Dyrhólaey
bird cliff in southern Iceland
Dyrhólaey (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈtɪrˌhouːlaˌeiː], "door hill island"), formerly known by seamen as Cape Portland, is a small promontory located on the south coast of Iceland, not far from the village Vík. It was formerly an island of volcanic origin, which is also known by the Icelandic word eyja [ˈeiːja] meaning island. The volcano erupted about 100 thousand years ago during the Pleistocene. The peninsula has an elevation of 120 metres (390 ft), and the Dyrhólaey Lighthouse, built in 1927, sits at the top of the formation facing the sea.
It is commonly asserted that Dyrhólaey is the most southernly point in Iceland, in fact, Kötlutangi (63°23'N, 018°45'W) on the sands to the east of Dyrhólaey, is the southernmost point of mainland Iceland. Surtsey, part of the Westman Islands archipelago is the southernmost point of the country of Iceland.
The view from Dyrhólaey is broad: To the north is to be seen the big glacier Mýrdalsjökull. To the east, the black lava columns of the Reynisdrangar come out of the sea, and to the west the whole coastline in the direction of Selfoss is visible – depending on weather conditions. In front of the peninsula, there is a gigantic black arch of lava standing in the sea, which gave the peninsula its name (meaning: door hill island).
Access to Dyrhólaey is by a steep switchback road, which was rebuilt and paved in 2022.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Dyrhólaey” as bird cliff in southern Iceland. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q968999. Authority coordinates are 63.404, -19.117. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1927 and 2022.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dyrhólaey” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.