Emily from the KE office, along with her husband, recently travelled on our self-drive adventure in Iceland’s south and south west regions. One of their many tour highlights was looking up in awe from the base of Iceland’s famous waterfalls.
You can read more about all their Iceland holiday highlights here, or continue down to learn about each waterfall you can experience if you join this fantastic tour.

During this one week holiday you’ll not only see waterfalls (foss in Icelandic) by the roadside but, depending on how adventurous you’re feeling, you can circumnavigate one including a double river crossing!

This trip starts with two days based on the mind-blowing Snafalness Peninsular: a magical landscape of glaciers, volcanoes and lava fields. First up on our waterfall list was the stunningly beautiful Grundarfoss (pictured above). This was very accessible from the roadside and in my opinion was the prettiest waterfall of the trip. Basalt columns surround its main drop and it’s beautifully framed on each side by angled slopes.

A short drive later we came upon one of Iceland’s most photographed waterfalls, the Kirkjufellsfoss cascades. Once again this was handily accessible from the road. Above is a professional shot (as it’s much better than the one I took!)

The following day you have the option to visit two more waterfalls, Glanni and Hraunfossar, or you can drive directly to Glymur waterall where KE provides maps, GPX tracks and various walking route options around the waterfall, depending on how far you want to explore.

We opted for the advanced full circle route which took around 3 hours - 7.5km and 380m ascent. What made the route ‘advanced’ were all the exiting features. First off, we descended through the Pvottahellir cave, which was high enough to walk through and neatly framed the upcoming view. Next we needed to cross the river via a couple of stepping stones and then a long tree trunk with a cable at shoulder height to hold onto. Your boots might get wet here depending on the amount of recent rainfall.

Following this, you start walking up hill, keeping the dramatic gorge to the left until you reach the main view point. Here you can take in Glymur waterfall’s 200m near vertical drop. Continuing up the steep trail you eventually reach the plateau and see the large river which is feeding Glymur. There is a point across this river which is shallow (around knee depth at worse) to cross the river. We had our spare shoes with us already and although it was bracing cold water in September, we were soon across and feeling pretty epic! The walk back down was gradual and rewards you with a great view of Hvalfjorour Fjord.

The next waterfall on our holiday was a much gentler experience. This was Öxarárfoss which sits on one of the North American and Eurasian Plate fault lines. This area has also served as meeting point, both as a parliament and place to dish out punishments by the first Vikings to colonise Iceland from 800AD.

On day 5 of the trip you visit Gullfoss. This is one of Iceland's most famous waterfalls and a regular feature on all Golden Circle highlights tours. Our hotel (The Gullfoss hotel) is situated just a mile or two away from here so first thing in the morning, before breakfast, we parked up at the visitor centre and had this waterfall to ourselves, bathed in the golden early morning sunshine.

The final significant waterfall we saw was extremely remote, accessed only by a small walking trail on the Hengill Volcano. We really didn’t see anyone else in the area this day. We were following the KE walking route which winds through a highly active geothermal area which provides Reykjavik with most of its power via a geothermal power plant at the base of the valley. There are streams of hot water here and geysers continuously bubbling and letting off hot air. It's a very ‘alive’ place and home to an impressive, and exceptionally rare, boiling hot waterfall!

Emily and her husband opted for the Self-Guided Icelandic Adventure, allowing them flexibility with car hire included to explore the south west landscape of Iceland. Check out the details below and don’t hesitate to give Emily a call at +44 (0) 17687 73966 with any questions!