Holmanes Nature Reserve

Holmanes is a peninsula between two fjords, and the walking is what brings people here. The trails start just south of the car park and lead out to a rocky coastline. Follow the main track south and it ends at a small rocky beach with a view down Reyðarfjörður. Take the northern branch at the split and it loops around the peninsula's bigger mountain. Seabirds are the other reason to come, and puffins are on the coast in summer. Nothing here is built up or staged: rock, sea, birds, and the fjord walls on both sides.

• No facilities — no toilets, no drinking water and no information point in the reserve. Bring what you need with you.
• Wear proper shoes — the trails south of the car park are rough underfoot, even though the walking itself is easy.
• Two routes from the car park — the track splits: south to the rocky beach, north on a loop around the bigger mountain.
• Puffins are seasonal — they are on the coast in summer, not through the rest of the year.

Access is by car. The parking sits at the edge of the reserve and the trails begin just south of it, so there is no approach walk before the walking starts. Public transport does not reach Holmanes; the nearest stops are back in Eskifjörður, and getting from them to the reserve is on foot.

Better: summer for the seabirds, and clear nights in the dark season for the aurora.

Avoid: low cloud and heavy rain. The walk is coastline and fjord views, and there is little to see when the mountain tops are covered.

Summer puts puffins on the coast alongside the other seabirds. The same shoreline works in the dark months for aurora photographs, with the fjord water and the mountains behind it.