Solheimasandur Plane Wreck

The aircraft is a Douglas C-117D, a US Navy transport flying from Hofn to Keflavik after a supply run to the radar station at Stokksnes. Ice built up about 45 minutes after takeoff and blocked the carburettors, and both engines failed. The pilot turned south for the coast rather than risk the glacier, and the crew landed on a frozen river on the sand. All seven walked away. The aircraft was written off and left in place.

What remains is mostly the fuselage, dented and stripped, marked by decades of graffiti and gunfire. It stands alone on flat black sand with no vegetation and no buildings in sight. The contrast does the work: dark ground, pale metal, open sky.

Film and music crews have used it for years. Justin Bieber shot the video for "I'll Show You" here in 2015, and the song "Gerua" from the Indian film Dilwale was filmed on the wreck, which brought a wave of Indian visitors to the site.

• The shuttle is a separate cost. It runs every 30 minutes and charges 2,000 ISK one way, 3,200 ISK return, on top of the paid car park.
• No facilities. There are no toilets, no drinking water and no information point at the car park or at the wreck.
• Dress for wind. The route is open sand from end to end, with nothing to break the wind, and the coast is cold.
• The wind carries the sand. Protect camera gear on windy days and change lenses in the car, not out on the flats.

The wreck is a stop on the drive between Reykjavík and Vík, and everyone arrives by car. From the car park a flat track runs across the sand to the coast: 3.5 km each way, 40 to 60 minutes on foot, roughly two hours there and back. There is no climb and no rough ground, only distance. A shuttle covers the same stretch every 30 minutes for anyone who would rather not walk it. The plane stays out of sight for the whole route and appears only in the last 100 metres.

Better: a weekday, when there is a real chance of a gap between groups at the wreck.

Avoid: setting out when the forecast is bad or the weather is already turning.

This is a photography site above all, and groups take turns posing on and around the fuselage, so a short wait usually buys a clear frame. Bad weather is the other consideration: the sand gives no cover, and the police have advised against the walk when conditions deteriorate.