Hornbjarg Cliffs
Hornbjarg Cliffs is a landscape in Westfjords & Remote, Iceland — off the road network entirely and reached by a ferry crossing followed by a short hike from the harbor. Hornbjarg lies inside the Hornstrandir nature reserve. Shoot it in late June to August, the window the reserve is staffed and served by boat — outside it, trips have to be reported to Umhverfisstofnun in advance, then use the GPS coordinates, parking notes, and nearby waypoints below to fold this stop into a longer photography route.
Access restriction
Hornbjarg lies inside the Hornstrandir nature reserve.
- drones need a permit from Umhverfisstofnun, and permits are not issued for recreational photography
- photography or filming that disturbs wildlife or other visitors needs a permit; film permits must be applied for by 30 May
- dogs and bicycles are prohibited inside the reserve
- camping is allowed only at defined sites, and only for one week at a time
- travel must be reported in advance from 1 March to 15 June and from 1 September to 1 November
- boats may not approach the seabird cliffs closer than 115 m
Best window: late June to August, the window the reserve is staffed and served by boat — outside it, trips have to be reported to Umhverfisstofnun in advance.
Overview
Hornstrandir Nature Reserve Westfjords Region
As a photography stop, Hornbjarg Cliffs is a landscape in Westfjords & Remote, beyond the road network, reached by a ferry crossing followed by a short hike from the harbor. Hornbjarg lies inside the Hornstrandir nature reserve. Plan the shoot in late June to August, the window the reserve is staffed and served by boat — outside it, trips have to be reported to Umhverfisstofnun in advance. The downloadable Landscape 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.
Planning more than one stop? Open all 62 landscape viewpoints to put Hornbjarg Cliffs on the same offline layer as everything nearby.
Notes on this location
Compiled from published sources rather than a visit. Sources are listed below.
Hornbjarg stands in Hornstrandir, a nature reserve since 1975 under some of the strictest preservation rules in Iceland. The bird cliffs around Hornvík reach more than 500 m on the eastern side. Nobody has farmed here since the 1950s.
- Protection
- Hornstrandir Nature Reserve since 1975, under some of the strictest preservation rules in Iceland
- Depopulated
- The last residents living by agriculture left in the 1950s; descendants have since rebuilt houses and much land stays privately owned
- The cliffs
- The bird cliffs around Hornvík reach more than 500 m on the eastern side
- Birds
- The cliffs draw birds in enormous concentration
- Arctic fox
- A haven, helped by the hunting ban and the remoteness; a sighting is likely
- Height of Hornbjarg itself
- Not given in the source consulted, which covers the reserve rather than the individual cliff
This is the location in the catalog with no road access at all — the reason its distance from Reykjavík is recorded as "no road access" rather than a number. Everything follows from that: arriving is a boat and a walk, the weather decides whether the boat runs, and there is no retreating to a car. A near-certain arctic fox sighting also makes it the one place here where wildlife is a reliable subject rather than luck.
SourcesHornstrandir — Wikipedia
Light & aurora at this spot
Calculated from this location’s coordinates (66.442, -22.466). 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 2.5 h of daylight (12:10–14:40), 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
Hornbjarg Cliffs is a landscape in Westfjords & Remote, Iceland, with no road access — it is reached by boat or on foot. Exact GPS coordinates are included in the downloadable Landscape map.
Plan for late June to August, the window the reserve is staffed and served by boat — outside it, trips have to be reported to Umhverfisstofnun in advance. Hornbjarg lies inside the Hornstrandir nature reserve (Auglýsing nr. 332/1985 um friðland á Hornströndum, with Umhverfisstofnun’s Sérstakar reglur um umferð og dvöl). For light, plan around blue hour and the first hour after sunrise.
Ferry/Hike access. The crossing decides the day: check the boat schedule and the forecast before committing, since a cancelled sailing cannot be worked around. Expect a walk from the landing, so bring weather-appropriate footwear. The downloadable GPS map puts the waypoint on your phone; your own app routes you to it from wherever you are.
Not without planning. Hornbjarg lies inside the Hornstrandir nature reserve under Auglýsing nr. 332/1985 um friðland á Hornströndum, with Umhverfisstofnun’s Sérstakar reglur um umferð og dvöl, and drones need a permit from Umhverfisstofnun, and permits are not issued for recreational photography; photography or filming that disturbs wildlife or other visitors needs a permit; film permits must be applied for by 30 May; dogs and bicycles are prohibited inside the reserve; and 3 further restrictions listed on the page. Plan for late June to August, the window the reserve is staffed and served by boat — outside it, trips have to be reported to Umhverfisstofnun in advance.