One thing we found while visiting Iceland is that there are waterfalls legitimately EVERYWHERE. Driving along the coast and looking out the window there is a waterfall after waterfall. These smaller waterfalls aren’t even attractions because there are so many of them that only the significantly larger waterfalls get all of the attention.
Iceland is home to more than 10,000 waterfalls, making it the perfect destination for all of the waterfall lovers out there like me! We only got the chance to see 4 of the main waterfalls of Iceland including, Skógafoss, Gljufrabui, Seljalandsfoss, and Gullfoss. It should be noted that in Icelandic, the native language of Iceland, “foss” means waterfall, so most of the prominent waterfall names end in “foss”.
Three of these waterfalls are along the “Ring Road”, or Route 1, which is the road that goes around the perimeter of the island. It takes about 12-13 hours to drive the entire perimeter of the country! We are definitely going to have to do that someday because we were only able to do a portion of the Ring Road while we were there. The 4th waterfall is Gullfoss which is on the “Golden Circle” route which is in the southern part of Iceland as well. Check out my blog about our adventure on the Golden Circle here —> Iceland’s Golden Circle Top 5 Attractions.
Skógafoss
To start with, Skógafoss was my favorite waterfall tied with Seljalandsfoss. It’s off the main road and has free parking. You can walk right up to it, or you could walk up the stair path to the right (not pictured) to see a view of the waterfall from the top. The waterfall is about a 200-foot drop and one of the largest in Iceland.
To me, it is the poster child for waterfalls. It’s picture-perfect and you can walk right up to the base of it. If it were warm out, I would have gone in the water as you can walk in the river that comes off the base of the waterfall. There is a continuous spray that comes off of it that usually produces rainbows and double rainbows on sunny days which we, unfortunately, didn’t get to see. But we did get a very dramatic moody day that made for great photos as well.
Gljufrabui
We were recommended to see Gljufrabui by a local, and I had seen it online when doing my research as well. We almost didn’t go, but it is located right next to Seljalandsfoss, and you can walk to it. We drove down the road maybe 2 minutes from Seljalandsfoss and parked right in front of Gljufrabui. It is a bit hidden, part of the magic of how beautiful it is, but we were able to spot it from the road.
We walked through the water to get inside of the cave that the waterfall comes down into, there are stepping stones, but it’s still more likely that you get a little wet anyway (highly recommend waterproof boots for Iceland in general). There’s a lot of water spray once you are inside the cave, so I opted out of bringing my camera inside, but I kind of wish I had! It is so amazing once you’re inside the cave, the iPhone pictures don’t do it justice. The roar of the waterfall is so loud and there is a giant boulder inside that makes a perfect spot for a photo with the hidden waterfall. It is worth risking wet feet to be inside the cave.
Seljalandsfoss
Seljalandsfoss is the most iconic and popular waterfall in Iceland. Besides the fact that it is stunning, there is a path that allows you to walk behind the waterfall. As you’re driving toward the waterfall, you can see it way off in the distance. It’s massive! It’s about the same height as Skógafoss with about a 200-foot drop. The spray from this waterfall was the most intense of all the falls we had been to, so prepare to get pretty soaked - especially if it is a super windy day.
We were able to stop at Seljalandsfoss a second time when we were on our way back from Glacier Lagoon (Blog coming Soon ;) ). It was lit up and there were only a couple of other people there taking photos.
This was probably the “busiest” waterfall we stopped at. Though, as I’ve mentioned before, every location we visited was not busy at all compared to all of the American tourist attractions I’ve ever visited.
Parking was the most expensive we had seen, considering most of the time it was free, at around 12 USD. We had a lovely couple pass off their parking pass as they were leaving, it is a 24-hour parking pass, so we didn’t have to pay! We made sure to do the same when we were leaving and passed it off to other travelers.
There are free bathrooms and a cafe stand too! This was a nice surprise since bathrooms are few and far between and it felt like a luxury to have a hot chocolate, the whipped cream was AMAZING, right after getting soaked and chilly from the water spray.
Gullfoss
I mentioned Gullfoss in my blog Iceland’s Golden Circle Top 5 Attractions, but I wanted to add it to this blog as well because it is such a beautiful waterfall!
So, Gullfoss is the largest waterfall in Iceland by volume of water! It has 2 drops and 2 viewpoints. One viewpoint from above the waterfall and one from where these pictures were taken more directly in front of the waterfall.
It’s about half the height of Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss at about 100 feet tall.
I want to compare it to Niagara Falls, but it’s not fair because Niagara Falls is massive in comparison. It's about 600 feet tall! I'm just so used to Niagara Falls since it's so close to home and happens to be a massive waterfall.
Gullfoss is still a stunning waterfall, and it’s nice to admire from a distance so you don’t have to get soaked by the spray
Unfortunately, we were only able to stop and see these waterfalls in our short time in Iceland, but there are so many more waterfalls in Iceland! I would love to go back and see the Northern waterfalls and visit the East part of the island.