Discover South Coast

Why visit South Coast

The South Coast is the headline drive of Iceland — a single 350km ribbon along the foot of the country's southern glaciers and volcanic ranges, with one extraordinary stop after another. Heading east from Reykjavík you hit Seljalandsfoss, the famous waterfall you can walk behind, then Skogafoss, an enormous 60-metre wall of water that often produces double rainbows in afternoon sun; the abandoned DC-3 plane wreck on the black-sand Sólheimasandur (a 90-minute walk each way); the dramatic Reynisfjara black-sand beach with its basalt columns and sea stacks near Vík (heed the sneaker-wave warnings); then on to the deep emerald canyon of Fjaðrárgljúfur; the Skaftafell area in Vatnajökull National Park, with the brilliant Svartífoss 'black falls' framed by hexagonal basalt columns and glacier-hiking expeditions onto Europe's largest icecap. The drive ends at the otherworldly Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, where house-sized icebergs calve off the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier and drift through dark water to the sea — the diamond beach where they wash up on black sand is one of Iceland's most photographed sights. Allow at least 2–3 days; the route is doable in winter with a 4x4 and ice-cave tours running January to March.