Iceland 2023 - The Snæfellsnes and Westfjords Roadtrip

Campervans are becoming a thing in places like Iceland because the hotels and lodges there are often too expensive, and because people like me have no problem with camping anyway. I had already done this once in 2017 when I rented a campervan to drive around the Ring Road, the primary highway that circles around the country. Despite seeing many different interesting things over a week's worth of driving, I completely missed the northwest part of the country - specifically the Snæfellsnes Peninsula and Westfjords. So I rented a campervan again last summer just for that.

Snæfellsnes is a large peninsula two hours north of Reykjavik with a mountain system extending towards Snæfellsjökull, a large 1400m snow covered volcano at the western end. On a good day you can see it from Reykjavik some 100 miles away.

Snæfellsnes

It was a 3 hour drive from the rental agency in Keflavik to the campground on the south end of the peninsula. After checking in, I enjoyed the calm, sunny evening surrounded by horse ranches in view of a good mountain vista. Early the next morning I continued driving west and stopped to see Bjarnafoss, just one of many waterfalls in this region (and all of Iceland for that matter), and its freezing meltwater crashing its way down basalt cliffs and rock piles.

I could have continued west towards the volcano but cut northwards over the mountain pass instead. Looking back at the shore from near the top, the sun was barely breaking through the fog, reminding me yet again that Iceland is not of this world. None of it.

Continuing on the peninsula's north shore, I reached Kirkjufellsfossar at mid-morning, where multiple waterfalls poured into a small lake in view of the prominent Kirkjufell Mountain. This is a vista recognized on many a postcard, and now on my social media as well. From there, it was a long day going east on a dirt road along the north coast, an hour's drive northward on the mainland, and then a rough two hours going up, over, down, or around the many fjords of the southern Westfjords region, before finally reaching the village of Flókalundur, 60 miles across the water from where I slept last night.

I slowly drove north the next morning on a dirt road over a mountain pass and reached the oceanside again, some 40 stressful minutes later, making a well earned stop at Dynjandi, this cascading masterpiece of nature.

The road going north was easier after this. Most of it was paved and cut through the mountains over bridges and tunnels before reaching Ísafjörður, the largest town in the Westfjords. If there was one mistake I made when planning this trip, it was that I didn't set aside an extra day to check it out. It reminded me a lot of Seward, Alaska, another cute town by the water from a where and when of years ago. At one point, Ísafjörður also drew quite a bit of local attention after my favorite Icelandic post-rock band performed there. Regretfully, I was on a schedule and only had enough time to get lunch and refill the gas before going south.

I continued southeast for an hour along a number of pronounced fjords in view of the more remote snow covered peninsula in the north. Eventually I hit mainland and stopped at a campground halfway back to Reykjavik in the late afternoon. I made one last stop at the Hraunfossar Waterfall the next morning. Here, water crosses a porous lava plain and pours out of holes in the cliffside above the river. As if the rest of Iceland's waterfalls aren't already unique enough.

Back in 2017, I left Iceland thinking that I had unfinished business in the north country. I certainly wasn't wrong. But now it was time to start another chapter in the south. I dropped off the van in Keflavik early that afternoon and started gearing up for a big adventure in the highlands.

Check out the reels I made about this roadtrip on Insta here, here, and here.