DAY 1

Guests meet the guide at our office one hour before departure, where we will answer any questions and make final preparations. We depart from the harbour in Ísafjörður on our passenger ferry Bjarmi.

The ride to Hornvík Bay takes between 2 and 3 hours and en-route you can see the whole coastline and bays that are carved into Hornstrandir. All these bays were once occupied by our ancestors that harvested the land and fished the waters.

We land under the old farm of Horn and shoulder our daypacks for a hike up to Hornbjarg bird cliffs. Our first stop is the very tip of Horn where the view over the whole bay is breathtaking. We continue along the grassy slope next to the cliff’s edge up to Mt. Miðfell. The last part is a pretty steep slope but nothing to be worried about. You’re in safe hands.

We then drop down to Miðdalur valley where we get a good look down the sheer face of the cliffs. This is where the hard men in Hornvík bay used to rappel down hemp ropes to collect eggs. Each summer they collected thousands of eggs to eat during the long winter months.

We continue to the small lake in Miðdalur where whooper swans reside during the summer and kittiwakes come in hundreds to bathe in the lake each day, a pretty impressive sight. Next, we walk over the ridge of Múli and start the last leg of today’s adventure, climbing the peak of Kálfatindar (535 m). The climb is pretty steep when we get closer to the top but the trail is pretty good. You will be rewarded with a great view over the whole north coast of Iceland, Drangajökull glacier and big part of the cliffs. We then start our descent to our camp where our personal gear will be waiting and a well-deserved dinner.

Distance: 12 km.
Altitude gain: 400 m.

DAY 2

After a hearty breakfast, we start on today’s hike by heading over the Kýrskard pass and down to the lighthouse in Látravík, where we´ll have lunch and enjoy the rugged scenery. We continue along the cliffs and through Almenningar pass where we stand again at the edge of the cliffs. We get another view over the whole of Hornvík bay as we head down Innstidalur valley and down to the coast.
The next stop is Drífandi waterfall, where stories of polar bear encounters will be told. Polar bears sometimes swim or drift all the way from east coast of Greenland to these bays and struggle for survival where nothing can be hunted. We’ve now done a good circle and will be rewarded with a delicious dinner!

Distance: 13 km.
Altitude gain: 500 m.

DAY 3

We take an easy morning and then say final goodbye to Hornvik and our friendly foxes, shoulder our bags and traverse over to the fjord of Veiðileysufjörður in the south of the peninsula. The hike takes us up to 520 meters and through Hafnarskarð Pass. From there we get a good view over to the south and see our final destination way down in the fjord. There is usually some snow in the pass, but we take it easy and enjoy the midsummer snow. Then we follow the path down to the fjord where the boat will pick us up around 6 or 7pm, we then make the journey back to Ísafjörður which takes around an hour.

Distance: 11 km.
Altitude gain: 550 m.