Kirkjufell, Saxhóll Crater, Ytri Tunga

Today we visited Kirkjufell mountain, the city of Hellissandur, Saxhóll Crater, Djúpalónssandur Beach, Lóndrangar, the town of Hellnar View Point, Arnarstapi, Rauðfeldsgjá Gorge, the black church Búðakirkja, and the seal beach Ytri Tunga. It was a lot of stops!!

We started our day with breakfast and coffee at our Airbnb, and then immediately hopped on the road to our first stop Kirkjufell mountain. This was a scenic mountain with a waterfall in front, and we enjoyed taking some pictures, but there were a ton of tour buses and SO many tourists. We left pretty quick!

Our next stop was the city of Hellissandur, which is the street art capital of Iceland. We drove through town and checked out all of the unique art before heading on.

Next we headed to Saxhóll Crater, which is an old volcanic crater that you can hike up to for panoramic views of the coast and surrounding mountains.

Following the crater we visited Djúpalónssandur Beach, which was a cool blacksand beach with a cool rock canyon running up to it that we walked through. Interesting a ship wrecked here, so there were pieces of rusted metal littering the beach.

Our next stop was Lóndrangar, which was a series of bird covered cliffs on the coastline with basalt rock formations rising out of the sea. Normally there would be puffins here, but we just missed them!

Next we visited the town of Hellnar View Point for an excellent view of the coastline, and then the nearby town of Arnarstapi for complimentary views. We’d planned to do the coastal hike between these two cities, but the strength of the winds today made hiking really unenjoyable. It was hard to even open the car door!

Instead of the coastal walk we headed to the nearby Rauðfeldsgjá Gorge, which was a narrow gorge between two mountains that we were able to explore. This area was sheltered from the wind, and we enjoyed going as deep as we were able into the gorge. We made a quick stop at the black church Búðakirkja for some photos following, as this was a well known photo spot where you can see a pitch black church set against the backdrop of the coastal mountains.

We ended our day with a visit to Ytri Tunga, which is a beach that many seals hang out at. We saw 7-8 of them, and enjoyed watching them playing in the waves. Finally we headed to our Airbnb for the night, where Chelsea whipped up curry and vegetables for us.Read more