Látrabjarg
Interesting facts
- When the Dhoon rescue was re-enacted for a documentary a year later, another trawler, the Sargon, ran aground nearby, and its real rescue was filmed for the 1949 picture.
- That documentary, made by the Icelandic filmmaker Óskar Gíslason and commissioned by the national lifesaving association, was released in several languages and shown around the world.
- What is called Látrabjarg is really four named cliffs in a row: Keflavíkurbjarg, Látrabjarg proper, Bæjarbjarg and Breiðavíkurbjarg.
- It holds Iceland's largest colonies of both razorbills and northern fulmars, and is often described as the largest breeding colony of auks in the world.
- Egg-gathering on ropes was a deadly trade: two men were killed collecting eggs on the cliff in 1926 alone.
- Red-listed Icelandic birds such as the white-tailed eagle and the merlin are among the species found on and around the cliff.
- The cliff was formally designated a protected area in 2021.
- Látrabjarg lay in the path of totality of the total solar eclipse of 12 August 2026, which crossed western Iceland.
Why it is worth it
Látrabjarg is the western edge of Iceland and, by most counts, of Europe: a wall of cliffs about 14 km long at the tip of the Westfjords, rising in places to around 440 metres straight out of the North Atlantic. At its western end the headland of Bjargtangar, with its small lighthouse, is the country's westernmost point. Every ledge, crack and grassy slope on its face is used by nesting birds, which is why it is counted among the largest seabird cliffs in Europe.
In summer the air along the edge is thick with birds. Guillemots and razorbills pack the narrow ledges, and Látrabjarg holds a very large share of the world's razorbills; kittiwakes and gannets wheel below. The birds everyone comes for, though, are the puffins, which dig their burrows in the turf right at the top of the cliff and are famously unbothered by people lying quietly a few metres away. The cliff edge is fragile and undercut, so the views are best taken from a safe distance back from the rim.
The cliff also carries one of the great rescue stories of the North Atlantic. In December 1947, in fog and winter darkness, the British trawler Dhoon ran aground beneath the cliffs with fifteen men on board. Farmers from the surrounding settlements, men who had long harvested eggs by lowering themselves down the face on ropes, climbed down, hauled the sailors up the cliff and saved twelve of them in an operation that stretched over three days.
Getting there
Látrabjarg is at the end of Road 612, a mostly gravel road of roughly 45 km from the junction near Patreksfjörður, the nearest town with services; the drive from Reykjavík takes six to seven hours. Bíldudalur Airport (BIU), with scheduled flights from Reykjavík, is about an hour's drive away, and the car ferry Baldur lands at Brjánslækur, some 80 km from the cliffs. Ísafjörður Airport (IFJ) is about 85 km away as the crow flies but much further by road. A car park is by the lighthouse at Bjargtangar.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Látrabjarg is a promontory in the Westfjords of Iceland, and the westernmost point in Iceland. The cliffs are home to millions of birds, including puffins, northern gannets, guillemots and razorbills. Látrabjarg contains one of the largest kittiwake habitats in Iceland. It is Europe's largest bird cliff, 14 km (9 mi) long and up to 440 metres (1,440 ft) high. In 2026, a solar eclipse was visible at Látrabjarg.
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