Þrídrangar Lighthouse

About Þrídrangar Lighthouse

Þrídrangar Lighthouse sits alone on top of a bare sea stack in the Westman Islands, with nothing around it but open Atlantic. Photos of the Þrídrangar lighthouse went viral in 2009 and again in 2016, and one look explains why.

The name means "three rock pillars," after the three stacks that rise from the sea here, and the lighthouse stands on the tallest, Stóridrangur. They lie west of Heimaey in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, off Iceland's south coast.

There is no public access to the lighthouse: no boat landing, no trail and no visitor facilities. Maintenance crews reach it by helicopter, and travelers see it from the air on helicopter sightseeing flights that pass over the islands.

Building it took nerve. In 1938 and 1939, engineer Árni Þórarinsson led a crew of Westman Islands climbers who scaled the stack by hand, drilling spikes into the rock and linking them with chain. For the last stretch, with no handholds left, they climbed on each other's shoulders, and the crew camped on the ledge for about a month to finish the building.

World War II held up the lamp, which was due from Denmark, so the light was not commissioned until July 5, 1942, with equipment supplied by Britain. A helipad followed in the 1950s, and the light has run on solar power since 1993.

A helicopter flight is the only realistic way to see Þrídrangar up close. Flights depend on wind and visibility, so keep a spare day in your plans if the lighthouse is the goal, and use the time on Heimaey for Eldfell and the harbor town.