Svörtuloft Lighthouse
Svörtuloft Lighthouse is a lighthouse in West Iceland, Iceland — about 214 km from Reykjavik and reached by a drive to the trailhead and a short walk in (footwear and weather check). Shoot it year-round, though winter wind, ice, and short daylight rework the shot list, then use the GPS coordinates, parking notes, and nearby waypoints below to fold this stop into a longer photography route.
Overview
The lighthouse is about 3 kilometers past Skarsdvik beach
As a photography stop, Svörtuloft Lighthouse is a lighthouse in West Iceland, roughly 214 km from Reykjavik, reached by a drive to the trailhead and a short walk in (footwear and weather check). Plan the shoot year-round, though winter wind, ice, and short daylight rework the shot list. 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.
Svörtuloft Lighthouse 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.
An orange concrete lighthouse of 1931 above the Svörtuloft cliffs on Snæfellsnes — a sheer wall of pitch-black lava almost 4 km long, cut by surf where the flow ran into the sea. It is called Skálasnagaviti from land and Svörtuloftaviti from the sea.
- The cliffs
- A massive sheer wall of pitch-black lava, almost 4 km long, eroded by surf over centuries
- How they formed
- The lava flow did not stop until it reached the cold sea
- The lighthouse
- Orange concrete, 12.8 m, built 1931 — replacing an iron-bar light of 1914 that had eroded
- Two names
- Skálasnagaviti seen from land, Svörtuloftaviti seen from the sea
- Roads
- Road 579 (Öndverðarnesvegur), off road 574 (Útnesvegur)
- Wrecks
- The mailboat Anne Dorothea stranded with the loss of all hands but one recovered; the Ólafsvík fishing boat Svanborg stranded in 2001, three lost and one saved; many more ships have been wrecked here
- Birds
- Many seabirds May to August, some puffins; islanders once took eggs in June and birds in August, on ropes
Four kilometres of unbroken black wall is a subject that resists a single frame — it has no focal point of its own, which is exactly why the orange light matters: it is the only thing in the composition that is not black, and the picture is essentially about that one contrast. The wreck history is also the reason the surf here should be treated as a hazard rather than a texture.
SourcesSkarðsvík, Saxhólsbjarg and Svörtuloft — Guide to Iceland
Light & aurora at this spot
Calculated from this location’s coordinates (64.864, -24.039). Iceland stays on UTC year-round, so these are local times.
- Summer
- 21.7 h of daylight in June and the sun barely sets, dipping only 1.8° below the horizon — effectively continuous golden light through the small hours.
- Winter
- December: only 3.8 h of daylight (11:38–15:25), but the sun never climbs above 1.9° — 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
Svörtuloft Lighthouse is a lighthouse in West Iceland, Iceland, approximately 214 km from Reykjavik. Exact GPS coordinates are included in the downloadable Lighthouse map.
The recommended season for Svörtuloft Lighthouse is All. 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.
Yes — Svörtuloft Lighthouse can be visited year-round, though winter conditions may require a 4x4 or storm-tolerant plans.