We were traveling with our friends (in separate vehicles) and overnighted in Stykkishólmur, a pleasant little town on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula whose main industries are fishing and tourism. From there a ferry crosses the Breiðafjörðurto to the Westfjords region, where our friends had planned for us to go to see the bird cliffs at Látrabjarg, in particular for the puffins, which have a huge colony there. We decided against continuing on with them beyond Stykkishólmur since the trip would have taken four days and we would have had one day left to see the rest of the island, which is, of course, impossible.

I also had read that the puffins leave Iceland en masse in mid-August, which this was, and thought this whole trip could be a huge disappointment and a matter of time better spent elsewhere. As it turned out, our friends said the ride to the bird cliffs and down that peninsula was “harrowing” (narrow, winding, almost vertical gravel roads with no guard rails!) plus they saw exactly one puffin – leaving the island. We definitely made the right call and got to see most everything we wanted to see in our five days, and thanks to Yiannis Pavlis for his excellent advice!

Another view of this laid-back town in evening: