Line © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), checked by Global Adventurer.
The walk
From the car park by Bjargtangar lighthouse follow the built path up past the stone steps at Smáhamrar to the viewpoint above Stefnir. A safety fence keeps you back from the edge, and you look east along the whole wall of Látrabjarg. Beyond it a trodden path follows the cliff top east, climbing slowly, with the sea and the bird ledges on your right. Turn after about 2.2 km and come back the same way.
It is 4.4 km there and back with 161 m of ascent; allow about 1½ hours. The grade is Easy: a built path, then an eroded track along an unfenced cliff top.
The drops are sheer, and the edge has cracks and overhangs and can collapse without warning: keep well back and never go past the fence. Beyond Stefnir the path splits into muddy ruts, slippery when wet, and fog and storms are common. Guillemots, razorbills and puffins nest from May; the puffins leave by mid-August. Pets are banned from 1 May to 15 September, walking poles are not allowed except as an aid for the elderly or disabled, and drones need a permit.
Parking is free. Road 612, the only road in, runs 59 km from Patreksfjörður and is gravel at the end; it has no winter service beyond Örlygshöfn and closes when snow comes. There is no bus.
Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.
Good to know
- Látrabjarg is Europe's largest bird cliff, about 14 km long and up to 444 m high
- Guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, fulmars and puffins nest on its ledges in early summer; the puffins leave by mid-August
- The cliff is a cross-section of lava layers 13 to 14 million years old, with red bands of old soil between them
- The lighthouse at Bjargtangar, by the car park, dates from 1948; in 1947 local men rescued the crew of a trawler wrecked below the cliffs
Getting there
Start: Bjargtangar car park. 65.50250, -24.52937
Directions to the start
Paths change, and the weather decides the day. The line and figures come from OpenStreetMap and our own checks; take a map, check the forecast, and turn back if it isn't right.