Fontur
Fontur is a lighthouse in North Iceland, Iceland — about 672 km from Reykjavik and reached by a drive to the trailhead and a short walk in (footwear and weather check). Shoot it during the summer window, when light, road status, and crowd levels line up for photography, then use the GPS coordinates, parking notes, and nearby waypoints below to fold this stop into a longer photography route.
Overview
A lighthouse north of Iceland north of Þórshöfn in Northeastern Region Iceland
As a photography stop, Fontur is a lighthouse in North Iceland, roughly 672 km from Reykjavik, reached by a drive to the trailhead and a short walk in (footwear and weather check). Plan the shoot during the summer window, when light, road status, and crowd levels line up for photography. The downloadable Lighthouse map pins exact GPS coordinates, parking, and nearby waypoints so you can fold it into a wider route instead of hunting for the pull-off on arrival.
Fontur is one waypoint of many — you can load all 13 coastal lighthouse spots before you leave signal.
Notes on this location
Compiled from published sources rather than a visit. Sources are listed below.
The thin strip at the end of Langanes, 45 km out from the southwest, with the Langanesviti lighthouse at its tip and a gannet colony at Stórkarl. Reached by road 869, gravel and winding.
- The peninsula
- 45 km long from southwest to northeast, ending in the thin strip called Fontur
- Lighthouse
- Langanesviti stands at the tip
- Getting there
- Road 869 — a winding gravel road across Langanes
- Birds
- Fulmars, kittiwakes and guillemots are common on the cliffs; gannets nest at Stórkarl
- Skálar
- A village on the southeastern coast near the tip had over a hundred people in the early 20th century and was abandoned by 1946
- Before the lighthouse
- Shipwrecks were not uncommon; Engelskagjá — "English Gorge" — is tied to survivor stories
- A ranking not carried here
- One source calls Stórkarl the third largest gannet nesting place in the world. The regional tourism board does not repeat it, and it cannot be checked against a second source, so this brief records the colony and not the rank
- Not in the sources
- Neither cited page gives a construction date for the lighthouse
Everything here is at the end of 45 km of gravel, which sets the plan more than the light does: the lighthouse, the gannet cliffs and an abandoned village are one trip, not three. Skálar is the reason to allow extra time — a place that held a hundred people and was empty by 1946 photographs differently from a headland that was never settled.
SourcesLanganes — Wikipedia, Fontur Lighthouse — Visit North Iceland
Light & aurora at this spot
Calculated from this location’s coordinates (66.377, -14.556). Iceland stays on UTC year-round, so these are local times.
- Summer
- Midnight sun in June — the sun does not set, so golden light runs for hours either side of midnight.
- Winter
- December: only 2.6 h of daylight (11:36–14:10), but the sun never climbs above 0.3° — the entire day is golden hour. Sunrise bears SSE, sunset SSW.
- Aurora
- Aurora-grade darkness Sep–Mar, peaking at 13.1 h a night in December. Not possible Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug — the sky never gets dark enough.
Bar height is daylight hours. Months marked • have enough astronomical darkness for aurora; the rest do not.
Questions & answers
Fontur is a lighthouse in North Iceland, Iceland, approximately 672 km from Reykjavik. Exact GPS coordinates are included in the downloadable Lighthouse map.
The recommended season for Fontur is Summer. For light, plan around blue hour and the first hour after sunrise; Iceland's long shoulder-season twilight extends usable conditions on either side.
Drive/Hike access. Bring weather-appropriate footwear and check conditions before setting out. The downloadable GPS map puts the waypoint on your phone; your own app routes you to it from wherever you are.
Fontur is best visited during Summer. Outside that window, expect limited access, weather closures, or significantly different photographic conditions.