Drekkingarhylur

About Drekkingarhylur

Drekkingarhylur is a pool in the Öxará river in Þingvellir National Park where at least 18 women were executed by drowning in the 17th and 18th centuries, on sentences passed at the Alþingi assembly. The name means the Drowning Pool, and the calm, clear water makes that history harder to shake.

Most of the women had been convicted of adultery, incest or killing a newborn child. They were tied in a sack and held under the water, while men sentenced at Þingvellir were beheaded or hanged at other spots nearby. The last drownings took place in the middle of the 18th century, and today the pool is one of the most sobering stops in the park.

You will find it beside the footbridge where the main path crosses the Öxará, in the heart of the old assembly site. Because the pool sits between Lögberg, the Law Rock, and the trail up to Öxarárfoss waterfall, most people walk past it on a loop through the rift. From the Hakið visitor center at the top of Almannagjá, the walk down takes about 15 to 20 minutes, and the P2 parking lot below Öxarárfoss is closer still.

There is no entry fee, but parking in the national park costs 1,000 ISK per day for a car with up to five seats and 1,200 ISK for six to nine seats. Pay at the machines at Hakið, P2 or P5 (Valhöll), or online, and one payment covers all three lots for that day.

Þingvellir is about 45 minutes by car from Reykjavík and open all year. The paths can be icy in winter, so bring traction if there is snow, and on summer days the area around Drekkingarhylur is quieter in the early morning or evening than at midday.