Kálfaströnd
Kálfaströnd is a landscape in North Iceland, Iceland — about 466 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
Kálfaströnd, a farm on a peninsula of the same name which provides some of the prettiest and most varied scenery on the Lake Mývatn shore. The whole area has multiple photography opportunities for beautiful landscapes.
Kálfaströnd sits inside the Iceland landscape photo map, alongside the other spots worth routing a day around.
Notes on this location
Compiled from published sources rather than a visit. Sources are listed below.
Lava pillars — klasar — standing in the shallows opposite Höfði on Lake Mývatn. An easy walk reaches them from the gate at Kálfaströnd farm, through lava formations, and the area is good for birdwatching.
- The route
- Starts just inside the gate to Kálfaströnd farm and leads to Klasar, opposite Höfði — an easy walk
- What you walk through
- Lava formations and landscape
- Birds
- The area is noted as excellent for birdwatching
- Höfði
- A separate walk opposite: from the gate through a small forest along the lake shore, with lava formations and birdlife
- Not in the source
- The cited page does not explain how the klasar formed, and does not mention any fencing around them — reported elsewhere as a response to rising visitor numbers, so worth checking on site
Free-standing pillars in shallow water are a reflection subject, and Mývatn is shallow enough to go still — so this is a dawn location where the water doubles the shapes rather than a midday one. Both walks start at gates, which is a reminder that this is farmland: the route exists by permission rather than by right.
Light & aurora at this spot
Calculated from this location’s coordinates (65.578, -16.958). Iceland stays on UTC year-round, so these are local times.
- Summer
- 22.8 h of daylight in June and the sun barely sets, dipping only 1.1° below the horizon — effectively continuous golden light through the small hours.
- Winter
- December: only 3.3 h of daylight (11:25–14:41), but the sun never climbs above 1.1° — the entire day is golden hour. Sunrise bears SSE, sunset SSW.
- Aurora
- Aurora-grade darkness Sep–Mar, peaking at 13 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
Kálfaströnd is a landscape in North Iceland, Iceland, approximately 466 km from Reykjavik. Exact GPS coordinates are included in the downloadable Landscape map.
The recommended season for Kálfaströnd 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.
Kálfaströnd is best visited during Summer. Outside that window, expect limited access, weather closures, or significantly different photographic conditions.