Bardastrandarsandur Beach

Barðastrandarsandur runs along Barðaströnd, the farming coast on the southern edge of the Westfjords. The sand is pale, shell-flecked gold — locals call it "Costa del Barða" — not Iceland's usual black beaches. At low tide the flats open a couple of hundred metres, with views over Breiðafjörður to its scattered islands, and the shallows draw wading birds. It works as an easy leg-stretch beside the paved road, before Route 62 climbs the Kleifaheiði pass towards Flókalundur.