Glymur waterfall hike: guided or on your own?
On your own, in summer, with a car. The loop is roughly 3–4 hours with a log crossing and steep, unfenced edges. We don't sell a scheduled guided Glymur hike.
The short version
- Glymur is at the head of Hvalfjörður, roughly an hour's drive from Reykjavík.
- The usual loop takes about 3–4 hours and climbs steeply along an unfenced gorge.
- The river crossing below the falls is a log with a steel cable. It is normally removed over the winter.
- Summer (roughly June to September) is the season. In ice or snow the path is a bad idea.
- There is no scheduled guided Glymur hike in our catalogue. A private transfer is from €234 per car.
Do it on your own, in summer, if you have a car and reasonable legs. Glymur is a proper hike, not a viewpoint: roughly three to four hours, a steep climb, a log over the river and long stretches along the edge of a gorge with no fence. It doesn’t need a guide in good conditions. It does need dry weather, decent boots and the sense to turn back. We don’t sell a scheduled guided Glymur hike, and we’d rather tell you that than dress something else up as one.
What Glymur is
Glymur drops into a narrow, moss-lined canyon at the head of Hvalfjörður, the long fjord north of Reykjavík. It’s roughly 198 metres, and for a long time it was called Iceland’s highest waterfall. A meltwater fall by Morsárjökull, measured in 2011, is usually reckoned taller now, but Glymur is still the tall one you can walk to in an afternoon from the capital.
You don’t see it from the car park. You earn it, and the best views are from the side of the gorge, looking across and down. On a still day you hear it long before you see it.
The hike itself
The trail starts from the car park in Botnsdalur, at the very end of the fjord. The first stretch is easy, through low birch. Then you drop to the river at Þvottahellir, a small cave you walk through, and cross the Botnsá.
This is the famous bit: a single log across the river, with a steel cable to hold. It’s not hard if you take it slowly. It is not for anyone who freezes on a narrow beam over moving water.
After the crossing the path climbs hard up the side of the gorge. There are ropes on a couple of steep, rocky sections. Several viewpoints look across to the falls, and the path runs right along the edge. There is no railing. Loose gravel, wet rock and a strong gust are the real hazards here, not the log.
The classic loop crosses the river again above the falls, by wading, and comes back down the other side. The upper crossing is shallow in a dry spell and not sensible after heavy rain or in snowmelt. If it looks too deep, go back the way you came. Plenty of people do, and the views are as good.
Allow roughly 3–4 hours for the loop, more with a lot of photo stops. It’s roughly 7 km with a few hundred metres of climbing. Take water and food. There is nothing on the trail.
Season: the log decides for you
The log is normally taken away over the winter, from late autumn until spring, because high water and ice would carry it off. Without it you can still hike up one side for a view, but the loop is off.
We’d go between June and September. Outside that, the steep sections can be icy, days are short, and a slip on that edge is a serious fall. Check the conditions on the day. If the car park is empty in November, there’s a reason.
Summer weekends get busy. Go early, or on a weekday. There may be a parking fee at the trailhead now; have a card ready.
Guided or alone
If you have a car, alone. The path is obvious and well trodden in summer, and a guide adds little in dry weather apart from company.
If you don’t have a car, it gets harder. There’s no public bus that makes it practical. The honest option is a private transfer from Reykjavík to Glymur and back, from €234. That’s priced per vehicle, not per person, so it’s reasonable for three or four people and steep for one. There’s also a transfer from Keflavík Airport to Glymur if you’re on your way in or out.
If you’re light on kit, hiking boots to rent in Reykjavík are from €26 a day, and walking poles from €15. Poles help a lot on the way down.
If you’d rather not do the hike
Hvalfjörður is worth a slow half-day even without Glymur. Two things we sell there:
- Private stand-up paddle boarding in Hvalfjörður, from €730, a private booking for up to five people with a drysuit and all the gear. Minimum age 14. Calm water, very few people.
- Private transfer to Hvammsvík Hot Springs, from €120 for the car (up to six people), with up to three hours at the pools on the fjord shore. Admission is extra. We cover the pools themselves in Hvammsvík hot springs from Reykjavík.
Glymur and Hvammsvík on the same day works well if you drive: hike in the morning, soak in the afternoon.
Our honest take
Go on your own, in summer, on a dry day. Start early, wear real boots, and treat the gorge edge with respect. It’s one of the better short hikes near Reykjavík, and it costs nothing but petrol.
Skip it if you’re uneasy with heights or narrow crossings, if it’s rained hard for two days, or if it’s anywhere near winter. A slip here isn’t a twisted ankle story.
And don’t pay for a private car just for Glymur unless there are several of you. For one or two people without a car, a Golden Circle or Snæfellsnes day gives you more for the money.
