hvitserkur

This strangely shaped cliff is about 15 meters high. It rises straight up in the sea close to the beach.

On our way to Akureyri, we detoured around the Vatnsnes Peninsula to take in a gorgeous sunrise. The peninsula is known for the beaches that the seals like to hang out in summer, although in winter they have already moved on to warmer waters with more food sources. Still - the scenery is breathtaking here and the short stop at Hvitserkur and hike were a good way to stretch our legs.A word of caution - the road around the peninsula becomes basically a dirt road which many ruts and potholes that can swallow your little rental car. So if you're not driving a truck, this might not be the easiest place for you to visit. We were fortunate to have a private tour guide in a super jeep.The parking area is small and the path to the overlook quite easy to traverse. The wooden overlook platform was a sheet of ice. The path down the beach was a bit steep and to do it you really need good shoes - sneakers, TEVA sandals or hiking boots. However - the rewards are great. The beach is quite lovely and strewn with rocks of all sizes and also black sand. My daughter was delighted to find some shells and a piece of red corral. The views are to die for - just stunning. Sunrise with the backdrop of water, mountains, and they amazing troll rock.A little ways down the road there is also an old Viking stone fortress which you can walk up to and visit. While sheep are known to roam free in Iceland, horses are usually penned. But on our drive, they were roaming free. When we stopped the truck and rolled down the windows, they came right over, poked their heads in and enjoyed a pat on the head. This was a great detour!

Hvítserkur is a 15 meter tall basalt rock, which has been beautifully eroded by the elements. Its name translates into English as "white nightgown" (yes, no one said Icelanders aren't weird) & the saga story about it is even weirder: apparently, it used to be a troll, which had a plan of attacking the Þingeyrar monastery, but was turned into stone by the Sun. It seems to me that half of the story got "lost in translation", but I took the story as it came & enjoyed the visit immensely! :-)

Having seen photos of this unusual rock formation, it was even better to see it in person. We had spent the day on Icelandic horses and then hiked down to see Hvitserkur. Interesting to hear the stories about its origin; I liked the troll story the best.

It's a nice rock, but you have to weigh whether or not it's worth driving 19 miles out and 19 miles back on a gravel road that is only 1.5 cars wide. And then the road down to it the parking area is very steep. You take a short walk from the parking area to the observation platform, which us way above it. You can't walk right up to it. All that said, if you have the time, do it. It is quite spectacular.

A beautiful large rock formation rising from sea surface, said to be the most photographed land mark of the northwestern Iceland. Also near to a large seal colony of the same beach. Not far away from the parking lot.

Beautiful rock formation rising from the beach (apparently a troll turned into stone at sunrise according to local legends). Not super special but beautiful. The trip towards it is equally beautiful. A few hundred meters further down the beach you can see Iceland's largest (visitable) seal colony.

Since Iceland is full of strange rock formations, you may just as well skip this one. It is fascinating in it's form and on a sunny morning it is beautiful. Don't skip the nearby Borgarvirki, it's a lot cooler.

We got up at sunrise (2a.m.) to photograph this rock in early light. It is beautiful and the birds add to its appeal. It is not near a town and the drive is slow because of sheep and horses on the road, but it's worth it. You can't see the rock until you get to the wooden viewing platform. At first we thought it had been washed away.

This is a neat rock formation sticking out of the water, but as others said, not overly impressive. We were driving around that way anyway, but if you weren't, it may not be worth the drive,as it's neat, but not oh my goodness, that is the coolest thing i have seen exciting! We didn't see any seals while we were there either, if we had that might have made it more exciting.

We felt that this rock was not as spectacular as expected. We felt the journey down a rough rocky road and back was a lot for something that turned out to be a lot smaller than photos would indicate.

Hvítserkur isn´t really known between tourists. Special know in groups of self organized tourists. It is place where you can see seals. Nature right there is also special, so don´t forget to walk around to see stone dinosaurus. As tour operator I recommending Hvítserkur as well as other places in north Iceland what is by Lonely planet one of the 10 must see world places.

This was quite a long drive or us from Pingvellier but the scenery made it a good trip despite poor weather. The rock formation was cool but not as big as the photos made out. If you've got them, bring binoculars to make the seal watching even better. The whole area was a lovely peaceful bay with seals playing around all over the place. The road down to a little parking area was closed as it was icy and boggy. It was fine to park just off the road and walk down the grassy edge of the road.

This was a real highlight of our first day of a road trip around Iceland, nothing else in this fjord but the 15 metre high rocks rises out of the water - an amazing sight. Well worth the bone shaking drive on the gravel roads of Vatsnes, would highly recommend taking the drive on round the peninsula for incredible, entirely unspoilt views.When we visited the tide was in but have seen photos where peole can walk right out to it.Watch carefully for the sign though, it's really small but there aren't too many turn offs on this road!!

This is a 15m high basalt rock that has an unusual shape. It can be found between Blonduos and Hvammstangi and requires some driving to get to. It is signposted from the road (road 711)and a parking area can be found around 500 metres away from it. No services are available at the site. If at the parking area, take the path on the left of the parking when facing the sea. When we visited the tide was in, so we viewed the rock from the viewing platform just above it, however supposedly one can walk right up to it when tide is out. What ended up being the highlight of this excursion was taking the path from the car park that goes straight down to the sliver of lava beach at the bottom. By walking along it towards the river estuary we were able to see seals in their natural habitat. We did not see them lounging on the sand as one does in a nature programme, but walking along the sand you soon get a couple or more bobbing in the sea within 50 metres of the shoreline watching you attentively.The kids loved this and we got some good photos.