Iceland South Coast – Part 2

Day 3

We started out this day feeling a bit more rested than the day before. I guess the jet lag was beginning to wear off. This was a good thing because we had yet another BUSY morning planned. We wanted to finish up the main sites along the South Coast before our lunch reservation at Friðheimar, a tomato greenhouse/restaurant along the Golden Circle.

Since this had been our last night at the AirBnb in Vík, we needed to pack up all of our stuff as we set out for the day. Because it would be a lot to juggle in one morning, this started what would become a daily routine for Scott and I to prep during the night before for the next day (as best as we could). The night before we would map out our plans for the next day, trying to estimate times at each site and drive times between locations. We would back out a “need to leave” time and a “wake the kids” time and a “alarm for adults” time (because some things are easier to get done before you need to juggle the kids as well). We would also lay out clothes for the next day and set aside any additional layers/gear that we need accessible in the car. Same thing with snack and entertainment for the car. Ideally, we could have packed some of this into the car the night before, but with the cold temperatures, we decided to limit what was kept in the car overnight. Getting ourselves ready before waking the kids worked best for us (similar to what we do at home on weekdays anyway).

I know, I know… this does not sound like a vacation, but hear me out! Sitting down after the kids were in bed and getting a plan together for the next day, looking at the places we would visit, discussing what we had already experienced on the trip, usually with a beer or wine in hand, was such a nice way to decompress and connect. Have I mentioned that we are planners? Ha! This approach certainly might not be for everyone.

The morning went about as expected. Lots to organize between what we will need for the day and what to pack up in luggage and then trying to get the kids fed and dressed and cleaning up the house for checkout. Fortunately we made it out of the house only maybe 15-20 min later than we planned. Turns out, we needed every one of those minutes, but what can you do.

Kvernufoss

Our day started with the longest planned hike. We figured it would be better to push the kids with any long walks earlier, and this stop made the most sense to do first since it was the closest to Vik. Kvernofoss is a hike from the Skógar Museum back along a river canyon. The path is not well marked, but we read some detailed descriptions on how to find the path. Even still, there was a bit of uncertainty at first, so I want to describe how we were able to find the hike. First, when you get to the museum parking lot, drive ALL THE WAY to the back. Drive and park as far back as you can, past the museum building. We parked almost at the front of the museum so we had to add that additional distance to our hike. Not a huge deal, but every minute counts with two little ones in tow. The trail starts off the very far northeast corner of the museum area, past the warehouse/garage buildings. You will know where to go when you see a ladder built to go over a pasture fence. I am assuming that this ladder exists to encourage people to visit the waterfall but also keep sheep from roaming off. I have been assured that even though it feels like trespassing, it is totally fine.

After you climb over the fence, you’ll likely have to make your way past a few friendly sheep, but continue on until you reach a small river. Then take a left into the canyon and follow the trail. Soon it will start to get windy. REALLY WINDY. Like, how did I not read any warnings about the wind? (Haha, just kidding. I had that thought at the time and then later realized nobody gives that warning because the wind is wild all over Iceland, so duh, expect lots of wind.) I read that it was a pretty easy hike, and maybe it is. Maybe since I don’t really hike back home, I don’t know what easy is. Or maybe since Scott was wearing A and I was in charge of keeping J safe, everything seemed harder than it really was. Either way, it seemed challenging for a family with two toddlers. We were very glad that Scott was wearing A in her pack. At one point I was pushing J from his bottom up a steep incline and Scott had to pull him up to reach the top. Fun note – right after this part, we met the only other group of hikers we saw on the whole trail, and they also just happened to be from Houston! (Identified by one of them wearing a Rockets beanie.) We all laughed at the coincidence, they encouraged us to press on, promising that it was worth it, and we all kept moving. Such a small world!

A little farther along and we could see the waterfall! Awesome! It was such a sense of accomplishment to make it this far and so surreal to experience it in relative solitude. We didn’t hike all the way to the base of the waterfall; the wind was picking up even more, the hike had taken longer than expected, and we reached a place on the trail that we couldn’t get past with the kids. We counted this as a win and turned around to hike back. Anyone that makes it all the way to the base can also hike behind the waterfall. Maybe on another visit for us. 😉

Our timing turned out to be great. On the way out we passed several other people starting the hike. We started around 9am, so keep that in mind if you are looking to also beat the crowds. One group was even heading in to take wedding pictures; we could see the bride’s wedding dress blowing in the wind. I hope those turned out! The wind was intense but the scenery was gorgeous.

Skogafoss

We made it back to our car after a successful Kvernufoss hike and drove the super short distance to the Skogafoss parking lot. And I mean, SUPER short. You can see Skogafoss from the Skógar museum. It was one of those moments as a parent when you feel the struggle of car seats and buckles and, ya know, all that safety stuff because after un-layering, loading everyone into the car, and driving over, we probably could have just walked it, haha. Wouldn’t have really made sense anyway though because we would want the car with us to head out to the next adventure after Skogafoss, but maaaaan sometimes you feel that pain in your bones.

This was another stop where we seemed to beat the large crowds. We easily found parking and re-layered into our waterproof gear. The mist from powerful Skogafoss was already visible. A short walk over to the bottom of the waterfall was awe inspiring. This was the most powerful waterfall that I had ever seen! (At this point.) We walked up the river to reach the pool that the waterfall was pouring into. I couldn’t believe how close we could get! We walked right up to the bottom! The mist was spraying us and the downpour of the waterfall rushing past. We were glad to once again have A in the carrier and kept a close eye on J, but overall a great experience! The rocky riverbanks were shallow, making the walk very easy and friendly tourists were kind enough to take pictures of our group. Once again, several tripods were set up with real photographers searching for great shots, and we did our best to avoid their frames – I hope. My main takeaway was that I just couldn’t believe how close we could get! Iceland definitely does not treat their visitors with kid gloves; common sense and judgement are key here. I love it! The lack of barriers and security makes the experience feel so authentic.

Getting a few fun pictures in front of Skogafoss completed my goal for the visit, but Scott kept longingly gazing at the staircase leading to the top of the waterfall. That staircase looked like approximately 7000 stairs, so I took a HARD PASS. Much less with kids?  Wow, we would be there all day. Taking snack breaks half way up, maybe a nap, who knows. The kids and I opted to wait in the car, watching Baby Shark on repeat (thank you portable Wi-Fi) and snacking on goldfish while Scott made the trek. I am very happy to see his pictures and also very happy that the rest of us stayed behind. In addition to the stairs (370 actually), Scott said that the whole staircase would sway along the edge of the cliff at times due to the amount of people going up and down. NO thanks. I’ll take Baby Shark.

I do think it was cool to see the houses from the top of the cliff and the wide view of the whole Skogafoss scenery so props to Scott for taking one for the team. Once Scott made it back (record time, by the way), we set out for our next waterfall stop.

Seljalandsfoss

Our first glimpse of Sellandsjafoss was on our first day in Iceland. During the drive from the airport to Vik, we saw a waterfall across a large field and for the next 30+ min, we kept anticipating getting closer and closer. Finally we reached it and realized this was the famous Seljalansfoss! We didn’t realize it was so visible from the Ring Road. Finally now we were back to visit for real after that brief glimpse a few days earlier!

Seljalandsfoss was the first place we visited that we experienced parking trouble. This parking lot is paid parking only. How much is parking here? I do not know. After waiting to find a spot and then waiting in line multiple times to pay to park, the pay machines were not working. We were not the only tourists with the same issue, and we decided to press on anyway. I have to assume the parking meters were having a glitch – from my understanding, the paid parking here was relatively new.

Walking up to the waterfall, you can see that it is much larger than expected from the views off the Ring Road. We even decided to run back to the car to grab an extra backpack carrier. It was becoming clear that the path would be slippery and possibly dangerous for any young child. We started out with Scott carrying A in a pack, and after a brief/major tantrum, I ended up carrying J. Note, my children love their father… LOVE him. I am basically chopped liver. So that is why it was so much of a struggle on this trip to get the kids to “allow” me to help them. This was a layer of difficulty that we did NOT predict. Life would have been a lot easier if both kids were not clamoring for Scott and Scott only the whole time. Spoiler: we started bribing with chocolate granola bars. *so many eyerollsss*

Once we were all situated, we finally started the hike behind Seljalandsfoss. It is a short walk, just very slippery because of the waterfall spray, so once again, happy to have the kids in the backpacks. Even if one was angry and throwing his rage-weight around (*ahem* J). We used the catwalk path to go around behind the waterfall and managed to get a couple amazing silhouette photos. The path to continue around the waterfall looked more difficult than the path we took in, so we turned around and walked back. In addition to the slippery, uneven path, this was a very crowded attraction, so maneuvering around other tourists and everyone angling to try to get “that perfect shot” added to the difficulty.

In front of the waterfall, we crossed a bridge toward Gljufurarfoss and for some more great views of Seljalandsfoss. And this is where we really really considered the short hike to Gljufurarfoss. It was in our original plan, but everything else had taken longer than expected and we had a lunch reservation to meet at Friðheimar. Truly one of the most agonizing decisions of the whole trip, we decided to forgo Gljufurarfoss. Huge bummer. But we had taken longer on the hike to Kvernufoss, our transitions between attractions had been longer, and we were out of time if we wanted to make it to the lunch reservation.

Friðheimar

One of the rare meal reservations that we made on this trip (the only other being lunch at the Blue Lagoon), we made sure to be on time for our table. After parking, we walked past a scenic field and a stable with Icelandic horses, the smell of basil overpowering the air as we entered the restaurant. We walked right into a full greenhouse. A tomato greenhouse.

The atmosphere was so relaxing. After a few minutes, we were seated and promptly ordered tomato beer (Scott), Bloody Mary (Lindsay), and two apple juices for the kids. Scott and I ate the tomato soup buffet, which included unlimited bread and butter, and we ordered a tomato tortilla (pizza) for the kids to share. Everything was great, honestly good. Maybe felt a bit of sticker shock at the price for a simple tomato soup, but we knew what we were getting into. We were paying for the experience and atmosphere. We also ordered the tomato cheesecake and tomato ice cream for dessert – the desserts were hands down the highlight of the meal. We ordered them for the kids buuuut had a hard time sharing – that good!

On the way out of the restaurant, we made sure to give lots of pets to the Icelandic horses in the stables next door. This was our first up close encounter with these friendly horses, and the kids loved it!

Kerid Crater

Driving from Friðheimar to our next accommodations in Selfoss, we noticed a popular spot along the road… turns out that we were driving right past Kerid Crater! Maybe it was the finally sunny weather putting us in an adventurous mood, but we called an audible and pulled into the parking lot. One of the rare places in Iceland that require an entry fee, we waited in line, paid our dues and then headed into the crater overlook. What a sight! The red dirt funneling down toward the blue pool at the bottom of the crater was stunning. Another dramatically windy location, so we didn’t stick around too long. Such a cool unplanned stop though- very glad that we pulled over!

That evening we checked into our new accommodations in Selfoss: Gesthús Selfoss

We had an entire two bedroom cabin to ourselves, and it was perfect for us. Plenty of room to hang out, a stocked kitchen, and they even provided a pack-n-play for A. The staff was beyond helpful with letting us do laundry in the staff washer/dryer – sooo amazing – we had a LOT of laundry by this point. If the weather had been better during our days here, the kids would have been able to run around our cabin’s large patio and play at an on-site playground. I would highly recommend this place to stay if you are in Selfoss. Besides glamorous laundry duty, we spent the evening with an easy dinner in the cabin and unwinding from the past few busy days.