Hours, prices and access verified by the Isafjordur Tours team — last checked 2026-09-05
The Westfjords photograph badly from the road and well from a
stop. The pictures below are grouped the way a visit divides: the waterfall, the
fjords and the villages, the town itself, the birds and animals, and the trips
that get you to them. The birds and the whales in these frames are all from the water, which is what the Isafjordur boat tours are for.
What you are looking at, in order: Dynjandi, spreading about a hundred metres
over stepped basalt with six smaller falls below it; the fjord road and the
villages strung along it; Ísafjörður low on its spit under the mountain wall;
puffins, eiders and Arctic terns on Vigur, seals on the seaweed at Hvítanes and
humpbacks on Ísafjarðardjúp. What each one is and how you reach it is set out on
the highlights page; the practical half of a visit is
on visiting Isafjordur.
Dynjandi waterfall
Dynjandi waterfall above the smaller falls that step down the mossy gorge below itThe full fan of Dynjandi spreading out over its basalt shelvesDynjandi seen from across the fjord, small against the cliff wall behind itA rainbow standing in the spray at the foot of DynjandiDynjandi photographed in long exposure above bright summer mossWalkers on the path beside the upper section of DynjandiThe gravel path up to Dynjandi with walkers on the lower stepsDynjandi behind yellow summer flowers on the Arnarfjörður shoreThe stepped basalt shelves that spread Dynjandi into its fan shapeA tour coach parked below Dynjandi at the end of the access roadThe marked car park and meeting point below DynjandiDynjandi with the green slope and the head of the fjord below it
The fjords and the villages
A wooden pier reaching out into still fjord water under snow-covered peaksA Westfjords village strung along the shore road beneath its mountainA flat-topped Westfjords mountain mirrored in still fjord waterTwo travellers looking out over a golden sand beach at the head of a fjordSea cliffs dropping straight into the water under low Westfjords cloudA white church with a red roof below snow-streaked Westfjords mountainsA turf-roofed timber house of the kind the Westfjords museums preserve
Isafjordur itself
Cyclists passing the painted timber houses of Ísafjörður in the rainRiders on e-bikes among the summer lupins outside Ísafjörður
Birds, seals and whales
Seals hauled out on the seaweed rocks at HvítanesA harbour seal resting on seaweed at the edge of ÍsafjarðardjúpVigur Island lying low in Ísafjarðardjúp, seen from the airA row of puffins on the rocks above the sea at Vigur IslandAn eider duck and her ducklings on the shingle at Vigur IslandAn eider duck on the clear shallows of the fjordAn Arctic tern on a tussock beside the waterA humpback whale's fluke raised above the water in ÍsafjarðardjúpA humpback breaching alongside the whale-watching boatA humpback's back and dorsal fin as it surfaces
The trips themselves
The whale-watching boat out on Ísafjarðardjúp under the mountainsThe red-roofed buildings and the jetty on Vigur IslandCoffee and cake laid out under glass domes in the Vigur farmhouseQuad bikes on a gravel track through Westfjords lupinsA quad bike crossing a shallow river below a Westfjords peakA modified superjeep parked at the Dynjandi car park
Where these were taken
The waterfall frames are all Dynjandi, an hour south of town. The puffins, the eider ducks and the farmhouse table are Vigur Island, half an hour out into the fjord. The seals are the Hvítanes haul-out along the Djúp, and the humpbacks are Ísafjarðardjúp itself.
Seeing it for yourself
Almost everything above is an hour or a boat ride from town. Isafjordur Tours lists the trips that reach each one, from a two-hour ride round the fjord to a private day across the whole peninsula.
Book the trip that gets you there
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead on every trip here but one.
