Westfjords Route 60 and 62 in one day
Choose the road you want to finish

ICENAVI · WESTFJORDS ROUTE MAPRoute 60 north, Route 62 south

Flókalundur60/62 junctionDynjandiRoute 60PatreksfjörðurRoute 62LátrabjargRoute 612

Junction/overnightMain route/sea cliffsSouthern base

How Routes 60 and 62 divide at Flókalundur

Flókalundur is the junction where this section most deserves a fresh calculation. Route 60 heads north through fjords and mountain passes to Dynjandi and on towards the northern Westfjords. Route 62 runs south-west to Patreksfjörður, leaving room afterwards for Rauðasandur, Látrabjarg and the seal coast. Neither road is a quick detour: once you turn, tonight’s bed, tomorrow’s first sight and the fuel left in the car all change with it.

If you have just come off the ferry at Brjánslækur and still need to reach your accommodation, make the overnight address the day's finish and work backwards to see whether Hellulaug fits. When the time is tight, cut the branch before cutting mountain-road breaks or supplies.

Travellers arriving by car ferry from Brjánslækur have often already put nearby Hellulaug on the mental list. This geothermal seawater pool is free, and you can choose how long to stay; still, disembarking, sorting luggage and waiting for companions to change can turn “just half an hour” into more than an hour. If Patreksfjörður is still the day’s destination, Hellulaug should be an optional stop rather than a fixed photo opportunity.

Plan the one-day transfer as three different jobs

The first plan suits a short three-night Westfjords loop: make only a brief stop after landing, then give Route 612 a full day. The second fits travellers who already have northern accommodation, or whose main event is the waterfall; on Route 60, the scenery can prompt more stops than planned, so write “reach the waterfall” rather than “take a few photographs” as the day’s goal. The third gives the southern cliffs a full day. The drive is long, but each stop has a reason, and you do not discover at the end of a transfer day that the furthest cliff is still ahead.

Use a simple check for timing: multiply the navigation app’s pure driving time by 1.5, then add two sightseeing stops of 20 minutes each and a 30-minute road or parking buffer. This is not a road guarantee; it keeps city-road estimates from being applied to fjord roads. If the result exceeds your usable daylight, remove the branch. If two hours remain, add Hellulaug or a café in a town.

Patreksfjörður is the overnight exit, not a sightseeing checklist

Patreksfjörður earns its place by giving a long Route 62 day a sensible finish. Once there, you can buy food, check the car and deal with wet layers, then decide the next day whether to visit Rauðasandur, Látrabjarg or turn north. With one night only and an early departure the next morning, the town’s facilities matter less; with two nights, you can place the sea-cliff day in a better wind window.

Accommodation near Flókalundur shortens the ferry-to-bed leg and makes Hellulaug an easy arrival-day activity. The trade-off is extra road to the southern cliffs, with fewer evening food and supply options. Read this choice alongside the ferry schedule: an early landing allows a push south, while a late arrival is a reason not to drive deep into the Westfjords simply because you have reached them.

If Dynjandi is the main event, arrange northern accommodation along Route 60 instead of staying south and doubling back each day. Read the Flókalundur destination guide for the junction, then use the Patreksfjörður guide to plan the southern cliffs. Those pages handle base choices; this one separates the day’s Route 60/62 jobs.

Season changes what “one day” means

Long daylight from June through August gives Routes 60 and 62 more room for parking, photographs and short walks. Even in summer, treat Route 612 to the cliffs as a branch, not a road that will feel like Route 1 because it looks short on a map. Spring and autumn wind, rain and fog can cut visibility at a mountain pass without warning, so leave a blank section in the schedule where you can stop.

Winter planning starts with live information from Road.is and SafeTravel. A road marked open does not mean it suits your car, tyres or experience that day; if it is closed or marked impassable, use a confirmed main route or delay the overnight stay. If the southern Route 62 branch and Route 612 cliff section cannot be confirmed, stay in Patreksfjörður rather than making darkness, reversing and turning around part of the plan.

Short daylight also changes the order of sights. Leave your accommodation in the morning for the furthest job, such as the cliffs from Patreksfjörður, and return towards a town with services in the afternoon. Travellers visiting Dynjandi should take Route 60 when light and weather are steadier, with enough time reserved for the return. Finding accommodation at night is often the most error-prone part of the transfer.

The cost is more than a tank of fuel

The road distance from Flókalundur to Patreksfjörður is about 60 km. Using a rough estimate of ISK 330 per litre and 7 litres per 100 km for a two-wheel-drive car, one way is about ISK 1,400, roughly HKD 82 and TWD 330; the actual figure changes with the vehicle, wind and exchange rate. The expensive choice is usually a full extra day of driving to chase two directions: another night, meals, a vehicle-hire day and the loss attached to cancelling a booked activity.

Writing the cost into the route plan makes the choice clearer: the southern transfer day buys one less return journey and a flexible sea-cliff day; the Dynjandi transfer day buys the waterfall as the main event and a northern exit. Hellulaug has no admission fee, but changing clothes, parking and dealing with wet clothing still take time. Around a fixed activity meeting time, include the cost of arriving late and losing a non-refundable slot.

Write a version of the route that can be cut

Divide each day into three columns—must do, on the way and only if time allows—and fill in road conditions before leaving. The must-do column can hold tonight’s accommodation and one main sight; put Hellulaug or town supplies under “on the way”; leave the Route 612 sea-cliff branch for “only if time allows”. When wind or snow arrives, you can remove the third column without reopening the argument in the car. Ferry passengers should also count vehicle queues, disembarkation and luggage collection in the first leg: a map distance never includes those jobs.

Q&A | Route 60/62 transfer