enough to grab a place for dinner at Isafjordur’s famous fish restaurant, Tjöruhúsið.

I didn’t really know what to expect other than I had read this was some of the most delicious fish ever. 

Inside the old building was long bench seating and dinner was served in a huge buffet style. It gave the place an incredible communal feel. I was lucky to have been randomly seated next to Nancy and Larry, a Canadian couple I had meet the day before at Dynjandi. They were great company!

And the food, well it was amazing with so many different kinds of fish dishes to try.

Day Four – Isafjordur to Hotel Djupavik

Wow, what a day this was!! 

Leaving Isafjordur the road wound along the coast of fjord after fjord. The mountains rising sheer from the water were not quite as high or impressive as the second day but the landscapes were no less spectacular. 

Shortly after leaving Isafjordur I arrived at the small village that is Sudavik, home to the Arctic Fox Research Centre. Out the back of which were two super cute Arctic foxes who were very hard to photograph as they wouldn’t stay still. 

A couple of fjords more driving I stopped at the adorable Litlibaer Cafe on the shores of Skotufjordur. This is now a historical turf house serving warm waffles with homemade jam teamed with coffee. The perfect cosy respite from driving and the cold weather. 

With each fjord passed the mountains decreased in height and drama leaving me with the distinct feeling I was leaving the Westfjords behind. One final stop on the coast of Isafjardardjup was a cool looking abandoned manor.

Route 61 then started the ascent of Steingrimsfjardar-heidi (nothing too steep or difficult compared to day two) but I imagine that might not be the case if this pass was icy or snowy) before descending towards Holmavik. 

But Holmavik wasn’t my destination. The remote Strandir Coast was. So just before reaching Holmavik I took Route 643 to head north. 

This drive became one of my absolute favourites from my entire three weeks exploring Iceland. The road hugged the coast but instead of the coast being next to the flat waters of fjords this coast was wild. Where waves and driftwood battered the remote coast.

The road was unpaved and often potholed, and also narrow in sections, making for a drive requiring a fair amount of concentration. 

After an hour or so I reached the small hamlet of Djupavik, once a busy herring processing centre, where I would ultimately spend the night. 

But my day of driving wasn’t finished yet as I continued north along some of the most dramatic and stunning landscapes in Iceland. 

An even smaller hamlet of Arnes was home to two very different churches. One quite traditional in style and one rather futuristic backed by those incredible mountains. Wow!

After a further hour of driving I finally reached my destination for the day, Krossneslaug. Krossneslaug is a geothermal pool right by that wild coast. And on my arrival I discovered I had the place to myself – absolute perfection!! 

For half an hour I was fortunate enough to be able to soak in those hot waters on my own and contemplate life while watching the waves roll in.

As I headed back to Djupavik I was blown away once again by the incredible landscapes I was driving through, and some of the light was show-stopping. I was a very, very happy girl exploring this wild and remote part of Iceland, and I think a sign of an awesome adventure is how dirty your car is, right!

Back in Djupavik I settled into my accomodation of Hotel Djupavik. This place was so cosy and cute, and the lamb dinner was one of the best I had in Iceland. 

As I said what a day!

Day Five – Leaving the Westfjords

I left Hotel Djupavik early as I had another big day of driving ahead to reach the Trollaskgi Peninsula.

Before leaving the Strandir Coast I drove the small detour along route 645 via Drangsnes. I’d heard about more hot springs here and I really liked them – three small hot-tub like pools of varying temperatures placed right next to the ocean. So cool!

The drive here from the Standir Coast was also really scenic through unusual rock formations. 

From Holmavik I followed Route 68 along the coast which varied from paved to unpaved sections winding past farms. Compared to the other days driving this was a breeze and before I knew it I had reached Route 1, the Ring Road, and my adventure driving the Westfjords was over.

Practical Information

My first tip is to keep in mind that driving in the Westfjords is limited to the beginning of June to late September due to weather conditions.

You don’t necessarily need a 4WD for driving the Westfjords however I do feel having a 4WD made for a more comfortable and probably quicker journey on all those unpaved and rough roads.

Each day before setting out driving I highly recommend visiting http://www.road.is for up to date information about road conditions and the weather on all of Iceland’s roads.

Another great resource is https://safetravel.is for all your travels in Iceland and which has an awesome feature of a pop-up box to ask any specific questions. My accomodation host in Seyðisfjörður (later in my trip) used this when there were severe weather warnings to check if my trip plans were safe!

Accomodation

• In Patreksfjörður I stayed at Guesthouse Stekkaból which was really neat and tidy with a modern re-burbished room and share bathroom. Best of all were the views out of the beautiful fjord.

• For my two nights in Isafjordur I stayed at Mánagisting Guesthouse. This guesthouse is quite simple and my room was on the small side. It also didn’t include breakfast however I chose it because it was one of the best value choices in Isafjordur.

• While on the Strandir Coast I stayed at Hotel Djupavik. This was one of my favourite stays in my whole three week trip around Iceland. It was so, so cosy with one of the best meals I had on my trip and in such a unique location. Perfect!

Have you had an experience driving the Westfjords? I’d love to hear about it!