Skógafoss

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The Skógafoss is located in the south of Iceland in the Suðurland region, right next to the ring road and forms the culmination of the Skógá River before it flows into the sea. The water that feeds it rises on the highland pass Fimmvörðuháls between the two glaciers Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull.
Along its course, the river flows over around 20 larger and smaller waterfalls, with Skógafoss being the largest of them, measuring around 25 meters wide and 60 meters high.

The Laugavegur hiking trail begins in Skógar, at an altitude of just four meters above sea level, and leads over the Fimmvörðuháls and over Þórsmörk to Landmannalaugar. The total length is about 54 kilometers and at its highest point at Hrafntinnusker is 1050 m above sea level. The hike takes four days in one direction and is well signposted. Along the way there are huts with fully equipped kitchens after certain distances, but these are usually fully booked in the high season. You have to bring your own food, but you can use the kitchen in the huts. It is possible to spend the night in tents at the huts and is only permitted there.

If you don’t want to hike that far, you can tackle a „small Skógafoss loop“ and just follow the river to skalabrekkufoss. This route can be completed in just over an hour one way from the parking lot and you can already enjoy many beautiful waterfalls in an impressive landscape.

According to an old Icelandic saga, one of the first immigrants named ‚Þrasi‘ once hid a chest of gold behind the waterfall. Years later, an Icelandic boy discovered the chest, but was only able to grab the handle before the box disappeared. The treasure chest ring is now kept in the Museum Skógasafn (Byggðasafnið í Skógum).
Directly behind the museum is the lesser known but no less worth seeing Kvernufoss.

The trail of history

Skógafoss waterfall, like many other waterfalls in the country, was created after the end of the Ice Age. As the glaciers melted, the land began to rise slowly over many years as the weight of the large load of ice no longer pushed the land mass down. The south coast of Iceland rose in places by more than 50m and a cliff was created over which rivers cascade down.

The name of the waterfall and the location indicate that the area was probably forested in earlier times.

Useful information

There is a spacious parking lot and a campsite with toilet facilities right next to the waterfall.
The path to the upper part of the waterfall is strenuous. However, the view makes up for all the effort and the climb should definitely be tackled.
If you still have some time left, we recommend paying a visit to the nearby Skogar Museum. There you will find period-style peat farms and other buildings, mostly from the 19th century, a church and a small school. There is also a transport museum with a large hall full of cars, boats and small aircraft, as well as a larger museum building with everyday objects, handicrafts and works of art.

How to get there?

Skógar is 154 kilometers by road from Reykjavík and lies between the glacial volcanoes Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull. Due to its convenient location on the ring road, Skógafoss is often visited by day tourists. The place is also relatively easy, at least by Icelandic standards, to reach from the capital in about three hours by public transport, and some tour operators offer day tours there from Reykjavik.

Conclusion:

We think that Skógafoss is more beautiful than Seljalandsfoss. But as we all know, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.
In any case, there are not that many tourists at Skógafoss and we can only recommend the hike to the smaller waterfalls nearby.