Skógafoss stairs and the first hour of Fimmvörðuháls

Most people see Skógafoss from the river bed and climb the staircase to the platform at the top. This walk keeps going: past the platform and up the Skógá on the path that eventually crosses Fimmvörðuháls, for one hour, then back the same way. The river drops over a run of further falls in that first stretch, and the crowds thin within minutes of the platform. It suits anyone fit enough for a long staircase and an uphill path; it does not suit someone who wants a short roadside stop.

The figures, read today. The nature agency's page gives Skógafoss as about 60 m high and 25 m wide, protected as a natural monument since 1987. The Iceland Touring Association's Fimmvörðuháls page gives Skógar to Baldvinsskáli as 12 km and 4–5 hours with about 1,000 m of ascent, a bridge about 8 km in, and the full crossing's season as roughly 25 June to 15 September, varying with snow. Parka's car-park page gives 1,000 ISK for a car of up to five seats and 1,300 ISK for six to nine, per five hours, toilets included, with an 89 ISK transaction fee online (2026-11-01). An unpaid stay draws a 1,960 ISK surcharge after 24 hours, and sleeping in the car park is prohibited.

#The arithmetic

The turn-back point is computed from the touring association's figures: 12 km in 4–5 hours is 2.4–3 km an hour on the climb, so an hour up reaches roughly 2.5–3 km. The stop then costs 60 minutes up, about 50 down, 15 at the base and the platform, and a 25-minute buffer for the stairs and parking: about 150 minutes.

On the Keflavík–Vík day of the seven-day and ten-day Ring Road journeys, and day 3 of the five-day South Coast and Golden Circle, Skógafoss is already a stop, so those 150 minutes replace a 30-minute look. From a Vík bed it is 34 km and 31 minutes each way by OSRM on OpenStreetMap, which makes about 210 minutes as a separate outing.

#What goes wrong

Ice: the staircase is closed or treacherous when frozen, and the upper path holds snow into early summer. Weather: the touring association says conditions change quickly and fog can cut visibility to almost nothing higher up. Further on, the Icelandic Tourist Board relayed on 25 August 2026 a warning from Ferðafélag Íslands, Útivist and the Dagrenning rescue team against crossing between Baldvinsskáli and Fimmvörðuhálsskáli, where glacier retreat has opened ravines, scree and crevasses. An hour from the car park is far below that section; the warning is the reason not to keep going.

Safetravel's hiking page asks short-walk hikers to carry a phone, hat, gloves and rain- and windproof jacket and trousers, and to leave a note in the car saying where they went and for how long. Emergency number: 112.

#Alternatives on the same road

Thirty kilometres west, Seljalandsfoss and Gljúfrabúi is the wet walk behind the water. Ten minutes east, the Sólheimajökull glacier walk needs a guide and crampons, and the Sólheimasandur plane-wreck walk is flat sand.