Look at a map of Iceland and the northwest corner hangs off the rest of the country like a torn edge, joined by a strip of land narrow enough to miss. The ring road that carries almost every visitor does not go there, and the numbers show it: the overwhelming majority of people who fly into Iceland never turn that way at all. The Westfjords are what the rest of the island looked like before the coaches arrived, and the price of admission is a long detour on winding roads that keeps most of the traffic out.
The scenery pays it back immediately. Dynjandi falls down a rock face in a widening series of tiers so that the whole thing looks like a bridal veil laid over the mountain, with smaller falls tumbling below it to the fjord. At the far southwestern tip, the Latrabjarg cliffs run for kilometres and hold Europe's largest seabird colony, where puffins nest so close to the clifftop path that people lie down beside them. Round the corner is a beach of red and gold sand that has no business being at this latitude, and along the eastern coast a string of remote hot pools sits at the water's edge, some of them free and unattended. Compare flights and hotel prices for Iceland travel and give this region four days rather than folding it into a ring road week.
At the northern tip lies the reason serious walkers come. Hornstrandir is a nature reserve with no roads, no shops and nobody living there since the last families left in the middle of the last century. Boats run from Isafjordur and a neighbouring harbour through the short summer, dropping hikers at various bays for day walks or multi-day crossings between campsites. Arctic foxes here have never been hunted and behave accordingly, trotting past walkers with complete indifference, and the cliffs at the northern edge are among the highest in Europe. Nothing is signposted, nothing is sold and everything you bring must leave with you.
Bases divide by which end of the region you want. In Isafjordur there are hotels and guesthouses around the old harbour, the largest town in the Westfjords and the departure point for the reserve. In the southern fjords there are farm stays and small guesthouses near Patreksfjordur, within reach of the bird cliffs and the red beach. Along the eastern Strandir coast there are simple inns and cottages near the old herring factory at Djupavik, the quietest corner of all. And inside Hornstrandir there are only basic huts and a lakeside camp reached on foot from the boat landings, with no services whatsoever.
A hire car is close to essential, and the roads are the thing to plan around. Routes here mix asphalt with long gravel stretches, blind summits and one-lane tunnels, and a small two wheel drive car manages the main circuit in summer while anything remote is easier with higher clearance. Fuel stations are far apart, so fill up whenever you see one. There is a summer ferry from the Snaefellsnes peninsula that cuts hours off the drive from the capital, and a short domestic flight reaches Isafjordur in well under an hour if you would rather skip the driving entirely. Mountain passes close in winter and some communities are cut off for days at a time, so check the national road service before every leg. Check car rental and lodge prices for the Westfjords and book ahead, because beds are genuinely few.
Season decides how much of this you can reach. Summer opens everything: all roads clear, boats running to the reserve, puffins on the cliffs and daylight that barely ends. Early autumn keeps the roads and adds colour, empty viewpoints and the first northern lights, though the puffins have gone and the reserve boats stop. Winter and spring are for travellers who want fjord towns under snow and accept that the famous sights are simply unreachable. Personally, I would take late summer, when the boats still run but the nights have darkened enough for the aurora, and I would build in a spare day for weather rather than a tighter route.
Q: Are the Westfjords worth the detour from the ring road?
A: If you have a week or more in Iceland and want the country without crowds, yes. The region takes at least three or four days to do properly and the driving is slow, so it works as a deliberate choice rather than a quick add-on to a tight itinerary.
Q: How do you get to Hornstrandir?
A: Only by boat, from Isafjordur or a nearby harbour, and only through the short summer window. There are no roads, no facilities and no shops inside the reserve, so visitors must be entirely self-sufficient and arrange their pickup as carefully as their drop-off.
Q: Do you need a four wheel drive vehicle?
A: Not for the main routes in summer, when an ordinary car copes with the mix of asphalt and gravel. Higher clearance helps on the rougher side roads, and in winter the question becomes irrelevant because many passes close entirely.
Q: When is the best time to visit?
A: Summer for full access, seabirds and near-endless daylight; late summer and early autumn for the same roads with fewer people, autumn colour and a chance of northern lights. Outside those months much of the region is closed by snow and avalanche risk.
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