Veiðivötn
Veiðivötn is a landscape in Westfjords & Remote, Iceland — about 186 km from Reykjavik and reached by a hike from the nearest pull-off (bring weather-appropriate footwear). 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
Series of small lakes west of Vatnajokull National Park in the Southern Region of Iceland.
As a photography stop, Veiðivötn is a landscape in Westfjords & Remote, roughly 186 km from Reykjavik, reached by a hike from the nearest pull-off (bring weather-appropriate footwear). 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 all 62 landscape viewpoints to put Veiðivötn on the same offline layer as everything nearby.
Notes on this location
Compiled from published sources rather than a visit. Sources are listed below.
About fifty crater lakes filling two rows of fissure vents across a band roughly 20 km by 5 km, created by the 1477 eruption — a VEI-6 fissure event of tholeiitic basalt, the largest in Iceland’s recorded history. The road in is 4WD-only and involves a ford.
- The lakes
- About 50 crater lakes of varying size, filling two rows of fissure vents
- The area
- Roughly 20 km long and 5 km wide
- Origin
- The 1477 eruption — an explosive VEI-6 fissure eruption of tholeiitic basalt, the largest in Iceland’s recorded history
- Road season
- Usually open from 15 June to the middle of October
- Vehicle
- Accessible only by 4WD
- The ford
- The small river between the two Fossvötn lakes must be forded to get into the area
- Fishing
- Popular for trout; the name means "fishing lakes"
A four-month road season and a mandatory ford put this out of reach of most rental agreements, which is the first thing to establish rather than the last. Fifty lakes across 20 km also means the subject is a pattern seen from height — two rows of vents filled with water — rather than any single shore, so the frame that explains this place is a wide or elevated one.
SourcesVeiðivötn — Wikipedia, Veiðivötn Lakes — Visit South Iceland
Light & aurora at this spot
Calculated from this location’s coordinates (64.140, -18.769). Iceland stays on UTC year-round, so these are local times.
- Summer
- June: sun up 02:45–23:47 (21 h). Evening golden hour 21:51–23:47, light coming from the NNW.
- Winter
- December: only 4.2 h of daylight (11:04–15:17), but the sun never climbs above 2.6° — the entire day is golden hour. Sunrise bears SSE, sunset SSW.
- Aurora
- Aurora-grade darkness Sep–Mar, peaking at 12.9 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
Veiðivötn is a landscape in Westfjords & Remote, Iceland, approximately 186 km from Reykjavik. Exact GPS coordinates are included in the downloadable Landscape map.
The recommended season for Veiðivötn 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.
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.
Veiðivötn is best visited during Summer. Outside that window, expect limited access, weather closures, or significantly different photographic conditions.