Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Puglia Italy - Matera
Italy • 8 days, 7 nights
Southern Italy: Castles, Caves & Coastal Treasures in Puglia
from
Turkmenistan Gates of Hell Darvaza crater
Turkmenistan • 10 days, 9 nights
Turkmenistan & the Gates of Hell
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
The Murderer’s Birds!
Elgin Public Museum
Tynemouth Castle.
Tynemouth Priory and Castle
Fresco on the ceiling of the chapel.
Cappella Sistina
View southwest from the trilobite quarry out to Cadiz Valley.
Marble Mountains Trilobite Quarry
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
The fried green tomato sandwich comes on jalapeño cornbread toast.
Café Reconcile
Everything at Li’l Dizzy’s Cafe is served in takeout containers.
Li’l Dizzy’s Cafe
BBQ shrimp braised in beer are a popular menu item.
High Hat Cafe
The pastries at Lagniappe Bakehouse are worth waking up for.
Lagniappe Bakehouse
Peter Vazquez has been quietly making a name for himself for years.
The Appetite Repair Shop
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
The view from the Q’eswachaka woven suspension bridge.
This Man Rebuilds the Last Inca Rope Bridge Yearly
1 day ago
Su filindeu doesn’t cook in strands, it cooks in sheets.
How the ‘Su Filindeu’ (or ‘Threads of God’) Pasta Recipe Was Almost Lost to Time
2 days ago
Eroded rocks of the badlands in the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park.
Arizona’s Petrified Forest Is Changing What We Know About the Dawn of the Dinosaurs
3 days ago
You could probably take some of that stuff out.
Dear Atlas: How Do I Pack Light for a Long Trip?
5 days ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All Iceland Hallbjarnarstaðakambur

Hallbjarnarstaðakambur

Three million year old fossils are exposed for all to see on this Icelandic shore.

Iceland

Added By
Eric Grundhauser
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
Hallbjarnarstaðakambur   Wikipedia
Add Photos
Hallbjarnarstaðakambur   Wikipedia
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

Stacked in crumbling sedimentary layers, millions of years worth of shell fossils have been exposed on the Icelandic beach known as Hallbjarnarstaðakambur. 

This secluded shore sits in northern Iceland and is marked by a small sign that simply reads, "fossil." If visitors can locate the small sign and follow it towards the lone wharf-house that sits nearby, they will find a veritable national history museum embedded in the sea cliff wall. There among the gray stone are countless shells, prehistoric impressions, and other primordial relics. Deposited in ancient epochs when the sea level either shrunk to expose the chitinous fossils or the biological debris simply washed up towards the seawall, they represent millions of years of natural history exposed like a cross-section. This remarkable display is open to anyone willing to seek it out, but given the fragility of the site, tampering with or removing anything is strictly prohibited. However, Hallbjarnarstaðakambur offers a sort of time travel that is almost unheard of elsewhere in the world.

 

Related Tags

Nature Rocks Geology

Know Before You Go

The fossils are not signed and so are not easy to find. Best to use GPS 66.145539°, -17.259286°. Directions are as follows: the fossils are about 11-12 km north of Husavik on Route 85. If heading north, look for an (easy to miss) narrow & rough track on the left down to the coastline, marked Tjörneshöfn (Tungulending Guesthouse). Just after the guesthouse is a small wharf. The fossils are in the cliffs beyond the guesthouse.

Beware if you go beyond the first river crossing behind the guesthouse, as you get closer to the arch of the bay there is a chance of falling rocks from above!Seagulls nest there and sometimes sheep walk the cliffs which make tumbling debris possible. 

 
Atlas Obscura Adventures

Iceland in Summer: Journey through the South Coast & the Westman Islands

Explore Iceland's Myths, Wonders, & Landscapes.

Book Now

Community Contributors

Added By

EricGrundhauser

Edited By

Blindcolour, MagnumPI, aribrown, alxndr...

  • Blindcolour
  • MagnumPI
  • aribrown
  • alxndr
  • xebwhxqwjtdkbmnvrj

Published

March 18, 2013

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • http://stuckiniceland.com/northeast/the-secret-fossil-beach-at-the-edge-of-iceland/
  • http://nordnordnord.de/der-fossilienstrand-in-nordisland/
Hallbjarnarstaðakambur
85
Iceland
66.147224, -17.259015

Nearby Places

Jaja Ding Dong

Húsavík, Iceland

miles away

Krafla

Iceland

miles away

Godafoss

Iceland

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Iceland

Iceland

Europe

Places 149
Stories 41

Nearby Places

Jaja Ding Dong

Húsavík, Iceland

miles away

Krafla

Iceland

miles away

Godafoss

Iceland

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Iceland

Iceland

Europe

Places 149
Stories 41

Related Places

  • Mexican Hat

    Mexican Hat, Utah

    Mexican Hat

    This balancing rock is one of Utah's most unusual geological formations.

  • Rock Art Trail

    Grapevine, Texas

    Parr Park Rock Trail

    In Parr Park, thousands of painted rocks line this walking trail.

  • The Arch

    Ajo, Arizona

    Arch Canyon Trail

    A strenuous, unofficial trail leads to spectacular views in one of America's most remote national monuments.

  • Halldórsskora (Elephant Rock)

    Heimaey, Iceland

    Halldórsskora (Elephant Rock)

    On an island south of Iceland, a large volcanic rock formation resembles an elephant.

  • Boulders.

    Glenduan, New Zealand

    Boulder Bank

    An unusual snaking bank of boulders caused by longshore drift.

  • Shiprock

    Palm Springs, California

    Shiprock, Palm Springs

    A 250 million-year-old rock formation has earned a rather unique nickname.

  • Dunald Mill Quarry

    Nether Kellet, England

    Dunald Mill Limestone Quarry

    This abandoned limestone quarry now provides visitors with multiple, breathtaking viewpoints.

  • The Wren’s Eggs

    Whitehead, Northern Ireland

    The Wren's Eggs

    These huge glacial erratics are humorously named after a much much smaller bird.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.