Day Two - Driving Iceland's South Coast

Where we drive from Selfoss to Vik I Myrdal, on the South Coast of Iceland, a well-travelled route for visitors due to being easily accessible from Reykjavik.

Our Stops: Seljalandfoss, Ásólfsskálakirkja, Irarfoss, Seljavallalaug Swimming Pool hike, Rutshellir Caves, Skogafoss (short hike), Loftsalahellir Cave (short hike), Dyrholaey, Reynisfjara Beach, Black Crust Pizza (dinner), Hotel Burfell to spend the night

After eating breakfast at the apartments, we started on our way. Our first planned stop was Seljalandfoss. Though we parked, we noticed it was a bit busy and so didn't linger.

Ásólfsskálakirkja: We spotted a cool little village including a little church, from the side of the road and decided to investigate. The church is called Ásólfsskála and it was absolutely beautiful - not to mention quiet and completely deserted. Unlike Seljalandsfoss, we had this place completely to ourselves. We walked around and had a little photoshoot before we kept driving. Can you imagine how beautiful this would look when the grass is green in the summertime?

Irarfoss: We kept driving and soon chanced upon a wide clearing with a beautiful brook through rocks. There was only one car, and we decided to stop. We soon came upon this beautiful waterfall where we spent some time, climbing and taking pictures.

We were sad to leave but had places to get to! We got back onto the Ring Road.

Seljavallalaug Swimming Pool: Our next stop was the swimming pool, one of the oldest in Iceland. It's a short relatively easy hike, about 20 minutes, from the parking lot to the pool, with some beautiful sights along the way.

We headed back about 40 minutes later and made ourselves some lunch in our van!

It started to get quite windy as we finished up lunch - luckily the hike was in relatively calm weather.

Rutshellir Caves: We spotted this spot on the side of the road and decided to stop. It's a relatively short stop (5-10 minutes?) where you can walk into a cave and perhaps imagine yourself living in one in 11th century AD. It does say it's private property, but fine to check out if you have some time in your itinerary.

Skogafoss (Skoga Falls): This was a lovely stop with some great views. The Skogafoss can be seen from the parking lot, but if you climb up the stairs to the right of the falls, you will join a longer trail (Fimmvorduhals Trailhead) that takes you past many different waterfalls. The landscape feels unearthly somehow, like we were walking on Mars or something. We did a lovely 30-40 minute walk here after climbing up the stairs. The path was well maintained and wide, but boy was it windy. This area is also a campsite and there was a washroom fee. We spent about an hour here.

Loftsalahellir Cave: Next on our list was the Loftsalahellir Cave. We reached around 2PM and were the only ones there! We were a little confused about where the Cave was (it was actually above us to the left), but we kept walking away on what looked like a trail, because we didn’t immediately see it. We suddenly came across animal bones littered over the trail after we'd walked about 5 minutes, and decided to hightail it back to the van. We finally saw the cave to our left. It was a short but relatively steep climb. The view from inside the cave was lovely!

Dyrholaey: Though you can hike there, we decided to drive up. This was a breathtaking drive up a steep incline with hairpin turns though fully paved; I've read from previous travellers that it may have been a gravel road at one point. There were spectacular views at the top of the lighthouse and the beach. Some offroaders had drawn a set of you-know-what with their vehicle on the beach that we could see from the top – I’m certain this is not the first set they’ve drawn (groan). It was super windy so we walked quickly, taking in as much of the view as we could.

Reynisfjara: Our last stop before dinner! We'd had a long day. Taking in the sunset by the beach was beautiful. Note that there is paid parking at this site. Because of all the stories I'd heard about the dangers of this beach, despite it being quite safe that day, I stayed well away from the waters, though Aman decided to stroll into the cave nearby (I've seen videos of people being stranded in this cave because of the sneaker waves, so I stayed put where I was - I've learned that nature is not something to be toyed with).

We had dinner at the Black Crust Pizzeria which really hit the spot. We were starving! I could have probably polished off an entire pizza by myself at that point. I was dissapointed to note that they didn't offer too many vegetarian options: we got one of the only ones on the menu.

Our last stop was the Hotel Burfell where we would spend the night. We arrived a few hours after their check-in hours, so we had to call someone at the Hotel to get our room code. The room was very comfortable and clean. The hotel is far away from the city on a farm and feels completely isolated, which is a great experience in and of itself (bonus: an all-you-can eat continental breakfast is included in the stay!) That night, we also got our first glimpse of the Northern Lights! Initially, we thought what we were looking at were grey wisps of cloud - but the green colour showed up pretty clearly in the picture, though it was faint. I went out by myself around 1 am and walked away from the hotel - a mesmerizing feeling, like being completely alone in the wildnerness, despite being so close to the hotel - and caught the image below in the Northern sky: faint but definitely there.

To learn more about how to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights, take a look at my short primer for tips on seeing the Aurora!

For more on our Iceland Road Trip:

• An Overview of our Iceland Ring Road Drive with costs and a general itinerary
• Day 1 of our Ring Road Drive