Description
Summary
Description
Travel the South Coast of Iceland on a 10-hour guided day tour from Reykjavik that reaches two famous waterfalls, a glacier viewpoint, and a black sand beach. This South Coast tour from Reykjavik is best suited to travelers on a short stay or a stopover and is the single best introduction to the most popular landscapes south of the capital.
Your booking covers the full route and the commentary that comes with it. A professional English-speaking guide travels with you to Skogafoss Waterfall, Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, the Solheimajokull Glacier viewpoint, Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach, and the village of Vik. You ride in a comfortable coach with free Wi-Fi on board.
The tour leaves Reykjavik in the morning and returns the same evening, so you can keep the capital as your base and hand the driving to a guide who knows this road in every season.
The first stop is Skogafoss, where the Skoga River drops 200 feet (60 meters) from an old sea cliff in a sheet wide enough to soak anyone who walks close. A staircase of 527 steps climbs the eastern side to a platform that looks out across the southern lowlands toward the sea.
You continue to Vik i Myrdal, the southernmost village in Iceland, where there is time for lunch or for browsing the wool shops before the next stop. The village sits under green cliffs with the ocean on one side and the Myrdalsjokull Ice Cap inland.
Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach comes next, backed by a cliff of hexagonal basalt columns and facing the Reynisdrangar Sea Stacks offshore. Local folklore calls the stacks petrified trolls caught by the sunrise, and the columns form a natural staircase that photographs well in any weather and season.
The surf at Reynisfjara is genuinely dangerous. Sneaker waves arrive without warning and run far higher up the sand than the previous ones, so follow your guide's instructions and stay well back from the waterline. Warning lights along the beach show the daily risk rating.
At Solheimajokull, a short walk leads to a viewpoint over an outlet glacier of Myrdalsjokull, a frozen river of ice streaked with volcanic ash. Your guide explains how the tongue has retreated within living memory, which makes the scale of Icelandic glacial change easy to grasp in person. This is a viewing stop with no glacier walking included.
The final stop is Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, best known for the path that runs behind the falling water. Walking the full loop and looking out through the curtain is a rare perspective. It's open whenever the ground is not frozen, so expect to get wet and bring a waterproof layer.
Travel for this tour is by a roomy coach with free Wi-Fi and an onboard restroom, led by an English-speaking guide who covers the eruptions, the sagas, and the farming history behind each valley on the route. The minimum age is six years and the walking at every stop is short and easy.
Your 10-hour South Coast experience finishes with a drop-off in Reykjavik.
Book your South Coast tour from Reykjavik and trade a day of planning, driving, and parking for a guided route that covers every major stop between the capital and Vik. Check availability now by choosing a date.
