(Don’t) Go Chasing Waterfalls

Jul 19

Jul 19 (Don’t) Go Chasing Waterfalls

Did you know there are estimated to be over 10,000 waterfalls in Iceland? The word “foss” means waterfall in Icelandic and there are currently 200+ with official names. I thought we saw a lot but we barely made a dent.

The first waterfall we stopped at was Helgufoss on our Golden Circle Tour. We had the entire area to ourselves! It’s a short walk from the parking area and you can also hike down closer to the falls. This was a great way to start our trip.

On the Golden Circle tour, we also stopped at Gullfoss. “Gullfoss” means Golden Waterfall and lends its name to the Golden Circle. We were lucky enough to visit on a great weather day so it wasn’t too chilly and most of us walked all the way to the water. We were lucky enough to see a full rainbow shining over the falls!

Gulffoss with rainbow, Iceland June 2023

On our South Coast tour, the first stop of the day was Seljalandsfoss. This is the famous waterfall that you can walk behind. It was already pouring rain so needless to say, we were soaked.

Our second waterfall that day was Skogafoss. The rain had lightened up to a mist and we all hiked the 400+ stairs to the top. In my opinion, the view from the canyon was better but it was still breathtaking.

Bruarfoss is known as Iceland’s bluest waterfall. It’s not a large dropping waterfall but its milky blue color is stunning and worth the short hike.

On our way home from the Into the Glacier tour, we stopped by Hraunfossar and Barnafossar. While the Icelandic folktale surrounding these two is dark and sad, the waterfalls are stunning and milky blue similar to Bruarfoss. This might’ve been one of my favorite waterfalls of the trip.

The day we drove around Snæfellsnes Peninsula was probably the best waterfall day, hands down. It was basically Waterfall Peninsula! Everywhere we looked there was another one. We stopped at Bjarnarfoss and it was truly stunning. The clouds cleared away and you could actually see 4 other waterfalls right there.

Kirkjufellsfoss stands in front of Mount Kirkjufell and while modest in size, it has multiple falls and draws a huge crowd. Kirkjufell is the most photographed mountain in Iceland and was a filming location for Game of Thrones.

Kirkjufellsfoss with Kirkjufell in the background, Iceland June 2023

We stopped in Arnarstapi to visit the stone statue and the stone bridge. There’s a great little viewing platform near the dock where the fishing boats come in and if you look across the ocean, you can see several waterfalls falling in the ocean.

There are so many other famous waterfalls we didn’t make it to including Morsafoss (the tallest on the island), Hengifoss (east Iceland), Haifoss, Dynjandi (Westfjords), Svartifoss (if we went this far east, we would’ve stopped), Dettifoss (north Iceland) and Gljúfrabúi (I didn't map this one and we were nearby, so that’s a bummer). You can hardly drive anywhere in Iceland without seeing a waterfall so if that’s your specific goal - it won’t be hard to accomplish!