Iceland Travel GuideLOCAL TRAVEL AGENCY IN ICELAND
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Iceland Travel GuideLOCAL TRAVEL AGENCY IN ICELAND
My trip
Talk to a local
Elephant Rock is a basalt sea cliff on the north-west coast of Heimaey, the main island of the Westman Islands, shaped by the sea to look like an elephant dipping its trunk into the water. The best view is from a sightseeing or RIB boat tour from Heimaey harbour, mainly from May to September. You can also see it from land, from the cliffs by the golf course, but you cannot walk down to it.
The rock's shape comes from basalt eroded into deep, wrinkle-like grooves along the cliff face, with a rounded head, an eye-like hollow and a trunk that seems to rest in the water. The grey, creased surface looks so much like elephant skin that people often ask whether it was carved. It was not: it is entirely natural. Locally it is simply called Fíllinn, "the elephant".
It sits on the coastline of Heimaey, the only inhabited island in the Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar), about 7.4 km off Iceland's south coast. No path leads down to the rock itself. A boat tour from Heimaey harbour brings you right under the cliff, and the side-on view from the water is the one you see in photographs. From land, the cliff edge by the golf course in the west of the island gives a more distant view.
The same waters and cliffs are home to Iceland's largest puffin colony, along with other seabirds such as guillemots and fulmars, so a trip out to Elephant Rock is often combined with bird watching. Orcas and other whales are sometimes seen around the islands in summer, though that is a matter of luck.
The Westman Islands lie in the southern volcanic zone of Iceland and were built by eruptions on the sea floor. Elephant Rock is basalt lava that cooled and was then cut back by waves, wind and frost until the arch and "trunk" were left standing. Some sources put its age at around 15,000 years.
You will often read that the rock formed in an eruption of Eldfell. That is unlikely to be right. Eldfell is the young cone on the east side of Heimaey that appeared in the eruption of 1973, when the whole town was evacuated to the mainland overnight. Elephant Rock belongs to the much older cliffs on the opposite side of the island.
The ferry from Landeyjahöfn can be affected by weather and sometimes reroutes via Þorlákshöfn, which takes well over 2 hours each way; check sailing status before you travel. Boat tours also depend on sea conditions and can be cancelled at short notice.
Vestmannaeyjar, the Westman Islands, are a group of 15 islands and around 30 rock stacks and skerries, all volcanic. Heimaey is by far the largest at about 13 square kilometres, and the only one where people live.
The islands are still volcanically active. Surtsey, the southernmost, rose from the sea in an eruption that began in 1963, and Eldfell erupted on Heimaey itself in 1973. A boat trip around Heimaey shows this history well: old sea cliffs full of birds on the north and west, and new lava on the east. Among all the rocks and stacks, the elephant is the one most visitors ask for.
Heimaey town has restaurants, hotels and tour operators. There are no facilities at Elephant Rock itself, since it is only seen from the water.
Heimaey town has hotels and guesthouses and is the natural base for a night or two while exploring the Westman Islands.
Not to the rock itself. There is no path down the cliffs. You can see it from land from the cliff edge by the golf course in the west of Heimaey, but the close-up view is from a boat.
On the north-west coast of Heimaey, the main island of the Westman Islands, about 7.4 km off the south coast of Iceland.
Yes. It is basalt lava shaped by the sea and weather. Nobody carved it.
May to September, when boat tours run most often and seas are calmer.
By car and passenger ferry from Landeyjahöfn on the south coast, about 35–40 minutes. Landeyjahöfn is about 2 hours' drive from Reykjavík. Flights have in recent years run only in winter.
Yes, the surrounding cliffs hold Iceland's largest puffin colony, most active from May to September.
Tours and trips that include Elephant Rock, booked directly with a local travel agency in Iceland.
