Kirkjufellsfoss

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Kirkjufellsfoss is a picturesque waterfall at the foot of the name-giving mountain Kirkjufell on the north coast of the Snæfellsnes peninsula.

The waterfall, which lies just above sea level on the coast and drops about 16 metres in two wide steps before the water flows into the bay of Grundarfjörður, is a beautiful sight, especially in the evening hours with the mountain behind it. The two stages of the falls are about 45 metres apart, with the upper stage dropping 28 metres in two to five adjacent falls (depending on the amount of water in the stream), while the lower stage splits into two primary channels – one side cascading and then plunging, while the other drops a steep 8 metres. Directly below the falls, the embankment of road 54 forms a large lagoon, with the freshwater stream dammed on one side and the ocean on the other.

The trail of history

The nearby village of Grundarfjörður is considered one of the oldest settlements in Iceland, and settlement in the area has been documented since the Viking Age. In the Book of Land Claims, the book about the land claims and settlement of Iceland in the 9th and 10th centuries, the area between Cape Búlandshöfði and the Kirkjufjörður fjord is mentioned as the place where Herjólfur Sigurðsson settled. Today, it is no longer known exactly where this place was, but it is assumed that it was the fjord Grundarfjörður.

Grundarfjörður was formerly used as a Danish trading post and the settlement was formed around the trading settlement of the Danes. However, due to the isolated location, the Danish trade administration was not settled in Grundarfjörður.

At the turn of the 19th century, French people had settled in Grundarfjörður for a while. They built their own school, hospital and church with a cemetery, but when they returned home in the late 1860s, they took everything with them – including their dead. The French naval officer and writer Pierre Loti wrote his novel Pêcheur d’Islande (“ Fishers of Iceland „) in 1886 about the events and hard working conditions of the fishermen. Today, the town is twinned with the French municipality of Paimpol in Brittany to commemorate this connection.

Useful Information

As a destination for waterfalls, there are much more photo-worthy places in Iceland. The Snæfellsness peninsula is exceptionally picturesque in its own right, and the drive around its ends is highly recommended, but you’re unlikely to be overwhelmed by the waterfalls themselves if you’ve seen other waterfalls in Iceland. Photographers should probably allow some time here, as the combination of Kirkjufell and the falls makes for particularly powerful and iconic photos when conditions are at their best.

Hiking trails lead in all directions from the Kirkjufellsfoss car park. If you follow the course of the Kirkjufellsá river here, you will discover more smaller waterfalls upstream.
There are no toilets directly at the car park, but there is a public toilet in the nearby village of Grundarfjörður at Samkomuhús.

Kirkjufellsfoss is a popular Instagram spot and one of the most photographed places in Iceland. Accordingly, there can be large crowds at the waterfall by Icelandic standards, especially when an excursion or cruise ship is moored in the nearby town of Grundarfjörður.

How to get there?

Kirkjufellsfoss can be seen along route 54 on the north side of the Snæfellsnes peninsula, about 2.5 km west of the centre of Grundarfjörður town. There is a signed parking area just west of the lagoon where the falls are visible (some distance away). There are some paths leading uphill to the bridge at the top of the falls and then on to other signposted hiking areas.

Conclusion

Anyone expecting an impressive waterfall here will be disappointed. Kirkjufellsfoss can hardly compete with other Icelandic waterfalls in terms of height. What makes Kirkjufellsfoss worth seeing, however, is the landscape in which it is embedded.