Exploring South Iceland

Iceland has been on my bucket list for quite some time and when WOW Airlines started flying there for cheap (round trip was just over $400) a few years ago, I’d always kept it in the back of my mind that I should take advantage of their deeply discounted flights.

Sometime in August, my brother-in-law mentioned he might want to go to Norway and I said, “have you ever thought about Iceland?” Shortly after that, we decided to make it a reality and booked our flights. Iceland definitely wasn’t in the plan for 2018 but the opportunity fell in my lap, so I took it and I’m so glad I did!

The flight over was 6 hours and they are 4 hours ahead of us. We picked our rental car up and stayed in Kopavogur the first night in a lovely Air Bnb. The next morning, we set out for the southern portion of the Ring Road, which is the main highway that goes all around the country.

Leaving the city and driving into the moss covered lava fields was unreal. It looked like scenery straight out of The Land Before Time. Smoke was coming out of the ground in geothermal hot spots and mountains jutted against the skyline. Pictures really don’t do the country justice at all.

Our first stop was at Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, which you can walk behind. You will get wet! So make sure to bring a waterproof jacket and shoes. There’s another small water fall a few meters away that’s semi hidden and you’ll need pretty tall boots to wade through to see. It’s worth it though.

From there, we went to Skogafoss Waterfall, which is much more impressive and you can walk up a steep hill to view from the top. It was raining, very cold and the wind threw chilly water at our faces which felt like ice pellets. Not for the faint of heart!

From there, we drove to Vik to visit the Black Sand Beach. Game of Thrones fans may remember the basalt caves and column from scenes where dragon glass was discovered. This was by far one of the most unique and beautiful places in all of Iceland. Do obey the warning signs about the waves – they were massively forceful and would sweep you out to sea in an instant.

Our next stop was the breathtaking Fjardrargljufur, a massive canyon that looks like the entrance to Middle Earth. It’s not a very well known spot but I read about it on another blog and we felt it was well worth stopping at. I read that during the summer months, you can kayak down the river, which would be really fun!

Total driving time for the first day was about 4 hours, but we spent quite a bit of time at each place so by the time we got to our hostel (Hvoll Guesthouse), it was dark. Also worth noting, if you do stay at Hvoll, there is nothing around for food, so make sure you eat before you check in or you will end up back tracking about 15 miles like we had to do.

This was also one place where we had to share a bathroom/shower with about 35 other guests who all came on one bus together, so that wasn’t ideal but definitely out of our control. Here’s a map of our first day and the main stops in south Iceland.