Stifluvatn Lake

The road is the reason to come, more than the lake alone. Stifluvatn sits on the long way round between Siglufjörður and Ólafsfjörður. That road is slower and rougher than the direct one, and less used. You can drive the whole of it and meet only a few cars.

The lake fills the floor of the Stífla valley. Steep slopes drop to both shores and the water runs dark beneath them. In winter it freezes over and the valley flattens into one white surface. Photographs undersell the place — the scale of the valley does not carry across.

• Four-wheel drive: the road to the lake needs a 4x4, not a low two-wheel-drive hire car.
• The long way round: this is the slow, rough link between Siglufjörður and Ólafsfjörður, not the quick one.
• Traffic: the route stays quiet even in high summer. A few cars over the whole drive is normal.
• Winter: the lake freezes over, and the ice is the reason to make the detour in the cold months.

Stifluvatn is reached by car, and the drive is most of the visit. The road past the lake forms part of the long link between Siglufjörður and Ólafsfjörður, and the water is in view from the road. Drive the whole stretch rather than turning back at the lake. The run through the valley is what people take this road for.

Best: summer, for long daylight and a valley green down to the waterline. Or the frozen months, when the lake ices over.

Avoid: low cloud and heavy rain. Stifluvatn is scenery and nothing else, and with the slopes hidden there is nothing left to see.

The lake changes more between seasons than through the day: dark water under steep sides in summer, a single flat white surface once the ice sets.