This morning, our first stop was the Skogafoss waterfall, which was literally next door to our B&B Hostel Skogar. This is another huge waterfall. The height seemed smaller than the one yesterday, but the volume was immense. You can technically walk up right to the base of Skogafoss, though you probably won’t make it very near because of the sheer force. There was a very steep hike that went up to the top of the waterfall, but I wasn’t in the mood to do such a strenuous climb first thing in the morning.
After leaving Skogar, we drove towards Vik on Rte 1. Our next step was Dyrhólaey. There is a smaller road that branches off from the main highway towards the ocean. Dyrhólaey is a must-visit in my opinion. You get spanning ocean views, strange rock formations jutting out of the ocean, sea arches, and puffins!
I chickened out of standing on the top of the sea arch, but my husband was quite the dare-devil.
We then moved on to Reynisfjara, which had a basalt columns sea cave, and a black sand beach (around 15 mins from Dyrhólaey).
The view of the coastline from the beach was amazing!
Our next stop was in my opinion the highlight of our trip (or atleast one of the highlights). Fjadragljufur canyon. The drive to the canyon was on an unpaved road for around 30 mins, so it is a bit of a challenge to get there on a 2WD, but our tiny Yaris bumped along. From the small parking lot, there is a 15 min climb to the top of the canyon. But it is all so worth it!!
Going back the way we came, we joined Rte 1 again and drove onwards towards Hofn. The landscape started changing, and slowly, massive glaciers started coming into view.
We stopped at Skaftafell National Park next. While there are some serious hikes here, it was raining lightly and we wanted to keep moving, so we chose a 1-2 hour glacier view hike. The hike takes you on a relative flat path for the most part, and ends with an open view of the glacier. You can walk further towards the glacier, but we stopped at the viewing point and turned back.
Continuing on Rte 1, the next stop was the glacial lagoon, Jokulsarlon. This is a lagoon formed by the glacial melt off, and you can see large chunks of ice drifting in the water towards the ocean. A pretty cool and surreal sight! The place is eerily quiet, except for the occasional sound of icebergs falling apart.
Right opposite the lagoon, is an ice beach. The ice chunks from the lagoon flow into the ocean here, and there are ice chunks of all size scattered across the black sand beach.
Our hotel in Hofn wasn’t too far from Jokulsarlon – Hafnarnes guesthouse. We had a double room, with shared bathroom. The room was clean, and had an outstanding view. The reception was helpful, and told us about a outdoor springs location close by that we could enjoy. A perfect end to the perfect day in South Iceland. Tomorrow we head up the east of Iceland!
Check here to see if Hafnarnes guesthouse has rooms for your dates!
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