Vik to Skaftafell, 14 Aug 2026
We did two hikes today, one in Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, a serpentine canyon with moss-covered walls and the winding Fjaðrá River. The second hike was the Svartifoss Trail in Skaftafell National Park, which has a waterfall over columnar basalt. We extended the hike to see the Selið turf houses.
We were back to having breakfast in the hotel restaurant, which was quite extensive. This was actually the first time we’ve seen scrambled eggs and bacon at a breakfast buffet. We loaded into the vans after breakfast and continued our counterclockwise drive around Iceland.
Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon
For our first hike, we explored Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon. This canyon was carved at the end of the last Ice Age, causing glacial meltwater to cut through the soft volcanic rock. We went up to one of the rims and then followed that through the canyon until we reached the waterfall Mögáfoss. The main waterfall comes from the Mögá River, but there seemed to be a couple of smaller rivers which joined at the base of the falls.
After getting back to the vans, we had lunch at a restaurant which had a view of the waterfall Systrafoss. The restaurant was in the city of Kirkjubæjarklaustur, and none of us tried to pronounce it. Mostly it was referred to as “K with another 20 letters”.
Svartifoss Trail
After lunch, we drove to Skaftafell National Park to hike the Svartifoss Trail. There were a lot of cars and people there, and the facilities seemed well built out. Once we were ready, we started uphill for quite a while until we started heading down towards the waterfall Svartifoss.
There was a small spur off the trail which took you right to the falls, both an observation platform and down to the Stórilækur River near the base of the falls. The water cascades down a wall of columnar basalt, so the look is striking (“Svartifoss” means “Black Falls”).
We then went back to the main trail, went over a bridge which crosses the Stórilækur River where we got one more look at the falls, then we started heading back up until we got to the Sjónarnípa viewpoint where we saw the Skaftafellsjökull glacier tongue (part of the glacier Vatnajökull). We stopped for the first group photo of the trip with Skaftafellsjökull in the background.
After leaving the viewpoint, we headed down towards the Selið turf houses. It is a restored 19th-century farmstead built in the traditional Icelandic turf style of driftwood, rock, and turf. This farm was moved to its current location to escape flooding from the glacial Skeiðará river. The last residents were there until 1946, and the houses restored in the 1970s. We were able to walk into one of the houses.
After leaving the turf houses, we worked our way back to the parking lot and drove to or next hotel in Skaftafell. While there was a group dinner, Melody and I opted out and ate at the bar, since she was pretty worn out. With that, we retired for the evening.
