Westfjords Kayaking Day Tour | Two Fjord Adventure

The Westfjords are the westernmost part of Iceland and the whole of Europe. The Westfjords are home to some off the most beautiful natural gems and off the beaten track attractions in Iceland.

The Westfjords are a wide area stretching as a peninsula to the northwest of the mainland. The peninsula is all mountainous with numerous fjords of varying length.

The town Isafjordur in the fjord Skutulsfjordur serves as the capital of the region, with around 3000 inhabitants. There are many fishing villages in the fjords, as good fishing banks are found around the Wesfjords.

The agriculture is very scant, due to the steepness of the mountains and the lowland is limited. Below are some of the best natural attractions you can find in the Westfjords.

Hornstrandir nature reserve

Many places in the Westfjords are now deserted, such as the northernmost part of the peninsula: Hornstrandir. Hornstrandir is a holy place for travelers who seek solitude, wildlife, breathtaking scenery and great hiking trails. Don´t miss it if you´re looking for peacefulness.

Dynjandi waterfall

Dynjandi ('Thunderous') is one of Iceland’s most beautiful waterfalls. This is really a series of waterfalls, seven altogether, with a cumulative hight of 100 meters. The trapezoidal shape of its main uppermost tier is particularly notable (40 m wide at the top, 60 m at the bottom.  

Latrabjarg Birdcliff

Europe’s westernmost part is in The Westfjords, the massive vertical seacliff Latrabjarg, over 400 meters high with millions of seabirds nesting there. In 1947 a British trawler stranded there. Local farmers managed to safe most of the fishermen by heaving them by rope 190 meters up into the air. This heroic deed has been filmed.

Raudisandur Beach & Sjounda

The beach by the cliff is called Raudisandur, rare for its pale red, almost pink sand. Along with many seabirds, the beach also features hundreds of seals.

Innermost of Raudisandur are the remnants of the farm Sjounda. At the beginning of the 19th century it was a site for one of Iceland’s most famous murder cases. 

Two farmers lived there with there wives but the one farmer fell in love with the other's wife and she with him and they were later sentenced to death for murdering their spouses. This dramatic event later served as an inspiration for Icelandic author Gunnar Gunnarsson's masterful novel Svartfugl (The Black Cliffs).

Isafjardardjup ('Icefjord's Deep') is a large fjord in the Westfjords of Iceland. The north side of the fjord has one inlet, Kaldalon, but the south one has several fjords of its own.

The fjords of the south side are Skutulsfjordur (home of Isafjordur town, capital of the Westfjords) Alftafjordur, Seydisfjordur, Hestfjordur, Skotufjordur, Mjoifjordur and Isafjordur (not to be confused with the aforementioned town).

Isafardardjup has three islands. Aedey and Vigur have one farm each by Borgarey is uninhabited. The area is rich with seals and birdlife and offers magnificent scenery. In Skotufjordur there's a restored farm, originally built in 1894, with an exhibition about the farmers' life in former times.

Ísafjörður is a town in the northwest of Iceland and the largest settlement of the Westfjords of Iceland.

Ísafjörður is located on a spit within the fjord Skutulsfjörður, which is part of the larger fjord Ísafjarðardjúp. The town is the largest settlement in the Icelandic Westfjords with a population of around 2,600 people. Its main industries are fishing and tourism.

History 

According to Iceland’s Book of Settlement, the fjord Skutulsfjörður was first settled in the 9th century by a man called Helgi Magri Hrólfsson. Around the 16th century, Ísafjörður grew rapidly due to it becoming a merchant trading post. The town was granted municipal status in 1786. 

The oldest house still standing in Iceland, built in 1734, is located in Ísafjörður as part of the local folk museum. The area also includes the most extensive body of old timber frame houses in the country, constructed in the 18th century by foreign traders. One of these is Tjöruhús, now a seafood restaurant, and another Turnhús, now a maritime museum. 

Throughout its history, Ísafjörður has inhabited one of the largest fisheries in Iceland. Several factors, however; such as fishing restrictions in the 1980s, drops in the fish population and monopolisation from bigger fisheries in Reykjavík; have led to a sizeable decline in the town’s population. In recent years, the tourism industry has yet again created local jobs and economic prosperity for the town. 

Nature 

The climate of the Westfjords and Ísafjörður is tundra, bordering closely on subarctic, meaning the winters are cold and the summers cool. Due to Ísafjörður being located in a fjord surrounded by steep mountains, during the peak of the winter solstice, the rays of the sun don’t reach the town for weeks on end.

Events and Happenings

Ísafjörður, despite its isolation and small population, boasts a proportionately urban atmosphere. The town hosts a multitude of events and festivals attended by people from all over Iceland, such as the Ski Week Festival, the Act Alone theatre festival, the European Championship of Swamp Soccer and alternative music festival Aldrei fór ég suður.