Atlantic Puffin Breeding Colonies — Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar)

About this spectacle

Each summer, the sea cliffs and grassy slopes of the Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar) become home to one of the largest Atlantic puffin colonies in the world. Visitors watch thousands of these stocky, orange-beaked birds wheel overhead, crash-land on clifftops, and emerge from their burrows carrying beakfuls of sand eels. The air is thick with the sound of wingbeats and guttural calls. At dusk, juveniles (pufflings) attempt their first flights toward the sea, sometimes tumbling into town, where a local tradition has children rescue and release them. The dramatic volcanic landscape — dark lava fields, sheer sea cliffs, and the open Atlantic — frames every sighting. Close approaches are possible on certain clifftop trails, making this one of the most intimate large-colony puffin encounters in the North Atlantic.

When to go

May — Sep, peak Jun — Aug

Getting there

Nearest airport: RKV. Nearest city: Reykjavík.

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