Skogafoss is a waterfall on Iceland's south coast, about two hours from Reykjavik on the ring road, where the Skoga river drops sixty metres over what used to be the sea cliff before the coastline retreated. It is twenty five metres wide, it is reached by a flat five minute walk from a free car park, and you can stand close enough to be soaked.
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That accessibility is why it is one of the most visited places in the country and also why it is underestimated. Two things here are worth more than the photograph: the staircase up the side, which most people climb and most people regret in the wrong shoes, and the fact that the top of those stairs is the trailhead for Fimmvorduhals, which is arguably the finest day hike in Iceland.
One honest note about the photographs. Our set is eighty nine frames by thirty eight photographers, which is the widest spread of any destination in this batch, and every single one is the waterfall. The three here are an aerial, the rainbow in the spray, and a person in a yellow coat at the base, chosen so the set reads as three photographs rather than one taken three times.
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What Is Here
The falls, and the thing that makes them distinctive is the spray. Skogafoss throws up enough water that the air in front of it is permanently wet for a good distance, which on any sunny day produces a single or double rainbow, often a full arc. That is the photograph everybody wants and it is a matter of timing rather than luck: the rainbow appears when the sun is behind you, which on this south-facing drop means the middle of the day rather than the golden hours.
You can walk right up to the plunge pool over flat black gravel. People do, and they come back wet through. There is no barrier and no need for one; the hazard is the river itself rather than a fall.
The staircase is 527 steps up the eastern side and the view from the top is a different place. From the platform you look down the throat of the falls and out over the coastal plain to the sea. It is a steep, exposed metal and timber stair with handrails, it takes most people fifteen to twenty five minutes, and in winter it is frequently closed or sheeted in ice.
Above the top is the Fimmvorduhals trail, which is the real reason to come for a full day. The path follows the Skoga river upstream past something in the order of twenty further waterfalls, almost none of which anyone photographs, and continues between the Eyjafjallajokull and Myrdalsjokull ice caps to Thorsmork. The full traverse is around 22 to 25 kilometres with roughly a thousand metres of ascent and takes eight to ten hours one way, ending at a different valley with no transport back. Most sensible visitors walk up for an hour or two and turn round, which is genuinely worth doing and sees almost nobody.
Skogar, the hamlet below, has a folk museum with turf buildings that is better than it sounds, and Seljalandsfoss, which you can walk behind, is twenty minutes west. Kvernufoss is a fifteen minute walk from the museum, is hidden in a gorge, and is usually empty.
When to Go
Summer, June to August, gives long light, an open staircase, the Fimmvorduhals trail in condition and the largest crowds. The falls are at moderate volume because the snowmelt peak has passed.
Spring, April to June, is the highest water of the year as the ice caps melt, which means the most spray and the loudest falls. It also means the wettest approach.
Autumn, September to October, is the best compromise: good volume, fewer people, the staircase usually open, aurora possible from late September.
Winter, November to March, gives you the falls partly framed in ice and a real chance of aurora over them, and a staircase that is often shut or lethal. The walk to the base stays open and that is often all you get. Check road.is and vedur.is before setting out, every time.
Getting There
By car, Route 1 east from Reykjavik about 150 kilometres, then a short signed track to a free car park with toilets and a food truck in season. Under two hours without stops.
By organised tour, every south coast day trip from Reykjavik stops here, usually paired with Seljalandsfoss and Reynisfjara. In winter this is the better choice, because the drivers know when the road is closing.
By bus, scheduled coaches run the south coast and stop at Skogar, which is close enough to walk.
If you hire a car in Iceland there is one clause worth knowing before you sign, and the FCDO states it rather than hinting at it: THE WEATHER CAN CAUSE DAMAGE TO RENTAL CARS THAT IS NOT COVERED BY INSURANCE. Strong winds are common and throw up sand and ash that strips paintwork, and in its own words BRITISH TOURISTS HAVE HAD TO PAY LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY to repair hire cars damaged that way. Sand and ash protection is sold as a separate product by most Icelandic hire companies and is the one add-on that is usually worth taking. Two related points: BREAKDOWN RECOVERY COSTS IN REMOTE AREAS CAN BE VERY HIGH, and OFF-ROAD DRIVING IS STRICTLY CONTROLLED and illegal outside marked tracks, with large fines, because the vegetation does not recover.
Is Skogafoss Safe for Women?
Skogafoss is extremely safe from crime and has two environmental hazards that are both avoidable. Iceland has among the lowest violent crime rates in the world and this is a busy roadside stop with a car park.
The first hazard is the river, not the drop. The plunge pool and the braided channel below it look shallow and are fast, cold and uneven, and the rock under the water is slick. People wade in to get closer. The water is a few degrees above freezing, the current is stronger than it appears, and there is no reason to be in it.
The second is the staircase, in winter and in wind. It is steep, it is exposed on the open side, and it ices over from the spray rather than from snow, which means it can be glazed on a dry day. Icelandic wind on an open metal stair sixty metres up is its own argument. If the gate is shut, it is shut for a reason; if it is open and the treads look wet, assume ice.
One sentence on Iceland's safety page deserves to be read twice, because it names the three things that actually hurt visitors and all three are things people come here to look at: GOING TOO CLOSE TO THE OCEAN, CLIFF EDGES AND HOT SPRINGS ARE COMMON CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS IN ICELAND. That is not a generic caution. The ocean here produces sneaker waves, which run far higher up a beach than the sets before them with no visible warning and which have killed people standing on black sand looking out to sea. Cliff edges in Iceland are frequently unfenced, often undercut, and made of material that gives way. Hot springs and mud pots are at or near boiling, the ground around them can be a thin crust over water at that temperature, and the burns are severe. The rule in all three cases is the same and it is unglamorous: keep back further than feels necessary, never turn your back on the sea, and stay on the boardwalks and marked paths in a geothermal area.
Iceland runs a national system for exactly the situation a visitor gets into and the FCDO points at it by name. SAFETRAVEL ICELAND publishes route conditions and hazard guides and LETS YOU LODGE A TRAVEL PLAN, so that if you do not return someone knows where to look, and the FCDO's own instruction is to leave your plans and contact details either with your hotel or on Safe Travel. Alongside it, the Icelandic Met Office carries weather and aurora and seismic alerts, the Road Administration carries road status, and 112 is both the emergency number and an app that transmits your position to the rescue services. None of that costs anything, and in a country where SEARCH AND RESCUE MAY BE LIMITED IN SOME AREAS, which the FCDO says plainly because Iceland is inside the Arctic Circle, using it is the difference between an incident and a statistic.
Icelandic driving rules differ from British ones in ways that carry fines of up to about five hundred pounds, and the FCDO lists them. KEEP DIPPED HEADLIGHTS ON YEAR ROUND, day and night, which is a legal requirement. Speed limits are lower than in the UK and the DRINK DRIVING LIMIT IS LOWER TOO. Suitable tyres are required, including winter tyres when conditions call for them. A UK photocard licence is valid for thirty days. Beyond the rules, the conditions are the thing: the weather changes fast, distances between towns are far greater than the map suggests, SOME MAIN ROUTES ARE GRAVEL OR DIRT, and some roads and bridges are SINGLE LANE WITH PASSING AREAS. Highland and interior F-roads need four wheel drive, open only for a short part of the summer, and where they cross rivers the instruction is to DRIVE AT FIVE TO TEN KILOMETRES AN HOUR and to understand that RIVER LEVELS CAN CHANGE WITHIN THE SAME DAY. Check the Icelandic Road Administration before every driving day rather than once at the start of the trip.
Two small legal points, and the first runs the opposite way from most of Europe. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CARRY YOUR PASSPORT IN ICELAND. The FCDO suggests carrying some form of identification such as a photocard driving licence or a copy of your passport photo page, and keeping the passport itself somewhere safe, which is a welcome contrast to Poland, Czechia and Slovenia where carrying identification is a requirement. And IT IS ILLEGAL TO SMOKE OR USE AN E-CIGARETTE in restaurants, bars, on public transport and in public buildings, with a fine attached. Riding an electric scooter after drinking is treated as drink driving.
The Skogafoss Packing List
Permanent spray, 527 exposed steps, and a trail above it that goes further than you planned.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the correct first layer here for a reason specific to this place: YOU WILL GET WET FROM THE SPRAY AND THEN STAND IN WIND. Wool keeps insulating when damp and does not chill you when you stop, which cotton does immediately and which synthetic does less well. Wear a heavyweight weight from October to April.
Over it, a Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket with the hood up, which at Skogafoss is doing the job of an umbrella rather than a raincoat. The spray is constant within about fifty metres of the base and it is driven sideways by any wind at all. A fleece under it, and from November an insulated jacket under that. Waterproof overtrousers are worth having and are not linked here to stay inside our six link limit; the spray soaks legs first.
Merrell Moab 3 waterproof hiking boots with Darn Tough merino hiking socks. The approach is wet gravel, the stairs are wet metal and timber, and the Fimmvorduhals path above is boggy in places even in August. People climb those 527 steps in trainers and the descent is where that goes wrong.
Kahtoola MICROspikes from October to April, which here are specifically for the staircase and the path at its foot. The spray freezes on the treads, so the stairs can be iced when nothing else is.
A waterproof dry bag, which at this particular waterfall is not optional if you are carrying a camera or a phone you care about. The spray reaches further than you think and it is fine enough to get past a zip.
Three things worth packing and not linked, two because the only entries in our range have a contested product identity: a NECK GAITER for spray and wind, TREKKING POLES for the stairs and the trail above, and a HEADLAMP, because the Fimmvorduhals path and the winter car park are both unlit. An insulated bottle and a quick dry towel are both genuinely useful here and are left unlinked for the same cap reason; the towel more than the bottle.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women at Skogafoss
Emergency numbers: 112 reaches police, ambulance, fire and mountain and sea rescue from any phone including a locked mobile, and English is spoken. Download the 112 Iceland app before you travel: it sends your GPS position to the emergency services with one button and logs your location periodically so you can be found, which is the single most useful free thing a visitor to Iceland can do. For non-urgent medical advice the health service line is 1700.
The staircase is 527 steps and is frequently closed or iced in winter: if the gate is shut it is shut for a reason, and the spray freezes on the treads so the stairs can be glazed on a dry day. Do not wade into the plunge pool or the channel below it, which is fast, uneven and a few degrees above freezing. The Fimmvorduhals trail from the top is a 22 to 25 kilometre traverse with about a thousand metres of ascent and ends at Thorsmork with no transport back: walking an hour up and turning round is the sensible version. Road and weather at road.is and vedur.is before every departure.
US State Department travel advisory: the Iceland advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/iceland, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital: there is no hospital at Skogar. The nearest health centres are at Vik, forty minutes east, and Hvolsvollur, thirty minutes west; the nearest hospital is Selfoss, about an hour and a quarter, and the national referral centre is Landspitali in Reykjavik, roughly two hours. An injury high on the Fimmvorduhals trail is a helicopter case. A UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care in Iceland on the same terms as a resident, which is not the same as free: Iceland charges patient co-payments for primary care and outpatient visits, so expect to pay something and keep the receipts. Travel insurance still matters and matters more here than in most of Europe, because the FCDO notes that EMERGENCY MEDICAL ASSISTANCE AND SEARCH AND RESCUE MAY BE LIMITED IN SOME AREAS and because an evacuation from a remote part of the country is expensive. Tap water is among the best in the world and buying bottled is pointless; the hot tap smells of sulphur because it is geothermal, which is harmless. Pharmacies are apotek.
Official health authority: the Directorate of Health of Iceland, covers the rural health centre network
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Reykjavik.
Official tourism authority: the Icelandic Tourist Board, publishes south coast conditions and trail status
Takeaways
Come at midday for the rainbow, which needs the sun behind you rather than low on the horizon.
Climb the 527 steps, and in boots. The view down the throat of the falls is a different place from the one at the bottom.
Walk an hour up the Fimmvorduhals path from the top. Around twenty more waterfalls, almost nobody on it, and you can turn round whenever you like.
Bring a dry bag. The spray reaches further than it looks and is fine enough to get past a zip.
Solo women safety assessment: Skogafoss is among the safest places a woman can travel alone and the risks are entirely environmental and entirely avoidable. Iceland has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the world, this is a free car park on the ring road with a steady flow of visitors and a food truck in season, English is universal and a woman alone here is unremarkable. The FCDO's Iceland page carries no crime warning of substance; what it names is accidents at the coast, at cliff edges and in hot springs, and it points at SafeTravel.is. THE TWO HAZARDS HERE ARE THE RIVER AND THE STAIRCASE. The plunge pool and the braided channel below it look shallow and are fast, uneven and a few degrees above freezing, with slick rock under the water, and there is no reason to wade in to get closer. The 527 step staircase is steep, exposed on the open side and ICES FROM THE SPRAY RATHER THAN FROM SNOW, which means it can be glazed on a dry day: if the gate is shut it is shut for a reason, and if the treads look wet assume ice. Above the stairs the Fimmvorduhals trail is a serious mountain route between two ice caps, 22 to 25 kilometres with a thousand metres of ascent, ending at Thorsmork with no transport back, and the sensible version is to walk up for an hour and return. The remaining risks are the drive and the weather, which change within the hour, and hire car insurance that generally excludes the sand and ash damage this coast produces.
Reading On
Skogafoss is one stop on the south coast and the others are close. The Reynisfjara packing list covers the black sand beach thirty minutes east, where the hazard is sneaker waves rather than spray, and the Skaftafell packing list covers the glacier park beyond it. The Jokulsarlon packing list covers the glacier lagoon and the Gullfoss packing list covers the larger waterfall on the Golden Circle inland. The Reykjavik packing list covers the city you will start from. For the country as a whole the Iceland travel guide for women and the Iceland packing list carry the transport, the weather and the practical material in full. For why wool is the layer to wear when you are wet and standing still, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
