Honeymoon in Iceland – Day 3: Haifoss and Our First Black Beach

Long story short of our Iceland Honeymoon day 3: Today is a sunny day and as such, we will be going on a hike to Háifoss. And since we are on this matter, we will add two more waterfalls on our check list: Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss. We will include a short visit to the open air museum at Skógar and then head on south to the black beaches of Reynisfjara and Dyrhólaey – ending the day in the small city of Vik.

Our day on Google Maps

From our sleeping spot close to lake Þórisvatn we back tracked on road F26, 32 and headed north on dirt road 332. We continued on road 26 and took the ring road, No. 1, all the way to our final destination of Vik. On the way to the beaches we deviated using roads 218 and 215.

This night we slept sound and deep under the constant rocking of the quite adamant wind, that blew so hard it didn’t stopped from swinging the entire van like crazy. I got up several times to check if we were still there, in the parking lot, or if the wind had moved the car somewhere far away. 🙂

On the other hand, the wind did a pretty good job, as it scattered the clouds from the sky and we managed to finally greet, for the first time, the Icelandic sun in the morning.

Háifoss

We had breakfast and decided to take advantage of this fabulous day, with a short hike in the direction of Háifoss, the second largest waterfall in Iceland. From  Sprengisandsleið, we went back on road F26 and road 32 and after a long wooden bridge, we did a right on dirt road 332 that lead to  Stöng and Háifoss.

We continued for 3 more kilometers on the road and after passing a small farm we decided to park the car and do the remaining 5 kilometers on foot as the road was restricted for 4×4 vehicles. To be honest, you can go with a regular car all the way up to the waterfall, if you are careful as the road is in good condition (we even saw another Happy camper bus on the way). As we were walking on some sort of a plateau, we could see in the distance the waterfall and instantly thought “Hmmm… if we can see it from here it must be really big”.

We were surprised to see, when we actually managed to reach it, that what we saw previously was actually a small upstream waterfall and that Háifoss was actually A LOT BIGGER, like HUGE! Not only that, but it was composed of two waterfalls, each having a 122 meters fall. One big water flow on the right and another one on the left, with a big double rainbow in between. As we will keep on going from waterfall to waterfall in this country, I will constantly say “this is the most beautiful” as Iceland never stops to amaze, but surely Háifoss will be one of the biggest and definitely a must see.

Seljalandsfoss

Moving further, we are going in the direction of another site: Seljalandsfoss waterfall, that also brings with it a weather change, from clear and sunny skies we reach rain again. Beauty in this country comes with a price, as the weather is ever changing; Icelanders have a saying “If you don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes”. In your trip, you should not miss this waterfall as it is different, special and you can go all the way around it, behind the water flow in order not to miss any angles!

Skógafoss and Skogar

Packing up and moving out to the next destination at Skógafoss and Skogar. To go into detail, Skógafoss is another fantastic waterfall that has a stunning flow of water and comes packed with a black sand beach right in front.

Skogar is located next to the waterfall, after passing by the touristic center and it is an impressive open-air museum,  that has traditional and historic Icelandic houses. Some of them are open and you can visit the interior, noticing at first hand the living style of the Icelanders of old.

Black Beaches near Vik

We fast track to our next location, as the day is coming to an end and we still need to see the black sand beaches at Reynisfjara. But until we get there, I would like to make another remark: I can honestly say that Romania is a country with a diverse landscape, but it pales in comparison to Iceland as here everything shifts radically by 180 degrees every 30-50 kilometers.  The change in scenery is so dramatic that it is hard not to  flinch and feel your soul bursting with emotion.

Dyrhólaey

We have finally arrived at Dyrhólaey and we are extremely impressed! We caught the ocean in an uprising, creating high waves that rushed to the shores, determined to smash the black sands and create impressive white foams all around, in a continuous contrast with the volcanic landscape. The skies were working to match this scenery by sending their big grey clouds in a direct collision path with the waves. I think that even the biggest globetrotters would be absorbed by this kind of view! We simply lost track of time just staring at the horizon, running from the waves path, laughing and for a short period forgetting about the low degrees outside. This is paradise!

Reynisfjara

All we had left on the agenda for today was Reynisfjara and afterwards we needed to find a place to camp in the small town of Vik. Reynisfjara is another black sand beach, but it has some particular cylindrical basalt columns on the walls of the cliffs, Reynisdrangar as they are called. As a bonus here, we see our first puffin colony, those funny looking little birds that resemble penguins, but can actually fly and have an orange beak. Unfortunately, the night is closing in around us and also our camera decides to call it quits, as the battery got depleted, but we decided to return here next morning.

We went and slept in Vik camping, a cosy little place that offers everything you need for 2800 ISK / two persons, one night (showers included).

Hope you found the information helpful and accurate, but remember, if you have any questions drop them in a comment below!

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