Chasing Waterfalls in Iceland

That's me! In front of Gullfoss.

If you’ve made it all the way to Iceland, I would strongly encourage you to acknowledge TLC’s advice, and then ignore it completely. Do not stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to, you’re in Iceland! Let me tell you, these waterfalls are 100% worth the day trip.

Gullfoss in the canyon of the Hvítá river in southwest Iceland

Speaking of which: we generally prefer renting a car and rocking out our own road trip, but there are plenty of excursion programs and buses to get you to several of these falls!

Gullfoss in the canyon of the Hvítá river in southwest Iceland

Gullfoss in the canyon of the Hvítá river

The first waterfall is an obvious one: Gullfoss. If you’re booking a trip to Iceland, I know you’ve heard of this massive behemoth of a fall! It’s one of the largest to be seen, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. There are three points that you can view the fall from; the very tippy top, right up close and personal with the falls, and a view from a cliff across from the falls. My personal favorite is to take the damp hike down to get right up next to the falls… the rainbows from the mists are truly magical. We drove to see this waterfall on the same trip as the geysers and Þingvellir National Park, which has its own waterfall to see!

`Öxarárfoss at Þingvellir National Park

Öxarárfoss at Þingvellir National Park

Þingvellir's waterfall, Öxarárfoss, is kind of the perfect warm-up to get you really jazzed about all of the waterfalls you’ll be chasing! It’s quite easy to get to, as it’s at the first parking area of the park, and it’s a short (beautiful!) walk from the parking area! If you pack a lunch, it’s the perfect place to sit and relax for a bite - just make sure you take your rubbish back out with you. A visit to this park is about $5 (USD) to park, so you might as well check out a bit more of the park… maybe plan a hike!

The other few waterfalls we hit up on our way down to the black sand beaches at Vík. If you plan on taking part of the ring road down towards the south shores, these will be super easy to hit up! All of them are absolutely beautiful places to stop and relax for a bit, have a bite to eat, do some yoga, take a nap; I mean you do you boo.

Seljalandsfoss

Gljúfrafoss

Gljúfrafoss

Gljúfrafoss

The first couple falls are Seljalandsfoss and Gljúfrabúi or Gljúfrafoss. They’re in the same vicinity located in the south region of Iceland, right off of route 1 (Ring Road), which leads to Þórsmörk; They’re a short walk from the same parking area. The first of the two, Seljalandsfoss, you can actually get behind!  You’re definitely going to get wet and a bit muddy, so I recommend wearing a rain coat and maybe some water resistant boots. The whole experience is a little bit surreal and truly unique, but one of my favorite falls all-in-all was Gljúfrafoss. This is where that rain coat and those water resistant boots (I wore winter-weather Sperry boots) are going to get one heck of a workout. There’s going to be a bit of a balancing act from rock to rock through a small stream, but the experience of being inside of the cavern at a base of a waterfall is so unbelievably special. You honestly couldn’t have wiped that grin off of my face.

Selfoss

Selfoss

The final falls we visited: Selfoss. This waterfall is massive, very tall. It empties into a gorgeous shallow river. It’s a perfect place to just wade around; the water only rose up to about ankle-to-calf-height. Super relaxing, and right around the corner from the falls at Seljalandsfoss. There’s a restaurant there if you’re hungry and didn’t pack a meal, and if you’re planing to drive all the way to Vík after this stop, you’ll want to get out and stretch your legs for a bit.

Let me know if you hit up any of these falls this summer, I'd love to see more pictures. It really is straight up magic; mother nature at work.