Hornstrandir Nature Reserve

Uninhabited peninsula of cliffs and Arctic foxes, reached by boat from Isafjordur

Hornstrandir is a peninsula at Iceland's northwest tip, a 580-square-kilometre nature reserve that has had no permanent inhabitants since the 1950s. Sea cliffs at Hornbjarg drop hundreds of metres into the Arctic Ocean and host vast colonies of nesting kittiwakes, fulmars, and puffins. Arctic foxes, fully protected since 1994, are unusually approachable here.

Access is by boat from Isafjordur harbour in summer only — typically June to August, weather dependent. Day trips are possible to Hesteyri, a former whaling village, but most visitors come for multi-day hikes carrying everything they need. There are no shops, no marked trails outside the main routes, and weather can change from sunshine to whiteout within hours. The reserve is one of the wildest places left in Europe.

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Hornstrandir was abandoned in the 1950s when its last farming families gave up against winters that could leave them snowed in for months. The land is now a strict reserve — no permanent residents, no roads, no marked trails outside summer — and the Arctic foxes that were nearly wiped out elsewhere in Iceland have rebounded to the point that they walk up to hikers in apparent curiosity.

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