South Coast · Iceland
Laufskálavarða
Ring Road rest area where travellers build stone cairns, on the open plain between Vík and Kirkjubæjarklaustur.
See tonight's live score and best time to go for Laufskálavarða in Aurora Atlas
Why it works for the aurora
- View
- Open in all directions; Mýrdalsjökull far to the north-west.
- Darkness
- Very dark sky, grade 0 on a scale from 0 (darkest) to 5. No towns or road lights nearby; the faintest aurora shows.
- Aurora
- Near the edge of the auroral oval: aurora on most active nights, low in the northern sky on quiet ones.
Getting there
- Distance
- About 37 km by road from the middle of South Coast (estimate), roughly 42 min by car.
- Parking
- Rest-area parking off Route 1.
- Coordinates
- 63.5943, -18.4639 · Open in OpenStreetMap
Before you go
Dress for standing still in the cold, bring a head torch with a red light, and park only where parking is allowed. A forecast is guidance, not a promise: check the road and weather warnings for Iceland before a night drive. See our winter safety note.
Spot information from openstreetmap.org.