South Iceland Day Trip

Previous: Golden Circle – Iceland                                                   Next: Iceland with Backroads: Geothermal Hike

July 11

South Iceland

Skogafoss Waterfall

At 8:30 AM we met up in the hotel lobby with 3 other friends going on the Backroads trip with us, and who stayed at the same hotel. We walked through downtown to Bus Stop 6 to meet up with Ann and Luise for a day tour to Vik in southern Iceland. Ann had arranged for a private tour for just the 8 of us. It was a comfortable, large van that had large windows for viewing.  The driver was very friendly and informative.  He really knew the sights to hit, and he was flexible when requested.

The tour started at 9 AM, and we basically took Highway 1 most of the way from Reykjavik toward the ultimate destination, Vik.

Not far out, we stopped for coffee and pastry at a seemingly unremarkable plaza of shops. Remarkably, however, inside the small plaza there was a glass window in the floor looking into the ground which depicted the European and North American continental plates at their division.  We actually got to straddle two continents while waiting for our coffees!! Very cool…and the first indication that our bus driver/tour guide would be showing us things that we most likely would never see otherwise.

Along the way, we marveled at the Iceland landscape which is truly spectacular, almost constantly.

Our first scheduled stop was at Skogafoss waterfall. It was busy here, as expected since this is one of the most popular waterfalls in Iceland due to its proximity to the road, its stunning beauty and surrounding landscape, and it being featured in movies and TV. It’s high and wide….80′ wide by 200′ high!  The experience entailed a very long stair climb from the parking lot to see it from the top.

After seeing the splendor from atop, we went back down all the way to the bottom of the falls. There were a lot more people coming up the stairs now, so this is definitely a “get there early” pilgrimage.

These falls were consistent with the falls we have seen up to this point, lush, impressive and thunderous.  There appears to be no lack of water to keep falls a-flowing in Iceland. After some great phot ops, we got back in the van and headed towards Reynisfjara Beach near Vik, at the southern point of Iceland. The beaches there are famous for their black sand.

Dyrhólaey and Reynisfjara Beach

Before hitting the beach, our guide took us to the adjacent Dyrhólaey Lighthouse. The road here is winding and hairy, so we were happy to not be driving it ourselves. This is perched high above the beaches, and so there were fantastic views of the North Atlantic Ocean, endless black sand beaches, and dozens of puffins nesting in the cliff side.  There is also a massive, majestic black lava rock arch jetting outward. We’re not sure what was more amazing, the various points of interest or the fact that none of us fell to our deaths gawking at puffins on the cliffside!

 

It was warm, but very windy up here. We walked around for about 20 minutes before getting back into the van and winding our way down to Reynisfjara Beach.  Here, we walked the black sand and were very cognizant of the infamous “sneaker waves” that have swept away many a tourist.  The waves were thunderous, and the water an ironic Caribbean blue that just screamed “COLD”.

The cliffside along the beach was reminiscent of Devils Tower with columnal vertical strips of rock making up the cliff. Some made for good seats for pics!

After about 20 minutes on the beach our tour guide brought us to lunch at a touristy cafeteria style eatery about 10 minutes away near Vik.  This place was packed with tourists, but the food was decent, and fairly quick.

Vik was the turnaround point. On the way back towards Reykjavik we took a very small detour off of the highway to stop at Sólheimajökull glacier. We hiked an easy 10 minutes from the parking lot to get a glimpse of this ever-shrinking glacier.

Back on the road, we requested that the guide stop at a stone hobbit-like house built into the hillside just off the road. Some of us spotted this when we passed it heading south and so we wanted to check it out.  It was actually pretty cool, and apparently a popular stop for passers-by.

Gljúfrafoss and Seljalandsfoss Waterfalls

The hobbit house happened to be very close to our last scheduled stop, Gljúfrafoss, referred to by our guide as the “Secret Waterfall”. This was the highlight of the day for Emilie and me. There were actually two waterfalls to check out here.  Each offering a different spectacle.  Gljúfrafoss requires negotiating a narrow entrance in the Franskanef Cliff, considered to be the home of elves, to get to the base of the falls. Getting through this entrance was like Indiana Jones getting into the Temple of Doom.  We hopped dimly lit rocks over shallow water all the while hearing the crashing of the approaching waterfall getting louder.

Once through, we found ourselves directly underneath the 130-foot falls inside a round enclosure, surrounded on three sides by tall cliffs…not way out except back through the narrow entry way.  The sky was visible above the towering falls. There was one huge boulder to climb on just out of the way of the downpour.  Elizabeth jumped right up onto it, and somehow convinced Emilie to join her. It was impossible not get sprayed by the mist swirling all around in the confined area.

After taking this all in, we headed back out the narrow crevasse that serves as both the entrance and exit. We walked just south along a foot path to the larger and truly stunning Seljalandsfoss.  Here, we hiked a short trail that brought us behind the 200-foot waterfall, and out the other side. When behind it, Elizabeth went right up close to the downspout!

 

It is impossible not to get wet here…no wonder the tour guide left this for last…our clothes were pretty wet. Seljalandsfoss is one of the most photographed sites in all of Iceland, while Gljúfrafoss, just next door, is apparently and unfortunately often missed by tourists since it can’t be seen from the road. This was a fantastic experience.

We got back to Reykjavik at around 8 PM.  After being dropped off by the tour guide at the same spot we started, we walked to dinner downtown and ate near our hotels at Caruso Italian restaurant.  We were pretty beat by this time, and we felt fortunate that Caruso could accommodate the 8 of us at this time without warning.  The service was excellent, and the food was very good.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and crashed.  We would be meeting up with our Backroads group tomorrow, and saying goodbye to Elizabeth who is not doing the Backroads adventure with us.  She would spend the next two days on her own adventures in Iceland before heading back home.

Next: Iceland with Backroads: Geothermal Hike