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Skógafoss
Another – admittedly very beautiful – waterfall just besides the Ring Road. It is clearly visible from there and it takes you only about a kilometre on asphalt road to get to an immense parking lot with a visitor centre and café and restaurant. During summer season the parking will be mostly full, and the area will be full of people. A lot of people, with many of them doing wicked gymnastics in front of the waterfall while getting soaking wet from its spray in order to get that picture that they have seen on Instagram.
But it is a majestic waterfall, embedded into a landscape of amazing beauty. And once you made it to the front line down at the foot of the waterfall, you will enjoy the moment, especially on sunny days when the green vegetation on the black rock cliffs shines in bright colours and the falling water masses create beautiful rainbows. Luckily it is very wet down there, so people usually stay only as long as it takes to shoot THAT picture. If you stay close to the overhanging cliff at the side, you´ll be a bit more protected from the spray and can take a little bit longer to contemplate the view.
At the right side of the waterfall an exposed stairway (unsuited for people with fear of heights) leads up to the top of the waterfall. If this is too crowded or exposed for your taste, take the dirt track east of the stairway for a longer but less exposed ascend. From the cliffs edge a hilly area stretches in slow ascend in direction of the inland glacier. Upwards from the Skógafoss the river has dug out a little canyon with a few more waterfalls which is very nice to visit too. There are also some extended hikes leading inland and to the glacier.
For more visual impressions check this gallery.
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