Roads of Westfjords, Iceland: 622 (Svalvogavegur) | The most dangerous road in Iceland? (07.07.2021)

When reading about Iceland’s most dangerous or exciting roads, it doesn’t take long until road 622 gets mentioned somewhere. It’s located in Westfjords region and the total distance of the road is 60,6 km (37,6 miles). It starts from road 60, goes through a small town called Þingeyri and then runs around a peninsula, ending at Hrafnseyri.

First bit of 622 is paved and in good shape, it is after a “4x4 vehicles only” warning sign when things start to get interesting. The road gets super tight and narrow, as it’s carved inside a cliff. It was built in 1973 by Elís Kjaran Friðfinnsson (1928-2008), who used a small bulldozer for the job. His ambition was to create a better access to the farms at the end of the peninsula (these farms now are abandoned). Drive this part slowly and carefully, as it’s wide enough only for one car - having a cliff on the left and a steep drop down on the right (starts at 08:42). There is also a danger of falling rocks. Despite all that, it’s quite a thrilling experience! We were lucky not to have any traffic coming towards us in that section!

From there on the road carries on and you can see views of magnificent mountains on the left and some big rocks all over the place. We were in a hurry with a tight schedule, but for sure take some time to stop and admire all this nature and mountains ,if you happen to go there. Eventually the road passes by a lighthouse as well as a farm and starts to head back towards southeast.

And now to the exciting part or the main attraction of the road - the sketchy bit down at the sea level (starts at 24:50). First, there is a quite steep descent and the road starts to go between the sea and the cliffs. But soon it gets very narrow and sometimes we were basically kind of driving beneath the cliff, exposed to the waves crashing against the road. With a high tide this part of the road can easily be under water. There was an article in 2018 in Icelandmag.is about a tourist, whose Skoda Octavia got stuck in that section and once he got back with some help, the car had meanwhile been completely destroyed by the violent waves. A picture of the wreck can be seen here: https://icelandmag.is/sites/default/f...
So, it is super important to be informed about the weather conditions while being on that road, as there is no help near and mobile connection is very limited. During our drive the weather wasn’t the calmest and there were waves partly crashing onto the road, but we got through there in one piece. Also, this section is super rocky and bumpy and needs to be driven with extra care.

After that bit the road continues towards Hrafnseyri village. It’s still bumpy and has some small streams / rivers that need fording.

To sum up, 622 definitely is one of the most thrilling driving experiences that Iceland has to offer. Shelf roads through cliffs, beautiful views and then of course the bit below the sea level. Sometimes some F-roads get the attention as being “very dangerous”, but in real life they turn out not to be that bad. 622 is the road that totally deserves the titles it has received on the internet (for example: “most terrifying road in the country”, “driver has got to have nerves of steel”, “extremely dangerous” and “A smaller 4x4 will NOT be a good option here”.) It's not only the mentioned sections above that are rough, the whole road since "4x4 only sign" is a tough driving. I damaged my car's front skid plate pretty badly during this drive. So even though it's not considered an "official F-road", it's just so exciting that I decided to include it to my playlist of F-roads as well.

Chapters:
00:00 Map of the route
00:25 622 (from 61 to Þingeyri)
01:12 Þingeyri
02:07 622 (from Þingeyri until "4x4 only" sign)
03:42 622 (beginning of 4x4 only)
08:42 622 (narrow shelf road section)
09:39 622 (around Svalvogar)
24:50 622 (famous section next to the sea)
31:27 622 (from the dangerous part until the end of the road)

#Iceland #Westfjords #622 #Svalvogavegur