Flatey

Flatey is the only island in Breidafjordur that still has a village on it, and the village is a single row of small timber houses in strong colours, most of them summer homes now. A handful of people winter here. The ferry between Snaefellsnes and the southern Westfjords calls twice a day in summer, which makes it possible to step off, spend five hours walking the island end to end, and pick up the next boat. There are no cars beyond a tractor or two. The church has a painted interior added in the last century, and beside it stands a tiny nineteenth-century building, the size of a shed, that served as the island library.

What you actually see

• The timber village - one row of small painted houses along the shore, most used only in summer.
• The church - a plain white building with a painted interior added in the twentieth century.
• The old library - the small nineteenth-century library house next to the church.
• The bird ground - the far end of the island, where paths are signed shut through the nesting season.

When to go

June to August, when the ferry runs its full summer timetable and the birds are on the ground. The two daily sailings set the shape of a day trip, and missing the second one means staying the night, so read the timetable before stepping off. Terns nest along the paths and are at their most aggressive in June.

Honest expectations

Almost everything shuts outside the short summer, and even in season the island offers a walk, a church and a shore rather than a list of things to do. Beds are few and book out early. The ferry timetable is unforgiving and weather can change it. Anyone expecting a working fishing village finds a summer-house settlement instead.

Nearby

Stykkisholmur and Snaefellsnes are at the southern end of the ferry route, the Westfjords at the northern.