Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon: worth the stop?

Yes, if you’re driving past it. Fjaðrárgljúfur is a few minutes off Road 1, the walk takes about an hour, and it’s one of the better short stops between Vík and Skaftafell. It isn’t worth a special trip, and in some springs the path is closed. Check before you turn off.

What it is

A canyon cut by the Fjaðrá river through soft rock, winding for a couple of kilometres and roughly 100 metres deep at its deepest. The walls are covered in moss, and the river runs thin and braided along the bottom. It’s greener and more twisted than the big glacial canyons in the north and east.

It sits just west of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. You turn off Road 1 onto a short side road and drive to the car park at the canyon mouth.

The walk

A marked path climbs along the eastern rim from the car park, with viewing platforms along the way. The upper platform looks back down the length of the canyon and is the view in the photographs. Allow about an hour there and back at an easy pace. It’s uphill but not steep, and fine in ordinary walking shoes when dry. In wet weather it’s muddy.

Stay on the path and behind the ropes. The rim is undercut in places, and the moss that makes the canyon green takes decades to recover once it’s trampled. That is exactly how the canyon got into trouble.

Why it closes

Visitor numbers here rose sharply after the canyon appeared in a Justin Bieber music video in 2015. The path wasn’t built for it. People walked off the trail to the edge, and the moss and soil along the rim were worn away.

Since then the Environment Agency has closed the path for spells, usually in spring, when thawing ground turns soft and a single season of boots can do lasting damage. Some closures have lasted weeks; some springs it has stayed open. The dates change from year to year, so we can’t give you a reliable window. If you’re passing in April or May, check the current status the day before. Summer and autumn are the dependable months.

When it’s closed, it’s closed. Please don’t step over the barrier. The ground is the reason, and it’s a good one.

Getting there without a car

No tour we sell is built around Fjaðrárgljúfur. It’s a stop on longer days, usually a short one:

• South Coast & Glacier Lagoon, from €320, fifteen hours from Reykjavík with pickup. The canyon is one of about a dozen stops between the South Coast waterfalls and Jökulsárlón. Expect a short stretch of rim, not the full walk.
• Lakagígar volcano and lava Expedition, from €274, eight to nine hours by super jeep from Kirkjubæjarklaustur, run 15 June to 15 September. It goes up to the Laki craters and Fagrifoss, and finishes at Fjaðrárgljúfur. This is the one we’d pick: a highland day that happens to end at the canyon.
• 6 Day — Iceland Ring Road, from €1,824, a winter departure. The canyon is a stop on day two, between the Katla ice cave and Jökulsárlón.

On the long day tours from Reykjavík, the canyon competes for time with everything else on the route. If the path is closed, the stop simply drops out.

How it fits a South Coast drive

Kirkjubæjarklaustur is roughly an hour east of Vík. If you’re driving from Vík to Skaftafell or Jökulsárlón, the canyon is on the way and costs you about an hour, including the detour. If you’re turning back at Vík, it isn’t worth an extra two hours of driving for the canyon alone.

It works best early or late in the day, before and after the tour coaches. The light in the canyon is also softer then.

Expect to pay for parking, as at many busy stops in the south; check the sign at the car park and have a card ready.

Our honest take

Stop if you’re driving east past it and the path is open. It’s an hour well spent, and it breaks up the long stretch across the lava between Vík and Skaftafell.

Don’t book a tour for it. If you’re without a car and want to see it properly, the summer Laki super jeep from Kirkjubæjarklaustur at €274 is the only one where the canyon isn’t a rushed stop, and you get the Laki craters as well.

And if you’re travelling in spring, have a backup. When the path is closed, the canyon from the car park is a mouth of rock and a river. Drive on to Skaftafell and walk up to Svartifoss instead.