Do you have plans to visit the most beautiful places in Iceland? Stopping by at the Westman Islands should be on your list when visiting Iceland as one of the most beautiful islands in Iceland. I believe you are among travellers who don't know the best way to get to Westman island. The information here is crucial if you are unsure of the best way to get to the Westman Islands Ferry or how much time you should expect to drive there. You can quickly drive from Reykjavík to Landeyjarhofn ferry station in less than 2 hours. Still, knowing the directions to drive and the beautiful views you meet on your way is mandatory. This helps in planning the perfect tour before sailing on the most beautiful welcoming harbour in the world, in our opinion.
Driving around Iceland can be tricky because you may not know the directions as a visitor. Iceland has one main road called Road 1, or Icelandic ring road, which goes around the island. The ring road is 1,332 kilometres (828 miles). You need to know the right directions to avoid getting confused while driving on the ring road as it is circular. Below is a detailed direction on the ring road.
The right way is the south coast, which will lead you to Raudavatn lake in Reykjavík on your way to Selfoss town. After a 45 mins drive from Reykjavik, you'll get to the next town, Hveragerdi. The town is small with a giant ice cream factory and some hot springs, which is very popular with our guests. A popular hiking trail is along the valley, with hiking of about 3 km/ 1.8 miles that takes 45-60 minutes each way. You can as well have your bath in the warm Geothermal river.
After 20 mins drive from Reykjavik, you'll get to Selfoss, the biggest town on the south coast. You can take a little time to grab a bite and explore the town. Don't get carried away because you still have a ferry trip to Westman Island.
The next town is Hella, and it is an excellent place for some coffee or energy drink. You can take a grand tour of the Caves of Hella when entering the town. It takes around an hour to explore the caves found underneath the town.
The next 15 minutes drive from Hella leads you to the next town, Hvolsvollur. If you are ahead, you could look at the art Café Eldstó for some pottery or visit the ice-cream store Valdis. You can also visit the service station in Hvolsvollur, where you will probably see some natives from the Westman Islands having a cup of coffee and waiting to drive the rest to the Westman Island Ferry. From the town Hvolsvollur to the Ferry station in Landeyjarhofn, it’s just a 25 minutes drive.
Many people visiting the Westman Islands also drop by Seljalandsfoss waterfall before or after their visit. The waterfall drops 60 meters / 200 feet, and you can walk behind it and get the water in your face, a truly fantastic feeling. You'll enjoy your waterfall moment more if you put on your hiking shoes and raincoat before walking behind the Seljalandsfoss waterfall.
It’s 25 minutes From Hvolsvollur town to Seljalandsfoss waterfall with an extra 15 minutes to the ferry station.
Your Next stop is Landeyjarhofn, the Westman Island Ferry station! You get here 30 minutes before the departure time. You can book the ticket ahead. The car park of the ferry station is free, and it has enough space if you decide to leave your car behind. If you choose to take your car along, you might have difficulties because the ferry is usually fully booked, especially in the high season. The Westman Island Ferry station is a short walk to the centre of the town. You get to see the bike rental service, the sightseeing tour, and boat your offices if you like to add to your visit.
The ferry's name is Herjolfur, the same as the first settler in the Westman Islands. The ferry has indoor and outdoor seating, a cafeteria, and a TV corner for the kids. The crossing takes 40 minutes and is lovely sailing with a beautiful view, especially when entering the Westman Islands harbour. If the weather conditions are appalling, the sailing could be cancelled, or the harbour swapped. Cancellation or swapping rarely happens, but it is better to be aware of it. No one has regretted taking the Westman Islands Ferry because they returned home with new friends they made at the volcano island on the south coast of Iceland.
You can take a bus to the Westman Islands ferry leave from Mjódd bus station and take bus no.52 to Landeyjahofn.
When you get to Westman Island, remember that the island is small, but you still enjoy every moment. You can decide to see some puffins in the Great Cape (Stórhöfði), which is 6 km away from the ferry station, a walk of 1 hour each way. If you don't want to walk, you can rent some bikes in the Westman Islands (also book in advance) or take a taxi to Great Cape to see some puffins. The Westman Islands town is beautiful, and the view is worth it. The houses are colourful, and the locals are friendly. Do not forget to visit the museums and enjoy the delicious meals in Westman island’s restaurant.
If you're visiting Iceland then you are in for a great deal. From stunningly beautiful landscapes to picturesque natural endowments. Westman Islands is one of the islands that contribute beauty to Iceland. Westman Islands are easily spotted from the south coast of Iceland. The scenic island is an archipelago of about 15 islands and 30 rock stacks and just about 10 km / 6.2 miles from the harbor of Landeyjar, Iceland.
Eruptions formed the Westman Islands; the oldest part is about 40,000 years. Westman Islands is located on the mid-Atlantic ridge. The volcano system on the Westman Islands consists of dozens of volcanoes above and below the sea. This means you are walking on a live volcano when visiting the Westman Islands. Scary yet adventurous!
The biggest Island in Iceland is Heimaey; the Home island. It is the largest inhabitable island. The size is 13.4 square kilometers / 51.7 square miles, making it more prominent than the other islands in Iceland. Many eruptions also created Heimaey at different times, consisting of palagonite tuff and lava. The basalt columns can be seen all over Heimaey island; the sea eroded the soft rock of the shoreline and scooped out many picturesque coves and caves. An eruption in 1973, lasting about 155 days facilitated Heimaey islands' growth to more by about 2.1 square kilometers / 0.8 square miles.
The weather on the Westman Islands can be a bit of a concern, even though the island is one of the most beautiful places to visit in Iceland. Westman Islands are stormy, but the inhabitants are used to great winter storms. An ordinary winter storm can be 20 m/s or 45mph, and the kids are allowed to walk themselves to school when blowing like that.
The summer is often two weeks ahead compared to Reykjavík, and it’s so lovely to sit outside and enjoy the fantastic view. Houses in the eastern part of Westman Islands have a new volcano eruption in their backyard, while on the western side of the island, the sun sets behind the small islands. This reflects its light from the sea up on the elephant rock.
Fishing is the main occupation on Westman Islands, while the only industry is fish processing. The Westman Islands have about 30 ships and boats, which are mainly used for fishing demersal and pelagic fish. Besides the fishing industry, Westman Islands has a great infrastructure that allows teachers, healthcare professionals, salespeople, craftsmen, and many other professionals to live either for a short or long period.
Restaurants in the Westman Islands are some of the best in the country and even around the world. Westman Islands has talented chefs who make sumptuous delicacies from ingredients sourced from the island. From the school kitchen to the most expensive restaurant, the restaurants vary from fine dining like Einsi Kaldi and Slippurinn; for casual dining, we go to Tanginn, Næs, and Gott; fast-casual restaurants are Canton and 900 Grillhús, the pizza places Pizza 67 and Pítsugerðin and some fast food.
Everybody in the Westman Islands knows where the food comes from because the islands were a great food source in the past. And today, we still use what nature supplies us. Some people still descend into the cliffs to collect seabird eggs, which is a delicacy on the islands. The islanders also hunt birds, fish all over, and look after sheep on the smaller islands, even though the sheep live on their own there year-round. The lonely houses in the smaller islands are accommodations for men gathering food for their families, or maybe if they like to party a little when telling their wives, they are supplying for the families.
About 4,300 people live in the Westman Islands. Although from different backgrounds and cultures, they co-exist in unity because life here is nice. Instead of seeing problems, we see solutions and respect nature because we are part of it. So when you visit us, you will see what our home looks like outside the town and be relieved of your stress while enjoying the breathtaking nature.
Our favorite places are so many, but I know guests like Great Cape (Stórhöfði), with beautiful views in all directions and a huge puffin colony that can be viewed from a bird-watching house. The new lava field is fantastic, and you get a special feeling while walking on top of the old streets and houses that went under the lava. You can equally explore the volcano crater or walk to the top of two volcanos. If you like to see some photos and hear the sounds of the eruption in 1973, visiting the Westman Islands museum, Eldheimar and Sagnheimar is a must-do. Of course, Skansinn, sprangan, the valley, our black beach, Gaujulundur, Hraunskógar, Heimaklettur, etc., because the view from all those places is so unique.
Westman Islands has colorful houses and all we need to live a good life. The good life consists of the local swimming pool, the locals having either ice cream, a glass of beer or wine, and a cup of coffee. Also, a piece of cake downtown during summer because the distance of the house isn’t far from each other. It is effortless to do a little shopping or stop for a haircut; we have everything we need and a little more.
How can you get to the Westman Islands?
After reading through the beautiful things about Westman Islands, you must be wondering how to get here— our little paradise. Westman Islands are just 10 km / 6.2 miles from Iceland, and you drive east from Reykjavík for 140 km / 87 miles at Road 1. Then stop at Landeyjarhofn and take the Westman Islands Ferry for 40 minutes, and then we sail into the most beautiful harbor of Iceland.
Although a day visit is short, you can still enjoy some beautiful moments and decide to stay over the night; there are various accommodations available such as hotel Vestmannaeyjar, which has a Spa and one of the best restaurants in the heart of town. You can also opt for any of these: Guesthouse Hamar, Puffin Nest Capsule Hostel, The New Post Office apartments, Glamping and camping, Guesthouse Hóll, Ofanleiti Cottage, Lava Guesthouse, Guesthouse Sunnuhóll. For visitors that fancy luxury, we have Luxury Ocean Villas next to the golf course and Luxury Pier Apartments downtown, so everybody will find something that suits them.
Do you love puffins? Because we do, and we love showing the characteristic bird of the Westman Islands to our friends. In the Westman Islands, we have an enormous population of puffins in Iceland, and our history is very connected to that beautiful bird.
Puffins are members of the Alcidae family, along with many seabirds in the Westman Islands. They look a bit like penguins, black and white, and can stand upright, but assured that they are not. To further guarantee you, you can’t find penguins on the north side of the world. The puffins are not very large, just about 30 cm / 12 inches in length, with a wingspan of 47-63 cm / 18-25 inches and weighing 300-450 g / 10-16 ounces.
The first thing you notice about puffins is their highly decorative beak, red and yellow striped with a blue colour next to the head. Their beak remains decorative from the nesting season and the plates forming the coloured streaks fall off in autumn.
Puffins can be distinguished from other birds in flight by their frequent wing beats. The puffin has been estimated to mow up to 3-400 times per minute, but despite its rather clumsy flight, it reaches a high speed on a direct flight (80 km/h or 50 mph).
Most puffins spend most of the year at sea, but you can see them at the colonies by the end of April or early May. The colonies of puffins are often located above rocks in grassy hills, and the males struggle to dig with their beaks and legs evenly in the spring to prepare the soil to make a nest for their females. A puffin hole is a great nesting site; within it, the birds use several corridors as toilets. The holes are typically dug upward so the nesting will not fill with water during rainy weather. Puffin pairs usually stay together for life, with the male frequently visiting the Westman Islands before the female repairs their hole from last year. If she's too fashionable, a new girlfriend might appear in the nesting hole, but because puffins are monogamous birds, they always end up together again.
The mating season often begins early in the spring; the female puffin lays only one egg in June, which takes around 42 days to hatch, and the parents participate. The puffin does not lie on the egg as is customary among birds but restrains it under the wings. The young puffing is called puffling.
The skin of puffins folds at the corner of the beak During the nesting season, which makes it possible for the puffin to collect many sand eels and other small fish in their beak. The number of sand eels or other small fish can be up to 20 pieces in one round to feed the puffling waiting in the nest. The parent puffin takes turns feeding and caring for their young hence they spend a lot of time in front of the hole. You can spot them while visiting the Great Cape (Stórhöfði), a puffin colony in the Westman Islands.
After 40 days of feeding and caring for their young puffling, the parents leave them to manage themselves and head out to sea from mid-August to mid-September. Hence, the puffling has to leave its holes to look for food. They are supposed to exit the hole during the nighttime and glide to the sea, and then they immediately start diving for food to strengthen themselves to become a wedge. The average time for that is nine days after leaving the hole when they are about 49 days old. When leaving their holes, they go out in the dark so that the predatory birds won’t see them and are supposed to glide towards the moonlight.
In Westman Islands, the pufflings can get distracted due to the streetlights. Having an enormous puffin colony next to a town, the distracted birds effortlessly glide into town. The islander’s history is so beautiful that for many decades and maybe centuries, the children of the Westman Islands go out at night to rescue the vulnerable baby puffins. Families go out together in the evening, late at night, and early in the morning, looking for the pufflings that landed due to the streetlight and gathering them inside a puffling box to keep them safe.
From mid-August to September, you will see children and families with their flashlights out searching for pufflings all night, rescuing many of them. The next day we register them in our own Puffling Patrol, which makes data collection of our favourite birds easy. The baby puffling is released to the ocean the day after they leave the hole.
You will most likely see some cars there when visiting us during the puffling time. A great spot for freeing the pufflings is on the way to Great Cape (Stórhöfði). Klaufin, our black beach below Great Cape, is also another spot for freeing the young pufflings. When releasing the pufflings, we help them glide towards the sea to begin their journeys through life.
You can look for some documentaries about those beautiful experiences for families like “Iceland puffins, National Geographic” and maybe one day visit us for the rescuing of pufflings.