Storhofdi

Storhofdi is the southern headland of Heimaey, joined to the rest of the island by a narrow neck, and the weather station on top has been recording since 1921 - it routinely returns some of the highest wind speeds measured anywhere in Europe, with gusts well past hurricane force in winter storms. Below the station a small wooden hide is built into the slope, and from it puffins can be watched at close range without disturbing them, which is the best way to see them anywhere in the islands. The Westman Islands hold one of the largest Atlantic puffin colonies in the world, and Heimaey's slopes fill with burrows from May.

What you actually see

• A weather station since 1921 - among the windiest recorded in Europe.
• A puffin hide on the slope - close views without disturbance.
• Burrowed slopes from May - part of one of the world's largest colonies.
• The southern tip of Heimaey - a narrow neck out to the headland.

When to go

May to early August, while the puffins are ashore. Two hours.

Honest expectations

The wind is the point and it is genuinely dangerous - car doors are torn off here. Puffins leave in August and the slopes empty. The last stretch of road is steep and sometimes gated. There are no facilities.

Nearby

Vestmannaeyjar town is north; Eldfell and the 1973 lava are beyond it.