Detifoss Myvatn Godafoss

 Mon 31/10/22

Today's itinerary would cover the Lake Myvatn area and its surroundings. We started in the morning to Detifoss waterfall, part of  Vatnajökull National Park Unesco Heritage Site (West side parking via Route 862) as Route 864 to the East side is already closed for winter. The drive to Detifoss took slightly more than an hour (90km). Detifoss was already snow covered in early November and the walking path to the viewpoint was already ice covered. It was very slippery to walk on without crampons, I even fell a few times. A simple 15 min walk to the viewpoint took us double the time. Parking and entrance is free.

But once we arrived, the view was simply majestic. It was the shooting location for the Prometheus movie and is also one of Europe's most powerful waterfall.

walking path towards Detifoss viewpoint

Detifoss

After Detifoss we proceeded to Skútustaðagígar pseudo crater (65km from Detifoss, about 1 hour drive). It is a series of pseudocraters formed by lava flow at the Lake Myvatn area. We parked near the Myvatn Visitor Centre, then walked the trail around the lake, having our lunch of packed sandwich at one of the benches there. During our visit there was no one around so we had the place to ourselves. It was so peaceful and pretty.  Parking and entrance is free.

Skútustaðagígar

a pseudo crater at Skútustaðagígar

one of Lake Myvatn viewpoints

From Skútustaðagígar, we went to Hverfjall volcano crater, just a short 15 min drive away. The gravel road is not in the best condition, there were potholes everywhere, you have to drive very slowly. The parking is at a better condition, however you have to pay for 24 hours parking by donation of your choice (5, 7 or 15 EUR).  You have to hike up the crater to get the view. Since we were short on time, we skipped the hike and moved on to our next stop Godafoss waterfall, about 50km away (about 45 mins drive).

Hverfjall volcano 

Godafoss waterfall is also a beautiful site, flowing water from the Skjálfandafljót river with a drop of 12 m. We parked at both sides of the waterfall, and parking and entrance is free. Godafoss was our last stop for today, then we headed back to our guesthouse. No luck tonight to catch the aurora as the weather was cloudy. 

Godafoss

Godafoss