Hike to Látrabjarg Cliffs

Látrabjarg is located in the Westfjords of Iceland and marks the westernmost point to the island. It is the largest sea-bird cliff in Europe - a full 14km long and 441m high. It hosts literally million of sea birds and of course the famous puffins. It is one of the best spots to witness, encounter and photograph puffins, as they seem particularly friendly to the human presence.

To reach Látrabjarg it takes a quite long drive through mostly gravel dirt roads, so be prepared. Don't try arriving here directly from Reykjavic as it is more than 7 hours drive. Also remember to fill up your tank, as not many gas stations are near. To balance the bad road and long distance, the scenic views are simply amazing (as in all the westfjords) and you will really enjoy getting there. There is a parking lot where you can leave your car.

From the parking lot there is a clear trail you can follow that will take you to the cliffs. It should be noted that the cliffs are pretty steep and therefore you should avoid getting too close to the edge, especially since the wind here is usually very strong (there is a actually a painted white line to warn people not to get too close to the edge). When we visited the are, the gusts of wind were so fierce that we thought we would fly!

The overall scenery is amazing and totally impressive. You may walk to far edge which is more or less 5km, however we didn't complete the hike and walked up to a certain point as the weather kept getting worse.

No special equipment is required but as already mentioned you should be prepared for extreme weather conditions especially wind and rain. I should also mention that if you want to see the puffins, then you should go from May to August, so plan to visit the area during summer. Anyway, during the other seasons, it is possible that access can be problematic due to snow covered parts of the road that takes you to the area.