The Arctic Henge
The Arctic Henge is a landscape in North Iceland, Iceland — about 612 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
The Arctic Henge in Raufarhöfn, Iceland: This modern monument to pagan beliefs looks like it was transported straight from ancient times.
As a photography stop, The Arctic Henge is a landscape in North Iceland, roughly 612 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 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.
The Arctic Henge 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.
A stone circle above Raufarhöfn in the far northeast, begun in 2004 and still unfinished. Six-metre gateways face the cardinal directions around a ten-metre centre column, and the whole thing works as a sundial.
- Structure
- Stone gateways 6 m high facing the main directions, around a 10 m centre column
- Function
- Built as a large sundial — catching sunrays, casting shadows in set places and framing light between aligned gateways
- Origin
- Conceived by Erlingur Thoroddsen with artist Haukur Halldórsson, inspired by the poem Völuspá
- Status
- Under construction since 2004 and still incomplete — about $1.3m is still needed to finish it
- Where
- Raufarhöfn, one of the northernmost villages in Iceland, near the Arctic Circle
A structure designed to frame light between its gateways is one where the composition is prescribed rather than found: the shot exists at the alignments, and the rest of the circle is approach. That it remains unfinished is the practical point — what stands today is not what the published renderings show, so plan from photographs of the site rather than of the design.
SourcesArctic Henge — official site
Light & aurora at this spot
Calculated from this location’s coordinates (66.462, -15.963). 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 (11:45–14:13), 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
The Arctic Henge is a landscape in North Iceland, Iceland, approximately 612 km from Reykjavik. Exact GPS coordinates are included in the downloadable Landscape map.
The recommended season for The Arctic Henge 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.
The Arctic Henge is best visited during Summer. Outside that window, expect limited access, weather closures, or significantly different photographic conditions.