Staðarkirkja
Staðarkirkja is a landscape in Westfjords & Remote, Iceland — about 237 km from Reykjavik and reached by a straightforward drive from the nearest highway turnoff. 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
Staðarkirkja, a church of 1864 about 8 km west of Reykhólar on road 6076 in the southern Westfjords, open daily 08–18 on a trust basis.
As a photography stop, Staðarkirkja is a landscape in Westfjords & Remote, roughly 237 km from Reykjavik, reached by a straightforward drive from the nearest highway turnoff. Plan the shoot during the summer window, when light, road status, and crowd levels line up for photography. 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 the landscape GPS map for Iceland to put Staðarkirkja 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 church of 1864 about 8 km west of Reykhólar in Reykjanes, Austur-Barðastrandarsýsla, built by Daníel Hjaltason — goldsmith, local official and farmer. Open daily 08–18 on a trust basis, on road 6076.
- The church
- Staðarkirkja, built 1864 by Daníel Hjaltason, goldsmith, local official and farmer
- Open
- Daily 08–18, on a self-responsibility basis
- Where
- About 8 km west of Reykhólar, in Reykjanes in Austur-Barðastrandarsýsla; road 6076
- Before it
- A major farm stood here along with the Catholic church Ólafskirkja
- The vicarage
- Stayed at Staður until 1948, when it moved to Reykhólar — which until then had been a subsidiary church under Staður
- Why the name changed
- This entry used to be called a harbour and described as a scenic overlook. Neither the regional tourism board nor the National Museum mentions a harbour here, and the tourism page states it records no landscape features. What both describe is the church, so the entry now carries its name. The URL still ends in stadur-harbor, so older links keep working
- Not in the sources
- Neither page gives the church’s protected status, when it entered the National Museum’s house collection, or an architectural description
A church you can let yourself into between eight and six is a rare thing to find on a map, and it changes what this stop is: interior light on your own schedule rather than a facade from the road. Worth arriving with that in mind, and worth leaving it as you found it, since the access depends on people doing so.
SourcesStaður — Visit Westfjords, Staðarkirkja í Reykhólasveit — National Museum of Iceland
Light & aurora at this spot
Calculated from this location’s coordinates (65.485, -22.393). 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 (11:44–15:05), 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
Staðarkirkja is a landscape in Westfjords & Remote, Iceland, approximately 237 km from Reykjavik. Exact GPS coordinates are included in the downloadable Landscape map.
The recommended season for Staðarkirkja 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 access. A standard rental car works in most seasons; check road status in winter before committing. The downloadable GPS map puts the waypoint on your phone; your own app routes you to it from wherever you are.
Staðarkirkja is best visited during Summer. Outside that window, expect limited access, weather closures, or significantly different photographic conditions.