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This blog shows are some of my favorite must see waterfalls in Iceland. They are ranked in the order we visited them (not from most favorite to least favorite.) Some of these waterfalls required going on F-roads, but none of them involved river crossings. One tip when visiting most of these waterfalls weather it’s sunny or not – bring a rain jacket! I got my purple rain jacket in many of these pictures from Amazon. It was light weight and easy to throw over layers. (Link here: Columbia Rain Jacket)
Also, if you’re looking for a full one week Iceland itinerary or just other ideas of places to see in Iceland, check out my detailed Iceland blog here!
1) Gjáin
We entered in the below GPS coordinates and it brought us to the Gjain Valley parking lot. The last mile of the drive is in a F-road (meaning a 4WD vehicle is required.) From the parking lot, it was a 10-15 walk to the falls. Once arrived, it was very quiet and peaceful – maybe 1 or 2 other families were there. I’d recommend allowing ~30 minutes to walk around and enjoy the falls.
GPS COORDINATES: 64.149054, -19.736256
2) Haifoss (& Granni)
This is one of my favorite waterfalls in Iceland – well, technically two. Haifoss is on the left in my first picture and Granni is on the right. After pulling up to the parking lot, you may not see the waterfalls, but if you follow the path for about 5 minutes, you will walk up to an amazing sight. Even if you only have time for a quick stop, it’s worth it! There is also a hike down to the bottom, which I have not done, but have read it takes about an hour round trip.
Note: You do not travel on F-roads to get here, but you will still travel on rough gravel roads and therefore 4WD is recommended.
3) Sigöldugljufur
You will need a 4WD to get to these waterfalls as they are located on F-roads. Upon parking, you will have to take a short 0.6 mile hike across the road and on the gravel path until you arrive at these beautiful falls. We went in the summer and they were such a vibrant and pretty blue color! I’d recommend allowing about an hour to hike and view this location.
GPS COORDINATES: 64.160853, -19.157560
4) Seljalandsfoss
This is one of the more popular waterfalls in Iceland. It’s not far off of Ring Rd and while they do have a paid parking lot (about $5 USD), it gets busy so you may have to wait for a spot. There are bathrooms, food/snacks, and a gift shop here. One of the unique features of this waterfall is that you can walk/hike all the way around it! It’s a short distance and about a 15 minute walk around (without stopping), but be prepared to climb up and down some slippery rocks when going behind the waterfall. If you do stop here, please read the next waterfall I have listed since it is at the same stop and SO worth it!
5) Gljufrabui
Many people visit Seljalandsfoss, but miss this one! If you are looking at Seljalandsfoss, hike about 1/4 mile to the left on the gravel trail and you will be greeted with this “secret” waterfall at the end. Bring your rain jacket though because this waterfall has a good spray – and be prepared to walk on a few wet rocks to get there. In my opinion, a must see!
6) Nauthúsagil
This waterfall is definitely not Iceland’s biggest or most powerful, but it was one of my favorites. It’s similar to Glufrabui (above), just a little more quaint and overall unique. You can get to this waterfall from Seljalandsfoss if you keep driving on road 249 north until the road turns to gravel. Keep following the road until you see a wide parking area on your right. Road 249 does technically turn into an F road for about the last 15 minutes, but it was just flat gravel with no river crossings. Once you arrive in the parking lot, you will hike around 1/2 mile along the river and enter the canyon. Once in the canyon, be prepared to walk in the shallow river or step on rocks to get across certain points. You will then get to small waterfall that you will have to climb up using the chains that are build into the rocks – I know that sounds scary, but it’s really not that bad! After the chains, you will have arrived at this beautiful destination.
7) Skógafoss
This is another one of Iceland’s most popular and biggest waterfalls. You can see this waterfall from Ring Rd and while it’s generally busy, there is a ton of parking here, a restaurant and hotel. The restaurant was reasonably priced we thought – we had a bite to eat and a drink here. From the parking lot, you can walk right up to the waterfall (another good time to bring your rain jacket if you want to get close!) Also, if it’s a sunny day, you are bound to see at least one rainbow. 😁 After visiting the waterfall from the bottom, you can visit the waterfall from the top if you desire. I will warn you, it is quite a few stairs, but worth it if you have time! Once reaching the top of the stairs, we hiked along the river about 1/2 to 3/4 a mile and saw some more rapids and waterfalls! The trail does keep going for many more miles, but we turned around when we felt right. I’d recommend anywhere from 15 minutes to a few hours at this stop.
8) Hangandifoss (Múlagljúfur Canyon)
The parking location for this canyon/waterfall is located below. Once you park, you should see some stakes to mark the trail. This trail is one of the longer ones in this post. It’s about 2.25 miles each way, but you will definitely have canyon views before the end and can choose to turnaround before the end.
GPS COORDINATES: 63.993021, -16.436285
9) Studlafoss
This waterfall is relatively isolated, but is near/on the way to Studlagil Canyon if you plan to visit there (highly recommend the canyon!) To get to the parking lot for this destination, from Egilsstadir, follow Ring Rd until you get to Skjoldolfsstadir. Shortly after, (less than a mile), turn left on road 923 – this is bumpy gravel road. You will continue does this road for about 9 miles until you get to a bridge crossing the river. You can park before the bridge and hike, however, we were able to cross the bridge and park closer to the trail. Most of what I have read online since says not to cross the bridge, but we didn’t see any signs not to and there is more parking further up. Anyways, if you park at the bridge, you will have a 1.2 mile hike one way to the waterfall. If you make it this far, I’d highly recommend walking to the canyon (especially if the water is blue), which is about a 2.5-3 mile hike from the vehicle to the canyon one way.
10) Dettifoss
This is known to be Iceland and Europe’s most powerful waterfall. We came up road 864 from the south (east side of river) and the gravel road was extremely bumpy. When we left and headed north, it got much better, but I would recommend taking the paved road 862 on the west side of the river/waterfall in the future, Unfortunately, it was raining pretty good when we got to Dettifoss and some of the trails were flooded so we didn’t stay long. Dettifoss is a 5 minute walk from the parking lot, but you can hike to another waterfall (Selfoss), which is a little less than 1 mile one way.
11) Godafoss
Godafoss is another powerful waterfall and it’s located not too far off Ring Rd. It’s in the northeast part of Iceland and well-labelled, but I have included the GPS coordinates of the waterfall below. Once parked, you can easily walk to the viewing point of the falls. This was a pretty quick stop for us!
GPS COORDINATES: 65.6828° N, 17.5502° W
12) Gullfoss
Gullfoss is along the Golden Circle route and was another quick stop for us. Once you arrive to the parking lot, it’s about a 5 minute walk to see the falls. There are more hiking opportunities though (about 2 miles) if you want to explore the viewing points of the upper and lower falls.
That’s a wrap for my list of must see waterfalls in Iceland! If you’re looking for a full one week Iceland itinerary or just other ideas of places to see in Iceland, check out my detailed Iceland blog here or check out all of my Iceland-related blogs here.
This blog post may contain affiliate links, which are at no cost to you. It just helps support me so I can continue to put out free content for you like this! Thank you for your support!