Travel with Dom

September 7th, 2026

The week of labor day, this year, I spent a week in Iceland to hike/site see along the entire south coast. The second day we were there, we went sight seeing around the city of Selfoss. Outside of Reykjavik, Selfoss is the largest town in South Iceland. I stayed at the “Hotel South Coast” around the center of town. It was in a very convenient spot next to the ‘Old Dairy Food Hall’, which was a hub of different kitchens with different style foods. I ate at Romano Pasta and Rösti Burger and Beer. Both were AMAZING, all of the food I had in this country was some of the best I’ve ever had.

Hotel South Coast was also a very nice hotel itself. The rooms were very spacious with nice bathrooms. They had breakfast for all guests in the morning with coffee. They hide a wide selection of pastries, fruits, and protein. In Selfoss, their grocery store is called Bónus. We always stocked up at one of these for drinks and snacks. They had an awesome water bottle that I had to get, that I used the whole trip.

While staying there, that night I actually got to see the northern lights RIGHT outside the hotel. I was outside with dozens of locals taking photos it was so cool.

During the Day

I didn’t get to Selfoss until about mid way through the day. From Reykjavik I first went to see Geysir and Gulfoss waterfall. It took us around an hour and twenty six minutes to get to Geysir. When you reach Geysir, there is a welcome center with a large parking lot on the right. Like the majority of places in this country, you will use the ‘parka’ app to pay for parking. There is a sign with a qr code that displays how to use it. Inside the welcome center is a cafe and a large gift shop. From the welcome center, you will take a path across the street to get to the main geyser. There are lots of smaller geysers that actually went off occasionally on the way there. At the time I went, they made a brand new path that was very nice to walk on. At the main geyser, they were in the middle of constructing a platform in the surrounding area around the geyser. The Geysir itself doesn’t go off super high that often. It’ll do small eruptions every 5-10 minutes and a big one every 20 “on average”. We waited about 15 minutes and got to see it go off super high. It was definitely worth the wait.

After seeing it go off, we got back to the car and started making our way to the Gulfoss waterfall. Gulfoss is only about 9 min away, but on the way there you can pull off to the side to see the Brú Horse Farm. It’s a small lot along the side of the road that allows you to feed some Icelandic Horses!

The parking lot at Gulfoss is very open and free. I HIGHLYYYY recommend parking away from everyone though, especially if you are renting a vehicle. Because of how open the landscape is and how fast the water flows in the canyon, the winds in this area are very strong. You HAVE to be very careful opening/closing your car door, the winds are relentless. I recommend windbreaker gear and a face shield for the winds. Gulfoss also has a visitor center. It is equipped with a cafe, gift shop, and restrooms. The waterfall is fed by the Langjökull glacier, averaging roughly 109 to 140 cubic meters of water per second. The waterfall has two different viewpoints. There is a top section that’ll give you wide panoramic views of the falls not far from the parking lot. There is also a lower section that’ll take you right to the base of the top layer of the falls, also showing a great view of the canyon. Expect a moshpit of people at these viewpoints.

After getting back to the car from Gulfoss, it was at this point we went to our hotel and checked in. After checking in, we went to go see the ægissíðufoss waterfall in Hella. It was a 31 minute drive from the hotel. The parking lot is small, but the falls are RIGHT there. We bumped into a proposal happening right next to the falls which was awesome to see. The path from the parking lot goes along a small cliff edge, if you keep following it you will see a sign with a path that leads down to the bottom of the falls.

This waterfall is very underrated and not talked about enough. Loved the view of it from the bottom. We had plenty of time left in the day, so we decided to say screw it and go check out Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss. From ægissíðufoss, Seljalandsfoss was only a half hour away. On the way there, you can see the falls from afar.

You will turn onto 249 and then make the first right, which will take you to the parking lot. The parking lot has a lot of room with machines to pay, or you can use parka. There are plenty of bathrooms, a cafe, and a gift shop. The main Seljalandsfoss looks like a natural wonder. The entire time we were there, it had a constant rainbow. There is a path to go around behind the waterfall. It was beautiful but you will get soaked. Definitely have rain gear or a poncho.

There are some other small waterfalls on the cliff side, but if you keep following the path there is another really cool waterfall. You will be met with a long line of people to see Gljúfrabúi, the “hidden waterfall”. Gljúfrabúi is in a narrow canyon with a stream coming out of it. To get to it, outside of the long line, you will walk on rocks into the small canyon and go over a big boulder. The water is just steep enough to soak your shoes so watch your step and watch out for others in case they bump into you.

You will get sick of being around people after finally getting inside to see this waterfall. After getting out, we got a coffee and pastry from the small cafe stand and started making our way to Skogafoss. Skogafoss is 30 minutes east of Seljalandsfoss. It was starting to get near the end of the day at this point, but honestly it was probably the best time to come see this waterfall. Around and behind Skogafoss, are the Skogar mountains, and when the sun was starting to go down it offered insane views with sun breaks over the surrounding peaks.

The Skogafoss parking lot is pretty large and you do have to pay parking through parka. There are also bathrooms here. This waterfall is enormous, and like Seljalandsfoss, it feels like a natural wonder. You can also see this one way before you even show up.

The trail from the parking lot leads to a fork where one path goes to the base of the falls and the other goes up a staircase to see it from the top. I took the challenge of going across the water to the mid section of rocks to get this insane view of Skoga right at the foot of it. 100 percent got my feet soaked, but it was worth it. This exact view was also used as a backdrop in the show “Vikings” and “Thor: The Dark World”.

The stair case up is a long staircase but there are cables to hold onto the way up. On the way you can see some sheep from the neighboring farm. At the top is a large platform that offers an amazing view of Skoga and the mountains. If you are interested, the top is also a trailhead for the “Waterfall Way” trail that takes you upstream to a bunch of smaller cascades into the Fimmvörðuháls pass.

This waterfall is one of the biggest and most iconic waterfalls so expect a very large amount of people here any time of day. After Skogafoss I decided it was definitely time to head back. We were running out of day light and I was definitely exhausted. RIGHT next to Skogafoss, is the Kvernufoss waterfall, which was the first thing we started with the next day on the way to Vik. This day was packed with insane waterfalls and overall my second favorite day while staying here in Iceland. Writing this now, I still miss it big time, but being able to say I was there and experienced it brings joy in itself. If you are a waterfall person, this line up will blow your mind.