Getting Wowed by Southeast Iceland

Our time in Southeast Iceland really convinced us why many folks make this the focal destination of their Iceland trip. This section of the country is packed with incredible sights, and we felt really fortunate to continue having mostly rain-free weather. The only view we missed out on was the Stokksnes Mountains, which were deep in the clouds. We’ll have to put them back on our list for next time!

Starting out from our guesthouse in Egilsstaðir (where by the way, we highly recommend Askur Pizzeria & Brewery as well as Fellabakarí), our first stop was a short hike to an out-of-the-way pair of waterfalls (Fardagafoss and Onno-Óltifoss). They weren’t as dramatic as others we saw, but we had the trail all to ourselves and the mist around us created a striking experience.

We drove for most of the day without too much stopping, mostly observing the dramatic mountainsides right near the road as we headed for the Southern coast. We had planned an afternoon boat tour on Jökulsárlón, a glacial lagoon filled with icebergs, so we checked into our hotel and piled on all our warm layers before driving a bit further to the lagoon.

The boat tour was a blast! It was in an amphibious vehicle with a guide full of jokes, and we got to glide slowly around giant icebergs to see the different formations and colors. We were about 10km away from the nose of the glacier (the “snout”) hitting the lagoon, which meant that we also got to see vast views of the glacier up on the mountains behind. After the boat tour, we hung about for a little while watching some seals swimming around looking for dinner, and then we headed across the road to Diamond Beach.

As the glacier has receded from the ocean over the past 30 years, the lagoon has formed at the base of it, and there’s now a short river (officially Iceland’s shortest) connecting it to the ocean and acting as a choke point. When icebergs do make it through the exit, they speed along the quickly moving water (exacerbated by the tides), and many are washed up on the beach by the ocean waves. So you get clear-as-glass ice up on a black sand beach reflecting the light, hence Diamond Beach. It was really beautiful.

We had a relaxing evening at our hotel, eating dinner before 9pm for once on this trip, and were up and ready to go early the next morning. We PACKED it in that day, and I think the photos tell the story best, so check out below for our day’s itinerary of: Fjallsárlón, Svartifoss, Stjórnarfoss (just one we opportunistically stopped at after seeing it from the road and it was beautiful!), Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon (huge favorite), the town of Vik (the rainiest town in all of Iceland but it put on the sunshine for us and we had a super lovely lunch), Reynisfjara Beach, Skógafoss, and Seljalandsfoss!