Gardskagi Lighthouses

Gardskagi is the blunt northwest corner of the Reykjanes peninsula, a low shelf of rock and grass with the sea wrapping around it. Two lighthouses stand there, a short squat older tower close to the water and a taller white one set back, still working. There is a small folk museum, a cafe and a scatter of benches, and that is the whole infrastructure. What people come for is the horizon: Snaefellsjokull across the bay on clear days, thousands of nesting and migrating birds in spring, and one of the easiest places near the airport to watch the midnight sun or wait out a winter night for the aurora.

What you actually see

• The two towers - the squat old lighthouse by the shore and the taller working one behind.
• The bird shore - waders, eiders and terns on the rocks and shallow water in season.
• The northern view - Snaefellsjokull across Faxafloi bay when the air is clear.
• The folk museum - local boats, engines and household objects from the fishing villages.

When to go

May to July for nesting and migrating birds and for the midnight sun over the water; clear winter nights for aurora, since the point is dark and faces away from the lights of Keflavik. It works well as the first or last stop of a trip, being minutes from the airport. The cafe and museum keep short seasonal hours.

Honest expectations

There is very little here, and bad weather makes that obvious fast: the wind off the Atlantic is constant and there is no shelter. Neither lighthouse is normally open to climb. Terns nest close to the paths in early summer and will dive at anyone who walks near them. Aurora is a matter of luck, not of standing in the right place.

Nearby

Keflavik, the airport and the wider Reykjanes peninsula lie south.