Capturing the Beauty of the Solheimasandur Plane Crash

One of Iceland’s most famous attractions is the site of the Solheimasandur plane crash. The remains of a US Navy DC plane that ran out of fuel still lie on a black sand beach on the island’s southern coast. It’s eerie to see the metal skeleton with the broken wings and the wires torn out, lying out to decay in the middle of nowhere. I’m not going to lie, I had a moment when I imagined myself in the plane as it crashed towards the ground (luckily all of the passengers survived).

You used to be able to drive right up to the crash, but last spring, the landowners closed the road and left a pretty well-marked walkway for visitors instead. This cut down on tourist visits a lot because now they have to walk 4 km to the site. And the hike is not the most exciting. It’s like walking through a wasteland. There is nothing in site but the mountains, the ocean, and kilometers of barren black sand.

Obviously the crash receives the most visitors during the day, but I read online that the best time to go during sundown and, since I happened to be driving by the parking lot around then, I decided to hike out towards the crash. As I walked down the pathway (walk is an understatement, I practically ran because I didn’t want to miss the sunset!), I passed masses of people walking in the opposite direction, and one even stopped to tell me to turn around, saying that it wasn’t worth it for the walk because it would be too dark.

Obviously he didn’t know what he was talking about. I arrived right on time, just 10 minutes or so before the sun tucked away behind the horizon, and I was totally alone. There was not a single other tourist standing around, climbing on the skeleton of the plane, in the way of my pictures. It was simply perfect.

It was a truly magical sunset, with bright pinks and oranges fading into deep purples and I sat, on my own in Iceland for the last time, thinking about all of the gifts that this country had given me.

Long story short: want an epic picture of a famous plane crash in the middle of nowhere? Go at sundown. I’ve also read that sunrise is great as well (especially because it happens so late in Iceland), and I’ve seen some pretty incredible photos of the crash at night with the northern lights. But for me, sunset was just right to soak in the incredible beauty of the country for the last time.