Before heading back to Iceland, I spent a few months collecting images of places I saw other people visiting to add to our list of spots to stop on our road trip. One thing I kept seeing were orange lighthouses. In fact, they are all over the island and every lighthouse we saw on this trip (which were a few) were a bright orange/yellow color. I’m not sure if that’s a country-wide thing, but I know that there are definitely a few that people visit all over the island in different spots. Since we were driving the Snæfellsnes peninsula, we adding Svörtuloft to our list of stops.
At the second most Western tip of Iceland, lies Svörtuloft, a bright orange light house at the end of a very windy one lane gravel/muddy road. About 20 minutes to a half hour drive from the tiny town of Hellissandur, you’ll find this lovely little spot complete with ocean views, cliffside with intense waves crashing high against them and a lovely little lighthouse with picnic benches and spots to sit and take it all in.
The view here is pretty picturesque: mountains behind, surrounded by lava fields covered in inches of spongy olive green moss and a bright orange lighthouse against the gray sky and deep blue ocean. Well worth the trek to get here, this Western tip of the Snæfellsnes peninsula truly brought into perspective where you are, in the incredibly beautiful and raw beauty of the country of Iceland.
Tips for Getting to Svörtuloft:
-We had a hard time finding this lighthouse without searching for it’s actual name on Google Maps. So be sure to enter the name and confirm it’s on the Snæfellsnes peninsula at the very end on the map to get your directions.
-Beware that the windy one lane road to get here takes a while and in small cars, it’s often hard to pull over to let another pass, so drive safely and slowly.
-Don’t miss the chance to stop on the way here as it’s gorgeous countryside on the way into the lighthouse.
Jessie Frederick says
This seems like it could be in Harry Potter. Very neat
Casey says
Totally!! It felt very surreal!
Sara says
Beautiful!! I didn’t know these orange lighthouses existed. I’ll have to find one when I visit next year!
http://www.saraseestheworld.com
Casey says
YEs! There are a lot of them around the island and you can spot them from miles away since they are so bright!
Jessica says
So amazing! Add this to the list of reasons I need to go to iceland. Its already about a mile long 😉 haha
Casey says
YEs! So many of them around the island too!
Kaelene @ Unlocking Kiki says
Beautiful photos! Aren’t the orange lighthouses interesting, I love seeing the pop of color around the country.
Casey says
YEa, they are interesting aren’t then!?!? We saw one up North that was like bright yellow!
Kate Amunrud says
AH! I need to get here ASAP.
Casey says
YES!
Emily says
Wow! wish we’d stopped here when I was in Iceland last month, it’s beautiful. The road there looks fun but scary at the same time, I came across many one lane roads in Iceland and trying to get out of the way for other cars is a challenge for sure. Looks like a fun stop though 🙂
Casey says
It was pretty cool but yes, that road, I was a nervous wreck driving down that one!