Islands in Iceland

Videy

Viðey Island (Videy) is a 1.6-square-kilometer island of meadows, bird life and old stone buildings in Kollafjörður bay, a five-minute ferry ride from Reykjavík's Skarfabakki pier. It is the easiest half-day escape from the capital, and from October to early December it is the place to see the Imagine Peace Tower up close. Archaeological research suggests people lived on Viðey as early as the 10th century. A monastery consecrated in 1226 belonged for centuries to the Augustinian order and became one of the wealthiest in Iceland, owning over 100 farms, until it closed in 1537 with the Reformation. Viðey House (Viðeyjarstofa), completed in 1755 for royal treasurer Skúli Magnússon, is the oldest stone house in Iceland, and the stone church beside it was consecrated in 1774. Two artworks draw most visitors. On Vesturey, the island's northern half, Richard Serra's Áfangar is nine pairs of basalt columns installed in 1990. Yoko Ono's Imagine Peace Tower, inaugurated in 2007, sends a column of light into the sky every year from October 9, John Lennon's birthday, to December 8, the anniversary of his death, and again on a few dates such as Christmas and the spring equinox. Trails loop around both halves of the island, which meet at a narrow isthmus, and the high point is only about 32 meters above sea level, so the walking is easy. Eiders nest all over Viðey, and Arctic terns turn up in summer. Allow two to four hours, and plan lunch at the café in Viðeyjarstofa, which opens while the ferry is running. From May 15 to August 31, the Viðey ferry leaves Skarfabakki every hour from 10:15 to 17:15, with two extra daily departures from the Old Harbour (a 20-minute crossing) from June 1. From September 1 to May 14 it sails only on Saturdays and Sundays at 13:15, 14:15 and 15:15. A return ticket costs 2,500 ISK for adults, 1,250 ISK for ages 7 to 17 and 2,250 ISK for students, seniors and disabled passengers, while under-7s ride free and the Reykjavík City Card covers the trip.

Flatey Island

Flatey Island is a low, grassy island in the middle of Breiðafjörður, the wide bay between Snæfellsnes and the Westfjords, reached by the Baldur ferry. There are no cars, a single road and an old village of brightly painted wooden houses, most of them lived in only during summer, so a few hours here feel a long way from the Ring Road. At about two kilometers long and one wide, Flatey lives up to its name, which means flat island. It was once one of Iceland's cultural centers, with a monastery founded in 1172 and, later, a busy trading post. The island gave its name to Flateyjarbók, the largest of the medieval Icelandic manuscripts, which was kept here for centuries and returned to Iceland from Denmark in 1971. A loop around the island takes an hour or two at an easy pace. Stop at the church from 1926, whose interior was painted by the Catalan artist Baltasar Samper, and at the tiny library next to it, founded in 1864 and said to be the oldest in Iceland. In summer, part of the island is a protected nesting area for puffins, Arctic terns and other seabirds, so stay on the paths. The Flatey Island ferry sails between Stykkishólmur and Brjánslækur with a stop in Flatey, and the whole crossing takes about two and a half hours. In summer, you can get off for a few hours and continue on a later sailing; if you're traveling with a car, staff will take it across while you explore. Schedules change by season and the service is sometimes suspended, so check the ferry operator's current timetable before you plan around it.

Grótta Lighthouse

Grótta Lighthouse stands on a small tidal island at the western tip of Seltjarnarnes, about ten minutes' drive from downtown Reykjavík. The white tower dates from 1947, though a light has marked this point since 1897, and on a clear day you can see Snæfellsjökull glacier across the bay. Grótta is only an island at high tide. At low tide a narrow causeway of sand and rock links it to the mainland, and you can walk out and stay for up to six hours. Check the Seltjarnarnes tide table before you set off, because the rising tide covers the causeway again. The island is a protected nature reserve with hundreds of nesting Arctic tern pairs, and it closes to all visitors for the nesting season from May 1. The town gives the end date as July 15 in one place and July 31 in another, so plan your walk out to the lighthouse for August through April. Even during the closure, the tower is in clear view from the shore. On clear winter nights, Grótta Lighthouse is one of the closest northern lights spots to Reykjavík, since the sky over the sea is darker than anywhere downtown. Bring warm layers for the wind off the bay. Kvika, a small geothermal footbath designed by artist Ólöf Nordal, sits on the shore near the lighthouse and is free to use year-round. Without a car, take bus 11 out to Seltjarnarnes and get off at Lindarbraut/Hofgarðar, about a 15-minute walk from Grótta. Allow an hour if you cross to the island, or 20 minutes for a sunset stop on the shore.

Hafnarhólmi

Hafnarhólmi is a small grassy islet at the harbor of Borgarfjörður eystri in East Iceland, where wooden stairs and viewing platforms put you a few meters from nesting puffins. A 2020 survey counted about 10,000 pairs of breeding seabirds on the islet, roughly 7,700 of them puffins. The islet used to sit just offshore, but in the 1970s it was joined to the mainland when the small harbor was built. Fulmars, kittiwakes and common eiders share the rock with the puffins, and a covered shelter lets you keep watching in bad weather. Across the harbor, Hafnarhús café looks straight at the colony. Timing matters more than anything else at Hafnarhólmi. The puffins usually return in early to mid-April and leave around mid-August, and by the end of August they're all gone. Early morning and evening tend to bring the most traffic at the burrows, and an hour on the platforms is usually enough. Hafnarhólmi is about 5 kilometers past the village of Bakkagerði along Road 947, and the village is roughly 70 kilometers from Egilsstaðir over a mountain pass. Plan on a little over an hour each way from Egilsstaðir. Stay on the boardwalks and keep your voice down, since the birds nest right beside the paths.

Þrídrangar Lighthouse

Þrídrangar Lighthouse is a small lighthouse on top of a bare sea stack west of Heimaey in the Westman Islands, off Iceland's south coast. Photos of the Þrídrangar lighthouse went viral in 2009 and again in 2016, and one look explains why: there is nothing around it but open Atlantic. The name means "three rock pillars," after the three stacks that rise from the sea here, and the lighthouse stands on the tallest, Stóridrangur. There is no public access, with 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.