Hvítserkur

Hvítserkur is one of Iceland’s most instantly recognisable natural sculptures — a 15-metre-tall basalt stack that stands in the shallows of Húnafjörður bay on the north-west coast, its arched base eroded by the sea until it resembles a drinking dinosaur or elephant. Folklore holds it to be a troll turned to stone by sunlight on its way to destroy a nearby monastery.

The rock hosts nesting fulmars and cormorants, and the surrounding beach is a well-known haul-out site for harbour seals and grey seals, especially in the breeding season from June to August. Low tide is the best time to walk across the sand to the base of the stack, and the site is particularly photogenic at sunset when the warm light catches the bleached minerals that give the rock its name — ‘White Shirt’.

Hvítserkur is located on the eastern shore of the Vatnsnes Peninsula, about 2.5 hours north of Reykjavík via the Ring Road and Route 711. The road is paved and accessible in a normal car. A short path from the car park descends to an observation platform above the beach, with a steeper trail to the shoreline below.