How to find the secret Yoda cave in Iceland?

The Yoda cave was one of the most intriguing places in Iceland for sure! You know that tourists are often given false expectations and in reality, get something else that is not as cool as they expected?

This is NOT the case! I could not believe how a random cave somewhere in Iceland actually does look exactly like the Jedi Master Yoda from Star Wars!

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Where is the Yoda cave?

Click to open the location on Google Maps: Yoda cave

The Yoda cave is located in the South of Iceland near Vík village and the famous Reynisfjara beach. You definitely need a car to get there as it is a remote place.

The cave is at the bottom of a 221-meter hill called Hjörleifshöfði. You can easily drive your car to the entrance of the cave. The Yoda cave is also called ‘Gígjagjá’.

Fun fact! The area near the Yoda cave and Hjörleifshöfði hill was a filming location for the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story movie!

How to get to the Yoda cave?

When driving the Ring Road in the direction of the Yoda cave, you will see a huge and wide area that is completely flat. It is called the Mýrdalssandur outwash plain.

It has a 35-kilometer-long coastline, but the Ring Road goes through a spot where the plain is 25 kilometers wide. A unique sight in Iceland!

In the middle of the plain, you will notice a hill closer to the coastline. The hill is called Hjörleifshöfði. It is a 221-meter-high volcanic hill that was created by an eruption that happened under the glacier during the Ice Age.

The ice cover was so thick that the lava could not melt through. So the ice was trapped under it, forming this volcanic hill. While driving the Ring Road you will not see any road signs showing the direction of the Yoda cave.

However, you will see a sign to the hill – Hjörleifshöfði. This is where you turn from the Ring Road to a small gravel road that goes straight in the direction of the hill.

The gravel road is quite bumpy, but doable for small cars as well. Just drive carefully until you reach the point where the Yoda cave is marked on the map. Along the gravel road to the Yoda cave, you will see a small parking lot with an information board.

That is for hikers who are hiking up the Hjörleifshöfði mountain to the burial place of the Viking settler Hjörleifur Hróðmarsson. To get to the cave you have to continue further on until you reach it. You will notice the cave immediately from the outside!

Click to open the location on Google Maps: Yoda cave

What to expect at the Yoda cave?

The Yoda cave is not as impressive from the outside as it is from the inside. The inside of the cave is what really perfectly resembles the Jedi Master Yoda. So don’t be discouraged when you first see it from the outside!

The cave is quite deep and there is a big echo when you talk inside it. It is also a bit wet – water drops down from the ceiling of the cave. There is a big stone at the entrance of the cave. You can stand on it to get a nice photo of yourself inside the shape of the Yoda.

This is a great place to go in bad weather as you can drive your car up until the cave entrance and basically park it at the ‘door’ of the cave!

If the weather is good, you can explore some hiking routes around the hill. For example, hike up the hill to the burial site of Hjörleifur Hróðmarsson – one of the first Viking settlers that came to Iceland.