Fjaðrárgljúfur Dyrhólaey Skogafoss

Sun 6/11/22

We started our activity today with Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon, created by erosion from flowing water from glaciers. The canyon is up to 100 m deep and 2 km long. It is also one of the few attraction sites in Iceland that allows the flying of drones, so we took the opportunity to capture the beauty of this canyon.  The walk up to the viewpoint is also not far and easy. Parking and entrance is free.

Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon

Fjaðrárgljúfur trek

From  Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon, we drove west towards Reynisfjara black sand beach near the town of Vik. Once we reached nearby Vik, the rain was pouring so heavily and strong wind was blowing, so we decided to skip Reynisfjara as we had already been here in Feb 2018.

Instead, we went to Dyrhólaey Arch, a 120-metre promenade by the sea and Dyrhólaeyjarviti Lighthouse viewpoint  With the heavy rain still pouring, we made just a quick stop to take pictures and rushed back into the car, already drenched by the rain. It was a similar situation in Oct 2019 when we visited Neist Point in Isle of Skye, Scotland. Parking is free. 

Dyrhólaey Arch

view from Dyrhólaeyjarviti Lighthouse

It is true that the weather in Iceland can change abruptly within the same day, as we experienced 4 days ago, when it was snowing heavily, then less than 10km away, there was no sign of snow at all, and it was all still green in Egilsstadir. It was also true here, just about 15 mins driving to the west from Dyrhólaey, there was no more rain or wind, and the sky was clear. 

It was still early at 1.30pm, so we proceeded to Skogafoss waterfall. We also had visited this waterfall in Feb 2018, but during that time the place was all white, covered by snow. During this current visit in Nov 2022, the area was still green, and there was no sign of snow yet. This greenery is also in contrast to our North Iceland's visit a week ago where Detifoss and Godafoss waterfall were already snow covered and had slippery paths. 

Skogafoss is a popular tourist site in the Golden Circle in South Iceland, so it was really hard to get a picture of the waterfall without people in it. Once we climbed up the stairs to the Skoga river upstream, there were less people. Skogafoss has a drop of 60 m from the former sea cliff. Going upstream to the river, there is a hiking trail to Fimmvörðuháls. We walked pass a few other smaller waterfalls for about 40 mins and then returned back to the parking lot. Parking and entrance is free.

Skogafoss

the stairs up from Skogafoss

the Skogafoss drop

Skoga river upstream

Skoga river

trek along Skoga river

We then proceeded to Borg Apartments where we would be staying for the next 2 nights (booked from Booking.com at EUR 103 or RM 477 per night) with cooking facilities. For groceries shopping, we went to Kronan at Hvolsvollur town about 5 min drive away. There was also no salmon here, only smoked or gravlax salmon was available. We decided to buy salmon at the bigger town Selfoss tomorrow instead as we would be headed that way tomorrow.

Borg apartments