Iceland Westfjords loop in 6 days

The Westfjords are a six-day loop with a ferry in it, and the ferry is why. Baldur, the car ferry across Breiðafjörður from Stykkishólmur to Brjánslækur, turns a 333 km drive over the Route 60 passes into 175 km of road and 2 h 10 min on the water, and lands the car 80 km from Látrabjarg. The ledger comes to about 1,020 km, 14.5 hours of driving and one crossing; roughly 180 km of the road is gravel and is counted at 50 km/h rather than 80, because that is what gravel does to a day. The loop is for June to September, for a party of two to four who are comfortable on gravel in a 2WD car, and who are not trying to combine it with the Ring Road in the same week. Outside that window the ferry still sails but the roads that make the loop a loop are not kept open.

Arithmetic: every road leg here is routed over OpenStreetMap with OSRM, because none of it is on Route 1 and the road authority's distance table is no longer published; 80 km/h on paved road, 50 on gravel, rounded to five; the ferry at the operator's stated crossing time. Stops on top.

#Day 1 — Reykjavík to Patreksfjörður by the Baldur ferry, 230 km and 130 minutes afloat

Route 1 to Borgarnes and Route 54 across the neck of Snæfellsnes to Stykkishólmur, 175 km. Baldur is run by Ferjuleiðir, calls at Flatey on the way, and takes about 2 h 10 min to Brjánslækur by the operator's figure. The operator describes the service as daily and year-round, but the day's departure time is on ferja.is and the car space must be booked; at the time of checking (1 November 2026) the ship was in dry dock in Hafnarfjörður until late November, with a passenger boat covering Flatey only, which is the kind of thing a ledger has to say. From Brjánslækur, Route 62 climbs Kleifaheiði and drops to Patreksfjörður, 56 km, paved. Patreksfjörður has fuel, a supermarket and the pool on the hillside.

#Day 2 — Látrabjarg and back, 120 km

Route 62 west, then Route 612 — Örlygshafnarvegur — along the north shore of Patreksfjörður, past the museum at Hnjótur and the beached trawler at Skápadalur, to the car park at Bjargtangar, the westernmost point of the country. Route 612 is gravel for most of the way, narrow in places and badly rutted after rain; the ledger counts 120 km at gravel speed and still gives the day only 2 h 25 min of driving, which is correct. The cliff is 14 km long and 440 m at its highest; it is unfenced, the turf at the edge is undercut by burrows, and the puffins that sit close to the path are the reason people crawl where they should not. They are present until roughly mid-August. Rauðasandur, the red beach on Route 614, is a steep gravel detour that adds about 40 km and is not in the ledger.

#Day 3 — Patreksfjörður to Ísafjörður by Dynjandi, 150 km

Route 63 over Mikladalur and along Arnarfjörður to Bíldudalur, then Route 60 up Dynjandisheiði. This pass is the loop's honest caveat: Vegagerðin began the third and final rebuilding phase in spring 2025, about 7 km of new road plus the spur to the falls, with completion put back to 2027, so for the 2026 and 2027 seasons expect sections of gravel, a speed-limited work zone and a changing surface. Dynjandi is below the pass: a 100 m fan of water with six smaller falls stepping down to the car park, 45 minutes up and back. From there the modern road takes over — the Dýrafjarðargöng tunnel (opened 2020) replaces the old Hrafnseyrarheiði pass, Gemlufallsheiði is paved, and the Vestfjarðagöng delivers the car into Ísafjörður. Fuel at Þingeyri if the needle is low; otherwise Ísafjörður.

#Day 4 — Ísafjörður, 60 km

The rest day, and the ledger keeps it short on purpose. Bolungarvík is 15 km through its tunnel; Súðavík is 20 km along the Djúp. Hornstrandir, the uninhabited reserve across the mouth of the fjord, is by boat from the harbour with several operators and is a full day by itself; it is mentioned, not recommended. Ísafjörður has the region's one large supermarket and the fuel you need for Day 5.

#Day 5 — Ísafjörður to Hólmavík, 225 km

Route 61, Djúpvegur, runs the length of Ísafjarðardjúp fjord by fjord, which is why 225 km of paved road takes three hours. Nothing between Súðavík and Hólmavík sells fuel. Steingrímsfjarðarheiði (440 m) is the pass at the end, a wide, well-made road that is still the first thing in this ledger to close in an autumn storm. Hólmavík has fuel, a shop and a museum about sorcery that is the town's one indoor afternoon.

#Day 6 — Hólmavík to Reykjavík, 235 km

Route 61 and Route 68 south down Strandir to Route 1 at the head of Hrútafjörður, where Staðarskáli has fuel; then Holtavörðuheiði (400 m), Borgarnes and the Hvalfjörður tunnel. Three hours. If the flight is the next morning, this is a day that can absorb a late start.

#What it costs

Fuel: 1,020 km at 7.5 l/100 km is 77 litres, priced at the dated figure on the Iceland country page. The ferry is the one fare in the ledger: Ferjuleiðir publishes a price list on ferja.is for passengers and vehicles, quoted there with its own date and not repeated here. Accommodation: five nights in towns with few beds, so the mid band in July means booking by March; Patreksfjörður and Hólmavík are the tight ones. Food: a supermarket in Patreksfjörður, Ísafjörður and Hólmavík and little between. Fees that exist: the Hnjótur museum, the Hólmavík museum, the pools; no car-park charges were found on this route at the time of checking.

#What goes wrong

The ferry, first. A dock period or a gale cancels Day 1 as written, and the fallback is Route 60 by road: 333 km from Reykjavík to Brjánslækur over Þorskafjarðarheiði's successor roads, an extra 160 km and two hours, and still a loop. The passes, second: Kleifaheiði, Dynjandisheiði and Steingrímsfjarðarheiði close in that order in the autumn, and umferdin.is is the morning check. Gravel, third: safetravel.is's "slow down when approaching gravel roads" is the whole of the advice, and the rental contract's gravel clause is worth reading before Day 2. Fourth, the cliff edge at Látrabjarg, which has no rail.

#Variations

Four days: ferry out, Látrabjarg, Dynjandi, Ísafjörður, and fly back from Ísafjörður (Icelandair, check the schedule) with the car returned there if the rental company allows a one-way. Eight days: add Strandir north of Hólmavík to Djúpavík and Norðurfjörður, 150 km of gravel return, and a second night in Ísafjörður for Hornstrandir. Twelve: this loop on the end of the 10-day Ring Road, joined at Stykkishólmur.

#Sources

Ferry: Ferjuleiðir (ferja.is), route, crossing time, daily service and the November 2026 dock notice, read 1 November 2026. Dynjandisheiði: Vegagerðin news, 15 September 2025. Distances: OSRM over OpenStreetMap, computed 1 November 2026. Speed limits: Ísland.is. Driving rules: safetravel.is. Road status: umferdin.is. Ledger checked 1 November 2026.