Svartifoss

About Svartifoss

Svartifoss is a 20-meter waterfall framed by black basalt columns in the Skaftafell area of Vatnajökull National Park, Southeast Iceland. It is about four hours' drive east of Reykjavík on Route 1, and the name means the Black Falls.

The waterfall itself is small, so the reason people walk uphill for it is the frame: rows of dark columns hang over the pool like organ pipes. Those Svartifoss basalt columns formed about 300,000 years ago, when lava flowed down the Skaftafellsheiði plain, filled an old riverbed and cracked into columns as it cooled. Their shape is often said to have influenced Guðjón Samúelsson, the architect of Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík, so you may recognize the pattern from the church.

You can only reach the Svartifoss waterfall on foot. The trail starts beside the Skaftafellsstofa visitor center and climbs about 1.9 km to the falls, roughly 45 minutes each way. Most people take the S2 loop instead, a 5.8 km circuit graded easy that adds the smaller Hundafoss and Magnúsarfoss, the Sjónarsker viewpoint and the old turf farm at Sel, with about 250 meters of climbing in total.

So how long does it take to see Svartifoss? Plan on two to three hours from the parking lot, including time at the falls. There is no entry fee, but the regional parking fee for Skaftafell and Jökulsárlón is 1,110 ISK for a car with up to five seats, valid until midnight on the day you pay.

The Svartifoss hike works all year, though the path gets slippery in wet summer weather and can be icy or snow-covered in winter. In those months, bring traction spikes and ask at the visitor center, which is open all year. Morning or early evening light suits the dark columns best, and the trail is quieter then too.