Skardsviti Lighthouse
Skardsviti Lighthouse is a lighthouse in North Iceland, Iceland — about 207 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
Skarðsviti Lighthouse is located along the western side of Vatnsnes peninsula in Iceland, 7 km north of Hvammstangi
As a photography stop, Skardsviti Lighthouse is a lighthouse in North Iceland, roughly 207 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.
Planning more than one stop? Open the Iceland lighthouse map to put Skardsviti Lighthouse on the same offline layer as everything nearby.
Notes on this location
Compiled from published sources rather than a visit. Sources are listed below.
A sectored light on the western side of Vatnsnes, above Miðfjörður north of Hvammstangi. Wikidata gives 1951, a 14 m tower and a 53 m focal height, flashing white, red and green three times every 30 seconds.
- Built
- Wikidata records 1951. Travel pages give 1950 built and 1951 first lit
- Tower
- 14 m, with a focal height of 53 m (52 m in the OSM record)
- Light
- Fl(3) WRG 30s — three flashes every 30 seconds, sectored white, red and green
- Range
- The OSM record gives 16 nautical miles white, 12 for the coloured sectors
- Reference
- Admiralty L4628, ARLHS ICE083, NGA 115-18680
- Not on the northern tip
- Several pages place this on the northern tip of Vatnsnes. The records put it on Miðfjörður on the western side, north of Hvammstangi, which is where this catalog has it
- No architect on record
- Aggregator pages credit Axel Sveinsson. The Wikidata item records no architect at all
A sectored light is a different subject from a plain one: the colour a viewer sees depends on the bearing they stand on, so the same tower reads white from one approach and red or green from another. Worth knowing before choosing which side to shoot from at dusk.
SourcesSkarðsviti — Wikidata (Q3378393), Skarð lighthouse — OpenStreetMap node 1835849804
Light & aurora at this spot
Calculated from this location’s coordinates (65.478, -20.988). Iceland stays on UTC year-round, so these are local times.
- Summer
- 22.6 h of daylight in June and the sun barely sets, dipping only 1.2° below the horizon — effectively continuous golden light through the small hours.
- Winter
- December: only 3.4 h of daylight (11:38–14:60), but the sun never climbs above 1.2° — 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
Skardsviti Lighthouse is a lighthouse in North Iceland, Iceland, approximately 207 km from Reykjavik. Exact GPS coordinates are included in the downloadable Lighthouse map.
The recommended season for Skardsviti Lighthouse 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.
Skardsviti Lighthouse is best visited during Summer. Outside that window, expect limited access, weather closures, or significantly different photographic conditions.