Westfjords Elopement & Wedding

Where

North-west Iceland – 5 to 6 hours’ drive from Reykjavík, or a short domestic flight

Best for

Couples who want remote, quiet landscape and have a few days

When

June to August; May and September with more risk of closed passes

Good to know

Mountain roads can close in winter – plan the season carefully

Getting to the Westfjords

By road, Ísafjörður and Patreksfjörður are both around five to six hours from Reykjavík in good conditions. Flying is much quicker: Icelandair flies from Reykjavík’s domestic airport to Ísafjörður in about forty minutes, and Norlandair flies to Bíldudalur in the southern fjords. In summer the Baldur car ferry across Breiðafjörður, from Stykkishólmur on Snæfellsnes to Brjánslækur, is a beautiful short cut of about two and a half hours – but in autumn 2026 it was temporarily out of service, so check the current timetable before you plan around it.

Winter changes everything here. The mountain passes, especially Dynjandisheiði, are often impassable after snow, and some smaller gravel roads get no winter service at all. The Dýrafjarðargöng tunnel, opened in 2020, has made the north a little easier, but for a wedding I would plan the Westfjords for summer.

Places for a ceremony and portraits

Dynjandi

Dynjandi is the best-known waterfall of the Westfjords: about a hundred metres tall, widening like a veil from thirty metres at the top to sixty at the bottom, with a series of smaller falls below it. A path leads from the car park to the foot of the waterfall in about fifteen minutes, rocky and uneven in its upper part. It is a protected natural monument, and between May and mid-September every drone flight needs a permit from the Environment Agency.

Rauðasandur

Rauðasandur is a beach of around ten kilometres whose sand turns from gold to rusty red depending on the light – the colour comes from crushed scallop shells. The road down to it is steep gravel and often closes outside the summer months, but on a calm evening it is one of the most beautiful and empty places in Iceland.

Látrabjarg

Látrabjarg is a line of bird cliffs fourteen kilometres long and up to 441 metres high at the westernmost point of Iceland, home to huge numbers of puffins from May to August. The ground near the edge is undermined by burrows and can collapse, so we always stay well back.

Stefania and Jói in Tálknafjörður

Tálknafjörður is a small village between Patreksfjörður and Bíldudalur. Stefania and Jói got ready in the old family house, had their first look on a nearby beach and spent the afternoon exploring the fjords, from an old wooden fishing boat in the village to the little hot pools on the hillside above the fjord. The ceremony took place outdoors under a simple arch, and the evening turned into a big party, with friends playing guitar late into the night.

Planning a Westfjords wedding

• Time: plan at least three days, ideally four or five, so the drives become part of the experience.
• Season: June to August is the safest. In May and September the main passes are usually open, but snow is possible.
• Distances: the fjords make every trip long – places that look close on the map can be an hour or two apart by road.
• Check the roads: umferdin.is shows road conditions and closures; the ferry’s own website shows whether Baldur is running.

For the legal side and everything else couples usually ask, see my guide on how to elope in Iceland.