This article is part of the Complete Guide to Photography in Iceland
Vestrahorn is a mountain on the Stokksnes peninsula in southeast Iceland and is one of the most rewarding landscape photography destinations you can visit.
Views of Vestrahorn from across the peninsula allow you to completely separate the mountain from its surroundings, making it the perfect subject for compositions.
The Stokksnes peninsula is a great photography location because there is so much variety in the landscape around it, and so many ways to be creative with foregrounds in your composition.
Where some locations have just one or two compositions to capture from a specific position, you can explore the terrain around Vestrahorn for hours, experimenting with different positions and angles for a huge range of photographs.
Contents
Photography Guide
Travel Guide
Photography Guide
Photography Locations at Vestrahorn
You can wander freely for about 3km from one side of the Stokksnes peninsula to the other. At the black sand beach, you can almost reach the base of Vestrahorn and capture photographs where it dominates the scene. From the rocky shoreline to the south, the mountain is barely in sight, and there are endless patterns and shapes to explore along the coast.
The amount of space to photograph around Vestrahorn is incredible, and it allows you to explore a range of different compositions. It's possible to get lost in photography for days on the Stokksness peninsula, and you should spend at least half a day to fully appreciate the landscape.
On the map above, I have divided the landscape into areas that show the different possibilities of the terrain. This section describes what you might see at these places to help develop an approach to the location.
Map data from OpenStreetMap
A: The junction with Route 1 for the gravel road to Vestrahorn
B: The Viking Cafe and tickets for visiting the Stokkesnes Peninsula
1. The Beach
The beach at Vestrahorn is a vast curve of black sand, with long waves creating patterns in foam along the shoreline. The shore makes a striking foreground for the mountain, and it's a good place for minimalist and moody photography by the ocean.
This is where you'll find eager social media stars capturing dramatic portraits in bright jackets, and using a person in images from this location adds a beautiful sense of scale.
From the air, you can capture top-down views of the shore or use the waves as a leading line for the mountain. Stokknes is often a windy spot, but a great place to fly a drone if the conditions are calm.
Photographs from the beach work well if you include only the eastern end of Vestrahorn in the background; it’s harder to centre a composition with the beach and the whole mountain.
2. South of the Beach
At the southern end of the beach is a rocky hill, where you can get a better perspective on the scene without using a drone. The slope is a good place to survey the landscape and watch for the changing light, and a good place for a break between shooting.
Closer to the shore at this end of the beach, the waves break over a group of rocks, and you can capture splashes or flowing water as a foreground to the peaks.
3. Reflection Pools
In the right conditions, the area in front of the mountain becomes a mirror, and you can capture a double image of Vestrahorn reflected in the water. For this to work, you’ll need enough water on the beach and low wind for the reflections. This is not always possible in winter when the area turns to textured ice instead of a smooth, reflective surface.
You may find that you can’t capture the whole mountain in one frame from so close to the peaks, even with a very wide-angle lens (I use a 14mm lens and could not fit it in one image). The solution is to make a panorama and stitch your frames later to extend the width of your photograph.
To make the reflection as complete as possible, get very low to the water with your wide-angle lens. This isn't always possible when using a tripod, but you can capture reflection images like this by holding your camera and steadying your hand on a low rock.
4(a). Dunes
My favourite foreground for Vestrahorn is the series of small grassy dunes arranged along the top of the beach. The grasses here change colours with the seasons, and you can find images of this location with green or orange in the foreground. The tops of each mini-dune can also become covered in a dusting of snow in the winter.
Most people are familiar with this view of Vestrahorn, but no two images are the same, and it’s a great place to explore for the perfect arrangement of dunes and grass in the foreground. The high winds in this area constantly smooth the sand, although it is often covered in footprints during calmer weather.
Don’t forget to experiment with close-ups and small arrangements of grass, not just wide landscape images of the mountain.
4(b). The Road
The road from the mainland along the Stokksnes peninsula can be a great leading line into an image, and often works in combination with the beach.
However, you need a drone to get the best from this feature. Fly around the dunes at the end of the road if you want to capture it with the mountains, but be aware of restricted airspace around the radar to the south of the peninsula.
5. West of the Road
As you explore further west of the road leading to the peninsula, your angle on Vestrahorn changes, and it becomes a less interesting subject the further you go.
There are more dunes here, and the landscape gradually flattens to wide areas of (often wet) sand among the grasses. There are still some interesting features, but you might experiment with images that only include a portion of Vestrahorn, as the mountain looks so different from this angle.
The further you move from the road in this direction, the harder it is to capture a good image with Vestrahorn. However, there are other subjects at this end of the peninsula...
6. Southern Shore
Along the southern shore of the Stokkness peninsula is a long, black sand bar running west into a bay. Vestrahorn looks less interesting from this angle, but the rocky shoreline is a beautiful feature to explore for other images.
There is a whole new part of Stokknes to explore in this area, and you can capture water flowing to experiment with texture or breaking waves hitting the rocks along the shore.
This shoreline adds to the interest of the location and provides a break from big landscape vistas with Vestrahorn; it's also another good place to fly the drone and explore different angles on the rocks.
Extra Features
The family that owns the Viking cafe and some of the land in this area keep Icelandic horses, which roam around the landscape on Stokksnes.
If you find some in the right place, they can provide the perfect subject for images of the wider landscape and beaches. I have met them many times on the road leading from Route 1 to Vestrahorn, and captured some great photographs of the horses while looking north from the road.
At the end of the peninsula is a radar station and a lighthouse, and there has been a small military presence on this land for several decades. The radar station is still in use, but this part of the peninsula is surrounded by a high fence and out of bounds, though there is not much photographic interest near the radar.
Near the cafe is a Viking Village, built in 2010 as a movie set but never used. It’s an extra area to explore, and the set is fairly interesting. There is even a huge fake rock built around a crumbling farmhouse, which has been on this site for decades.
The village is at the base of Vestrahorn, and it can be interesting to get so close to the mountain, especially if you have already spent some time photographing it from a distance. However, this area is too close to the peaks to make it a good place for photography.
Weather and Conditions for Photography at Vestrahorn
Iceland is famously windy, and this is a particularly windy part of the country. Vestrahorn is on a spur of land in the bottom corner of Iceland, and the wind in this area roars past the mountains and across the Stokksnes peninsula. On a bad day, it can be challenging to open a car door, and the black sand grinds into your face. And worse, your camera.
However, I have visited Vestrahorn when the conditions have been calm and dry for days, with beautiful light and clear skies overhead. The weather is variable rather than consistently bad, and the only viable approach is to spend as long as you can and wait for any rough conditions to move on.
You can photograph Vestrahorn in any weather, but the biggest impact on your photography will be wind and low cloud. It may not be possible to fly the drone on windy days, and sand from the dunes makes it much more challenging to protect your equipment.
On overcast days, the peaks can be lost in the cloud. However, it is often possible to adjust your style and capture a darker and more moody atmosphere. For some photographers, these conditions may work best for their style. However, Vestrahorn is not as striking when the peaks are missing, and it's a much better subject on a clear day.
The Best Time of Day to Photograph Vestrahorn
Vestrahorn faces south and is just as good at sunrise and sunset. However, the direction of the light changes a lot across the seasons, and it is worth checking the movements of the sun on the dates of your visit.
In the summer, the sun rises behind the right edge of Vestrahorn. The sun travels around the mountain and lights up the face around 7 am. However, the sun rises very early in Iceland in the summer, so the sun will already be very high in the sky. The sun sets behind the left peak of Vestrahorn and starts casting the face of the mountain in shadow by late afternoon.
In the winter, the sun will rise on your right if you stand facing Vestrahorn. On a clear day, the mountain will catch first light, and it can be a beautiful location for sunrise, with various parts of the rock face picked out by the light.
The sun sets on your left and also lights up the mountain directly on a clear day. The light from sunset can pick out different parts of the mountain compared to sunrise, and both times of day are fantastic for photography.
Northern Lights Photography at Vestrahorn
Vestrahorn is one of the best locations in Iceland to photograph the northern lights, because compositions of the mountain face towards the north. Iceland is quite far south for aurora viewing, which means the northern lights are more likely to appear in the north, behind and above the mountain.
On a night with weak aurora, Vestrahorn is tall enough to block your view of the northern sky, and you are less likely to see the display at this location. However, even with a low-medium aurora, it is a relatively easy place to capture a fantastic image, with the northern lights directly over the mountain for the ideal composition.
The variety of photography options around Vestrahorn is another benefit of this spot for watching the northern lights. If the display lasts long enough, it’s possible at Vestrahorn to capture several different compositions of the aurora without having to move to a new location.
Click below for a longer guide to aurora photography in Iceland, including recommended locations for photographing the aurora.
Equipment and Lenses for Photographing Vestrahorn
It helps to have a range of lenses and a drone at Vestrahorn to get the most out of the landscape.
There are so many possible compositions that both wide-angle and telephoto lenses are useful at Vestrahorn. This is a great location to experiment and practice your photography, and a good approach can be to first explore with only a wide-angle lens, then switch to a long lens and roam the area again. Forcing yourself to stay with one lens helps uncover new compositions you might not notice when jumping between lenses.
If you visit Vestrahorn to photograph the aurora, you'll need a sturdy tripod, plus a head torch and plenty of layers to keep warm during the cold nights.
The weather can often be mild in winter, and it's unlikely that you'll need specialist cold-weather equipment. However, you will need windproof and warm clothes to spend time outside in Iceland on a winter's night.
Although you can capture many different compositions at Vestrahorn without a drone, the option to photograph the scene from the air will give you even more variety in your photographs. If you have a drone, Vestrahorn can be a great place to fly and discover new angles on the landscape.
Travel Guide
Getting to Vestrahorn
Vestrahorn is a long way from Reykjavik, at least a six-hour drive, and potentially more if you visit in winter. The closest town is Höfn (around 15 minutes away), and it’s a little over 1h15m to the popular glacier lagoon Jökulsárlón on Iceland’ssouth coast.
The photography location is 5km off Route 1, down a gravel road that can be a little bumpy, but passable in a normal vehicle, even in winter if the road has been cleared of snow. The turn-off from Route 1 is not well-marked, but you can see the exact location here.
The road ends at the base of the mountain, where you'll find a small parking area, a café (with accommodation) and an entrance barrier, which you can only pass after buying a ticket. You can pay in the café or at a vending machine that will provide you with a QR code to scan at the barrier, which will automatically lift. You can access the area at any time of day or night using the vending machine for tickets, but the cafe does keep daytime opening hours.
Once through the barrier, you travel along a short stretch of road onto the Stokksnes peninsula, which looks back towards the mountain. Park anywhere off the road (there is plenty of room by the dunes here, and explore on foot for the rest of your visit.
Where to Stay at Vestrahorn
The Viking Cafe at Vestrahorn has rooms available to book, which are comfortable, warm and incredibly convenient. If you stay here, the cafe will give you free tickets for the barrier, and you can easily come and go to the peninsula.
If you visit in winter, there is a real advantage to staying this close to Vestrahorn, as you can check the aurora at times throughout the night and quickly arrive on location if it appears.
The town of Höfn is only a 15-minute drive from Vestrahorn, and there is a range of accommodation and some restaurants open throughout the year. There are cheaper budget options in Höfn, as well as comfortable hotels and self-catering options.
If you stay any further away from Vestrahorn in this part of Iceland, you can still visit and photograph Vestrahorn. However, the best light is very late at night in the summer, and you are more likely to capture the northern lights during a winter's night. Staying nearby will make it easier to be on location at the best time of day.
How Long to Spend Photographing Vestrahorn
There's a lot of ground to cover at the Stokksnes Peninsula, and you can capture images from positions all around Vestrahorn. Most visitors would want to spend two or three hours to get the most out of this remote location, even if they are not focused on photography.
As a photographer, you can explore this location as deeply as time allows, and I have stayed at Vestrahorn for three full days on two different visits. The variety in the landscape and quickly changing conditions create an endless set of possibilities, and spending more time will allow you to go beyond your initial impressions and explore more interesting compositions.
Spending more time will also provide some insurance against bad weather. The peaks of Vestrahorn are sometimes hidden by cloud, and the wind in this part of Iceland can be incredibly strong.
If you have time, multiple days in this area will improve your chances of getting good light and the chance to photograph Vestrahorn in different weather. In the winter, more time provides further chances to watch the aurora.
Nearby Photography Locations
If you plan to spend time in the area around Vestrahorn, there are several other nearby locations to visit. I often prefer to stay around Vestrahorn and frequently visit the peninsula in different conditions, and then explore some nearby locations for variety.
Eystrahorn is another distinctive mountain on Iceland’s southeast coast, located about 35 minutes drive along Route 1 from the turn-off to Vestrahorn. The area to explore around Eystrahorn is much smaller but similar to Vestrahorn: it has a variety of features that are easy to pair with the mountain range dominating the scene. Eystrahorn can be quieter than Vestrahorn, and many photographers prefer this spot.
Check out my full guide to photography at Eystrahorn here.
Jökulsárlón is a glacier lagoon on the south coast and one of the most popular destinations in Iceland. The lagoon is a 1h15m drive from Vestrahorn, so you can visit both locations without moving accommodation on your journey. Jökulsárlón is a spectacular photography location, with a glacier lagoon and black sand beach where fragments of icewash up, creating a beach full of beautiful natural sculptures.
Höfn is a pretty town close to Vestrahorn, with a good harbour and views of mountains across the bay. This isn’t a majorphotography destination, but it is a convenient place to stay in this part of Iceland and worth exploring with the camera if you have the time to spare.
Hoffellsjökull is another glacier with a small lagoon containing fragments of ice. This location is not nearly as popular as Jökulsárlón, but it is much quieter and easier to reach from points around Vestrahorn.
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