The South coast of Iceland is known for waterfalls and black sand beaches along with the small town of Vik, which has gained popularity among tourists and locals alike. Vik is also a good base for continuing onto Diamond beach and a well-known glacier out past Diamond beach.
While I don’t typically take tours, I signed up for a 10+ hour tour of the South coast with Bustravel Iceland, a reputable bus company known for large and small excursions that most commonly leave from Reykjavik, the island’s capital. The bus picked me and several others up around 8:15 AM and we were off to our first pit stop located about an hour and a half from Reykjavik. Following this brief stop, we reached our first official stop of the day: Skogafoss.
Skogafoss
Skogafoss is a large waterfall located in the south of Iceland. This massive waterfall is 60 meters tall! While I’d seen a large waterfall in Morocco, this one was magnificent and surprisingly relatively common to the island of Iceland.
Reynisfjara beach
Our next stop of the day was Reynisfjara beach, which is best known for black sand. While black sand beaches are actually relatively common on the island, this is because of the high amount of volcanic activity and eruptions that’ve occurred. Additionally, it is worth noting that “sneak attack waves” make the beach a fairly dangerous place to be if you aren’t extremely careful.
Often times, tourists will unknowingly turn their backs to the waves and one will sweep in far further than they imagined and they may be swept out to shore. One of the things I found to be more unique about this beach were the basalt columns located outside some of the caves.
Sólheimajökull
Following a quick lunch stop in the cute town of Vik, it was off to do a glacier walk. While we were not equipped to do the true glacier hike, we were able to walk up to the glacier and see its immense size. However, due to global warming this and other glaciers continue to recede. Yet, interestingly enough the blue color of the glacier is due to air being trapped inside the glacier. This experience was quite need and I’d recommend trying to make time for it when you’re in Iceland. I had never seen a glacier up close before, so this alone made the trip well-worth it.
Seljalandsfoss
Our final stop of the day was another large waterfall. This 60 meter tall waterfall is one you can actually walk behind if it’s a warm enough day, because you are more than likely going to get wet!
From glaciers to waterfalls to my personal favorite, the black sand beach there you have the South coast of Iceland. Tune in for an article about a tour of Kirkjufell and beyond.
Stampchaser Photography 