Route km 158 South Coast
Skógafoss — The Staircase Waterfall on the South Coast
A dead-straight, 25-metre-wide curtain of water you view head-on from the ground, then climb past on a steep staircase for a very different view from the top.
- Minimum stop
- 30–60 minutes
- Height / width
- ~60 m / ~25 m
- Staircase
- ~400–527 steps
- Rainbow window
- Sunny afternoons
The base / 01
Why the frontal view works here
Unlike Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss is meant to be looked at rather than walked behind — a full, unbroken curtain of water falling straight down a cliff face, wide enough that on a sunny afternoon the spray regularly throws a rainbow (sometimes a double one) across the base. The approach field in front is flat and open, so this is one of the easier stops for anyone with limited mobility, at least at ground level.
The climb / 02
The staircase is optional, and genuinely steep
A staircase on the eastern side climbs roughly 400 steps (some counts run higher depending on where you start counting) to a viewing platform above the falls, where the river recedes into open highland rather than a dramatic overlook — the climb itself, not the summit view, is the main reason to do it. The stairs are steep, occasionally shaky underfoot, and count as a real physical effort, not a casual add-on.
Beyond the falls / 03
The trailhead for a much longer hike
From the top of the stairs, a marked trail continues toward Fimmvörðuháls, a roughly 25 km high-altitude pass between the Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull glaciers, gaining about 1,000 metres of elevation over exposed terrain. That's a full-day mountain hike in its own right, not part of a normal Ring Road stop — worth knowing about even if you're only going as far as the staircase viewpoint.
Keep moving / 04