Skógafoss and the hamlet of Skógar

5 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

Visit South Iceland calls the 60-metre Skógafoss the greatest attraction of Skógar. The river Skógá drops over the edge in one broad sheet, about 25 metres wide, and the campsite lies on the ground below the falls. From Vík it is roughly 30 to 33 km west along Route 1, past the DC-3 wreck on Sólheimasandur, whose car park lies 6 km east of Skógar.

At the waterfall

Skógafoss has been protected as a natural monument since 1987. The protected area covers 1.65 square kilometres, and a land ranger is on duty there throughout the year. A few rules follow from that status:

• Drones may only fly inside the natural monument with a permit from Náttúruverndarstofnun, which took over the Environment Agency's protected areas in 2025.
• Overnight stays in campervans, trailers or tents are only allowed on the campsite below the waterfall.
• Dogs must be kept on a lead.
• Bikes stay on marked paths and roads.

A staircase leads up beside the falls. The agency plans to renew the stairs and move them further away from the waterfall. How far that work has progressed was not published when we checked, so expect building work at some point.

Close to the falls the spray soaks you quickly. A waterproof jacket and shoes that can handle mud are worth having even in July; our clothing page goes through the details.

Skógasafn, the Skógar museum

In Skógar itself, Skógasafn shows a collection of 18,000 regional objects of craft and everyday life, more than 15,000 of them in the folk museum. It is spread over three museums and six historic buildings: a folk museum, an open-air museum with old houses, and a museum of technology. It is open 362 days a year. From June to August the hours are 9:00 to 18:00, from September to May 10:00 to 17:00, and it closes only on 24 and 25 December and on 1 January. That makes it one of the few indoor places on this part of the coast that you can count on in winter or in heavy rain. Opening times and group bookings are on the museum's own website.

The Fimmvörðuháls trail

Skógar is the southern end of the Fimmvörðuháls trail, which climbs to a pass at about 1000 metres and comes down into Þórsmörk. The Icelandic Touring Association, which runs huts along the route, gives 25 km, done in one long day or in two. The first part, from Skógar to the hut at Baldvinsskáli, is 12 km with about 1000 metres of climbing and takes four to five hours. The second part, down to Þórsmörk, is another 13 km and four to six hours.

The trail is usually open from about 25 June to 15 September, depending on the year, and snow can cover parts of it for a long time. The Touring Association describes it as challenging. Fog can bring visibility close to zero, wind above 10 to 12 metres per second makes walking hard, and camping on the pass is not an option in bad weather. The snowfield at Brattafönn gets slippery, and the narrow ridge of Kattarhryggir, made safer in recent years, needs a slow pace for anyone with vertigo. Mobile signal on the trail is unstable; the emergency number is 112.

For a guided crossing, a private day hike starts at Skógafoss, covers the 25 km with about 1,400 metres of ascent, passes the craters Móði and Magni and ends in Þórsmörk, where a super jeep brings you back with stops at Gígjökull and Seljalandsfoss. The operator plans 8 to 10 hours on average and up to 12, sometimes runs the route in reverse, and asks for fit hikers with mountain experience. Children under 7 cannot join, and lunch is not included. This tour has no reviews yet.

If you walk on your own, getting back is the hard part. In summer the Highland Bus serves Þórsmörk from 1 June to late September, stopping at Húsadalur, Langidalur and Básar, and runs back towards Reykjavík via Hvolsvöllur. Leave your plan with Safetravel before you set off.

Getting to Skógar

Most people come by car, as part of a drive along the coast. Without one, the Highland Bus route to Skógar runs in summer only, in 2026 from 13 June to 20 September: it leaves the BSÍ bus terminal in Reykjavík at 7:00 and arrives at Skógar at 9:45, with the return leaving at 10:15 and arriving back at BSÍ at 19:30 after a stop in Hvolsvöllur. It does not continue to Vík.

East of Skógar, the quad safari starts from a base camp just off Road 222 and crosses Sólheimasandur to the plane wreck. The wreck and the glacier tongue of Sólheimajökull are covered on our Sólheimajökull and plane wreck page, and the itineraries show how Skógar fits into a day from Vík.