Skálavíkurvegur (630) is a road located in the northwestern area of Westfjords region in Iceland. It starts from a town called Bolungarvík and ends at Skálavík bay. A really exciting place near this route is Bolafjall mountain, which is 635 meters (2086 ft) high. However, it is not necessary to drive up to Bolafjall in order to get to the end of 630, as there is a separate trail going up the mountain, starting from 630. The distance of the road (including Bolafjall’s trail) is 18 km (11 miles). There is no winter service for 630, so the road is accessible only during the summer months. But despite being unpaved and opened only for some time during the year, the road itself is in good condition and easily accessible for simple passenger vehicles without 4WD.
As mentioned earlier, Bolafjall is a very exiting place to visit. The road going up is very narrow and has special places to stop along the way to let the opposite coming traffic through. Latrar Air station is also at the top of Bolafjall. It used to be USA Air Force’s surveillance radar station and was closed in 2006. The mountain itself offers breathtaking views in each direction and it is said that with a very clean sky even Greenland can be seen from there. But it’s worth mentioning that weather can often be very foggy and cloudy up there and we were waiting three days for our shot, always rescheduling and aiming for the sunshine and clear sky. Eventually, this was our last opportunity to go there before we had to start driving towards southern Westfjords and we got really lucky with the weather. It’s definitely not pointless to go there when cloudy, you can still check out the Latrar Air Station and experience the tight mountain road (in that case with very poor visibility). But I’d say the views over the area are at least 60% of the experience being up there.
After Bolafjall the road starts to descend and ends at Skálavík bay. People used to live there all year round until the 1960s. Now the remaining houses have been built for summer homes. It’s a beautiful place with a black sand beach.
As weather can change very quickly in Iceland, it’s important to always have the latest info. Websites for checking out weather and road conditions are:
www.road.is
www.vedur.is
www.safetravel.is
Chapters:
00:00 Map of the route
00:24 Bolungarvík
01:20 630 (until Bolafjall's trail)
02:40 Bolafjall's trail (ascending)
04:29 Bolafjall
05:36 Bolafjall's trail (descending)
07:27 630 (until Skálavík)
09:59 Skálavík
10:22 630 (from Skálavik to Bolungarvík)
14:00 Bolungarvík
#Iceland #Westfjords #Bolafjall #Skalavik