Iceland’s Southern Coast

If you’ve got the time to spare, an excellent way to see more of Iceland is along its southern coast. From epic glaciers to black beaches, you will truly get an appreciation of the majesty of this country by including the southern coast into your itinerary. For this, I would recommend renting a car.

The Waterfalls

This is not by any means an exhaustive list, but these are some of the waterfalls you must see when enjoying the sights of southern Iceland. Iceland is covered in waterfalls large and small. They are everywhere and delightful to spot as you drive around.

Skógafoss

This is a very wide waterfall that drops almost 200 feet from the top of the falls. A bit treacherous in wintertime, there was ice all over from the mist of the falls. Just off the highway, this is an easy, worthwhile stop.

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Seljalandsfoss

Ok confession time. We never actually stopped at Seljalandsfoss. We drove past it three times and just never felt like stopping by – definitely a bad call. So, here’s two photos of the falls in summertime from Wikipedia to make up for our lacking – you can actually get behind this waterfall!

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Kvernufoss

Well, Kvernufoss isn’t exactly a staple waterfall hike, because it is off the beaten path. This is why I find it all the more spectacular to see. Just down the road from its much more famous neighbor, Skógafoss, this fall will require a short hike (about a mile total) but will reward you with a powerful rush of water in a rocky alcove. We were the only ones at the fall the morning we hiked there! You can even go around the fall to stand behind it, but you’re bound to get wet and we decided against it since it was winter. This one falls about 100 ft.

Glaciers

Iceland was formed by glaciers and volcanoes. But on maps of the island, you will see four distinct blobs which indicate their massive ice caps, where 269 of its named glaciers stem from.

We were fortunate enough to experience three of the four up close!

Sólheimajökull

If you’re going to Iceland before 2025, this is a must stop. Scientists predict this part of the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap will be fully gone by then. BUT, right now it’s a wonderful place for a glacier hike and, if you’re a bit adventurous, ice climbing! If exploring the glacier, definitely take a guided tour – glacier hiking is dangerous and you need equipment to traverse it safely! We also found all guide companies were similarly priced.

The Sólheimajökull Glacier Hike with Ice Climbing
remains our favorite activity from our honeymoon!

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Vatnajökull

The largest ice cap in Iceland, this massive amount of ice covers 8% of Iceland. Just driving past this monster was immense and impressive. Glaciers kept poking out of the geology.
We ended up driving a very holey road to check out one glacier of it closer up – Hoffelsjökull.

Langjökull

This could maybe qualify more as Reykjavik/Golden Circle area, but it fits nicely in with the other glaciers. We not only snorkeled in the run-off from this glacier, we snowmobiled on top of it!

This was actually our first time ever snowmobiling, and it was a really great time! We took a tricked-out van (they’re called Superjeeps) up a very bumpy and snowy road to a hut where we got our sweet gear and finally set off on our snowmobiles. Our destination: an ice cave!

This ice cave was formed naturally from the glacier melting and creating moulins where the water dug an escape. If we had come in summer, there would be no way we could go in as the place would be completely filled with water!

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Notable Towns along the Southern Coast

Town of Vik

This town is truly adorable. It’s close to more black sand beaches, a beautiful drive close to Reynisfjara Beach, and home to an Icelandic wool shop! Icewear was a fun store to shop for souvenirs in and to check out traditional Icelandic wool sweaters. I actually found one of those sweaters for a steal at a flea market in Reykjavik!

Höfn

We enjoyed a brief visit to Höfn after our hike to Hoffelsjökull. A small fishing town, I immensely enjoyed some lobster pasta fresh from the fishermen, surrounded by fjords and ocean. It’s the starting point for the eastern fjords of Iceland. We, unfortunately, had to turn around before we could explore more!

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Other Southern Coast Highlights

Kirkjufjara Beach

This was our first stop after a good night’s rest. This was an excellent visit because you can see the black sand beaches of Reynisfjara Beach to the left, and it gave us a great view of the holed wall of Dyrhólaey to the right. Then, just up the road, you can see Dyrhólaey from another angle at the Dyrhólaey lighthouse overlook. That’s a steep, curvy road, though, so be prepared vehicle-wise.

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Reynisfjara Beach

A black sand beach within reach! Positively covered in basalt columns from volcanic rock, the beach was very accessible – so accessible you must mind the busloads of tourists crawling all over. Just keep walking away from them – those groups never make it much farther than the beginning of the beach.

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Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon

No I can’t pronounce this. But, you may recognize this canyon as a place the dragons flew through in Season Eight of Game of Thrones. We were very grateful for our shoe spikes because the ridiculously slippery hike up a short, steep hill. But, the overlook offered some lovely views of the mossy canyon!

Diamond Beach/Glacier Lagoon

This is a place where large chunks of glacier come to melt. Swept to the ocean from the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, these crystal-clear beauties are brought in with the tide and are a wonder to behold at sunrise or sunset, when they glow from the rays!

Sólheimasandur Plane Wreck

We were too short on time to actually see this plane wreck, but just down the highway from Skógafoss , there is a plane wreck on a beach that you can actually climb all around and check out. Make sure you’ve got enough time, though, because it’s 2.5 miles from the parking to the plane wreck, then of course 2.5 back. I felt pretty alright skipping it.