Iceland’s South Coast runs along the Ring Road from Selfoss to the glacier lagoon at Jökulsárlón, a stretch of roughly 250 kilometers that manages to contain more dramatic scenery per mile than almost anywhere else on earth. Black sand beaches, sea stacks rising straight from the surf, waterfalls that fall directly onto the road, and glaciers pushing down from the icecap to the water’s edge — it is the version of Iceland that photographs best, and it earns every image.
Waterfalls and Black Sand
The two waterfalls at either end of the coastal section, Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss, have become iconic for good reason. Seljalandsfoss can be walked behind on a narrow path — the spray soaks you completely and the angle looking out through the curtain of water is unlike anything else. Skógafoss is wider and taller, a broad white wall dropping 60 meters onto the black rocks below. Above it, a trail climbs the ridge and follows the river upstream through a canyon of smaller falls that most visitors never reach. The black beach at Reynisfjara, near Vík, is spectacular and genuinely dangerous — the waves here are unpredictable and have swept people off the shore. Stay well back from the waterline.
The Glacier Lagoon
At the eastern end of the south coast, Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon is where icebergs calve from the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier and drift slowly toward the sea. The bergs range from ice-cube size to small house size, colored in shades of white, blue, and black from the volcanic ash trapped in the ice. Just across the road, Diamond Beach is where the smaller chunks wash up on the black sand before melting back into the ocean. It is the kind of place that stops conversation. Most people stand at the edge and say nothing for a while.
