Seljalandsfoss
Interesting facts
- The pool at the foot of the fall is called Kerið, "the Tub", and is home to sea char and sea trout.
- The cliff is capped with lava, while its lower part is palagonite tuff and breccia, volcanic rock built largely of ash and broken fragments.
- The cliff was cut by waves at the end of the last Ice Age, when the sea stood higher; as the ice melted, the land rose and the sea withdrew.
- Nearby Gljúfrabúi drops about 40 metres into a deep chasm, is fed by a spring-sourced river, and is protected as a natural monument.
- A large boulder called Franskanef stands in front of Gljúfrabúi's gorge and hides the base of that waterfall from view.
- Next to Gljúfrabúi is a small cave, Ömpuhellir, which local tradition links to a hermit woman who once lived there.
- In the 1990 film The Juniper Tree, a young Björk is filmed walking behind Seljalandsfoss.
- The waterfall has appeared on screen in the season 3 premiere of Star Trek: Discovery and in the first leg of The Amazing Race 6.
Why it is worth it
Seljalandsfoss is the waterfall people walk behind. The Seljalandsá river, fed from the ice of the volcano-glacier Eyjafjallajökull, drops about 60 metres from the lip of an old cliff in south Iceland, and the rock face behind the curtain has been hollowed into a shallow cave. A path loops around and behind the fall, so that for a few steps the world is seen through a moving wall of water.
The cliff itself is a record of Iceland's past: it once marked the island's southern coastline, and today it stands inland above flat, green lowlands, an old sea cliff over which the meltwater of the highlands still finds its way.
A short walk north along the cliff leads to Gljúfrabúi, "the canyon dweller", a smaller waterfall hidden almost completely inside a narrow gorge. Reaching it means stepping through a stream and squeezing into the rock opening, where the water falls into a mossy chamber open to the sky. Seen together, the two falls show two faces of the same landscape – one open to the plain, one tucked inside the cliff.
Getting there
The falls are right beside Route 1 in south Iceland, at the turn-off for Road 249 towards Þórsmörk; they are visible from the road. Reykjavík is about 110 km away, and Reykjavík Domestic Airport (RKV) about 112 km; international flights arrive at Keflavík (KEF), further west. A path of about 2 km links Seljalandsfoss and Gljúfrabúi; the walk behind the fall is wet and can be slippery.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Seljalandsfoss is a waterfall in Iceland. Seljalandsfoss is located in the South Region in Iceland right by Route 1 and the road that leads to Þórsmörk Road 249. The waterfall drops 60 m (197 ft) and is part of the Seljalands River that has its origin in the volcano glacier Eyjafjallajökull. Visitors can walk behind the falls into a small cave.
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