Djúpalónssandur beach

About Djúpalónssandur beach

Djúpalónssandur beach is a black pebble cove on the southwest tip of the Snæfellsnes peninsula, inside Snæfellsjökull National Park in West Iceland. It sits at the end of a short paved side road (Route 572) off Route 574, with the glacier rising behind it and rusted iron from a 1948 shipwreck scattered across the stones.

From the parking lot, a path drops through a gap in the lava past two small freshwater ponds, the deep lagoons that give Djúpalónssandur its name. It opens onto a cove of smooth black pebbles framed by jagged rock stacks. The wreckage belongs to the British trawler Epine GY7, which ran aground nearby on March 13, 1948, and it stays on the beach as a memorial, so leave it where it is.

Near the start of the beach are four lifting stones that fishermen from the Dritvík station once used to test their strength. They run from Amlóði at 23 kg through Hálfdrættingur (54 kg) and Hálfsterkur (100 kg) to Fullsterkur at 154 kg. Try the small one before you go for the big one.

From the beach, a marked trail of about 1 km climbs over the lava to Dritvík, a sheltered cove that was once one of the busiest fishing stations in Iceland. The walk takes 15 to 20 minutes each way.

Treat the sea here with real caution. Sneaker waves can run far up the steep beach without warning and the undertow is strong, so stay well back from the waterline and never swim. The national park also asks visitors to leave the pebbles on the beach.

You can visit all year, although winter brings short days and icy paths. Allow 45 minutes, or about an hour and a half if you add the Dritvík walk. Arnarstapi and Hellissandur are each about 20 minutes away by car, Reykjavík is close to three hours, and Lóndrangar and Vatnshellir cave are a few minutes along the same road.