Gray Line tours depart from their main office to the north east of the capital city just across the water from the island of Videy. It is possible to make your own way there for the departure time but free pick-ups are provided around Reykjavík too using minibuses. Our pick-up was just a few minutes walk from our hotel at Bus Stop Number 1 – Ráðhúsið/City Hall. It’s worth noting if you’re looking at a map or arriving at the location that there are bus stops on both sides of the road but as far as we could tell – and certainly as far as we were concerned – tour buses were picking people up only from the southern side. Our excursion was due to start at 09:00 which meant pick-ups were commencing from 08:30 and when we arrived just before then there were a lot of people already waiting and trying to find somewhere that the wind wasn’t striking them quite so violently. We initially thought everyone was going on the same tour as us but it soon became apparent that there were at least a dozen different groups getting ready to explore the Icelandic landscape somewhere with different companies.

Of course, with this being Iceland in December it was dark at 08:30. And cold. Very, very cold.

Our minibus eventually turned up, our names were checked, we got aboard, were whisked across to the main office, transferred to the big bus, and very soon after 09:00 were on our way eastwards out of the city then south towards the coast. It was still dark but the sun was starting to create some lovely colours on the horizon.

Hvolsvöllur

The first stop was at the small town of Hvolsvöllur. This was strictly a toilet and refreshments break as there was very little else to see or do where we parked. But that’s a relative term when you’re talking about Iceland because the views are always spectacular in some way wherever you are, and since we neither required the use of the loo nor picking up anything to eat or drink, having sensibly done the latter at the shop near our hotel before we left, I snapped a few images of the Icelandic landscape while everyone else sunk some coffee and grabbed snacks.

Eyjafjallajökull

We passed Seljalandsfoss on our left hand side – this would be the last place we would visit during our return to Reykjavík later in the day – then made a stop by the roadside a while after, a photo opportunity to take pictures of Eyjafjallajökull. The almost unpronounceable Eyjafjallajökull is an ice cap which feeds several glaciers in the region. It’s far more famous, though, as being on top of the stratovolcano that erupted in 2010 and caused huge disruption to air travel around Iceland.

The long shadows cast by the sun slowly creeping into the sky were fabulous.

Skógafoss Waterfall

The next stop on our tour of southern Iceland was the first of the two waterfalls we would be visiting, Skógafoss. Its 60 metre drop makes it one of the largest waterfalls in Iceland and even if you’ve not visited it in person you might have still seen it anyway as it featured as a location in the movie Thor: The Dark World.

With the low, weak sun coming from the south our view of the waterfall and the huge amount of spray it was throwing up was accompanied by a rainbow. The waterfall area formed a small valley and the wind was bitterly cold as it thundered down it. Taking photos was a case of removing gloves for the briefest of seconds to take the picture then immediately replacing them and rubbing the fingers for warmth. That spray and the wind were the reasons we didn’t want to venture too close to Skógafoss although plenty of people did. If I hadn’t had my camera with me then I might have done so too. But when don’t I have my camera with me?

There are steps to the right side of Skógafoss that lead up to a viewing platform and form part of a walking route that heads as far back to the west as Eyjafjallajökull. Because of our tour duration limits we would only really have had time to climb to the top then come back down and with the light falling on the waterfall the way it was I decided we’d get better views from ground level. At a different time of the year or even day I might have made the ascent.

All that water cascading off Skógafoss has to go somewhere and it was into a river that flowed surprisingly slowly to the south of us. You can see just how cold it was from the lumps of ice floating downstream and the shallow edge closest to where we were was frozen over completely which encouraged some people to even walk on it and take photos.

In the second post covering this south coast of Iceland tour I’ll include the next two stops – the village of Vík and the black sand beach at Reynisfjara – and the third post will conclude this excellent Gray Line excursion with an unexpected stop at the Sólheimajökull glacier before our second waterfall of the day and the place we’d passed a little earlier, Seljalandsfoss.

Until this point we’d assumed that everyone aboard the bus was on the same excursion but this turned out not to be true. Four people travelling with us had booked a different trip; one that included the waterfalls we were visiting on this tour but which skipped the town and beach coming up for us with a walk on a glacier instead. After leaving Skógafoss we took a quick detour in order to drop these people off at Sólheimajökull where they were due to meet with local guides for their trip and from where we would later return to pick them up on the way back to Reykjavík.

After that we were on our way again and didn’t stop until we’d reached the farthest point from Iceland’s capital city that this tour would be taking us to.

Vík í Mýrdal

Vík í Mýrdal (or Vík for short) is the most southerly village in Iceland. Despite the small number of local inhabitants the village can hold several times its permanent number in hotels and other accommodations in the area as the location is often used by scientific teams because of some interesting features of the town. Drawing a line directly south there is no landmass at all between Vík and Antarctica. To the north lies the Katla volcano, currently covered by a glacier as it has not erupted since 1918. It is believed that when the volcano does erupt it will melt enough of the glacier to flood almost the entire village so evacuation drills are regularly held in order that people know how to get to the higher land in a timely manner. The prominent church in Vík is the congregation point for those drills.

The geology of the area around Vík comprises black basalt giving everything an odd look for a beach if you’re just used to golden sand elsewhere in the world but one that seems so perfectly right in Iceland. A few people from our tour group headed down towards the beach but the majority seemed keen to hit the large supermarket and store near where our bus had parked or wandered into the village to see whether any of the cafés or restaurants or wool shops were open. We had spotted a rocky jetty extending out into the sea and although we’d been warned that the sea conditions were often extremely dangerous in this area we could see nothing but calm conditions and decided to head down to it and see how far out we could get. We weren’t the only ones. We’re suckers for piers and jetties. I can’t exactly explain it but we’re just drawn to them. There’s a wonderful feeling being out from the mainland with sea in most directions and being able to look back and get a bigger picture of what’s ashore.

Due to the village’s sheltered positioning and direct face towards the Gulf Stream it is among the wettest and warmest places in Iceland, the former environmental condition not being a problem at all for us during our clear sky visit to Vík and the latter being something we discussed at the time as we noticed that the deadly chill from the wind we’d experienced at Skógafoss had almost completely transformed into something remarkably close to quite pleasant on the coast.

Once the rocks of the jetty became too large and uneven to easily progress without the fear of slipping off or turning an ankle and after we’d had a discussion about just what we’d do if we saw the distant glacier explode into steam ahead of a flooding event because the volcano was erupting (answer: hold onto a boulder and hope) we headed back onto land and wandered a little farther west of Vík as we’d seen an interesting-looking sculpture in that area.

That sculpture turned out to be one half of the Voyages Sculpture by Steinunn Thorarinsdottir. The sculpture represents the friendship between Vík in Iceland and Hull in England where a matching sculpture stands (although the one in Hull isn’t the original as that was stolen by scrap metal thieves in 2011), both places having a long fishing history together only broken during the Cod Wars. Voyages was jointly commissioned by the British and Icelandic governments. An interesting fact about Steinunn Thorarinsdottir – at least for us as it’s our home city – is that she was educated at the University of Portsmouth.

We headed back to the bus in plenty of time to take a look around a large and well-stocked shop for tourists and make use of the public toilets before it was time to board and head just along the coast to our next stop.

Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach

From the photos from Vík above you can see that there were some basalt sea stacks to the west of the village. Our destination was the other side of them which, because of the rocky headland jutting out into the sea and because buses don’t float very well, meant a drive north, then west, then south to get to where we needed to be. This reasonably short drive gave us a slightly closer view of the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap covering the Katla volcano.

A decent-sized car park was pretty full when we arrived and indicated clearly that Reynisfjara was a popular destination for tourists visiting Iceland. It was very easy to see why, though. East of the beach and beyond the basalt rocks on it were the prominent basalt columns jutting up from the sea while to the west there was a clear view of Dyrhólaey, a peninsula with a couple of very obvious arches of rock visible. Our guide on the bus had mentioned that someone had actually flown through the larger arch on a microlight craft.

We didn’t have anywhere near enough time to head down towards Dyrhólaey but it was the basalt columns that were of more interest to everyone anyway. They are known as the Reynisdrangar and Icelandic legend claims they are the petrified remains of trolls who’d dragged a three-masted ship towards shore but got caught by the sunrise. That’s so like a troll to do that.

The rocky headland that separates Reynisfjara from Vík is also basalt and is also fascinating to look at especially if you’ve never seen basalt rock formations before. We hadn’t. I love seeing geometric patterns and structures produced by natural processes. Just like the Reynisdrangar in the sea the basalt formations on land and the large but shallow cave in the headland were big hits with photographers amongst the tourists visiting this particular part of Iceland’s south coast.

Sea birds circled endlessly above the Reynisfjara headland. This area is home to puffins – a favourite bird of my wife’s for some reason I’ve never delved into – but you’ve obviously got to visit at the right time of year to see them and it didn’t appear that early December was it.

Iceland doesn’t really have rolling landscapes, or at least the bits of Iceland we’ve seen across two visits to the country don’t. The bits that aren’t mountains are flat and there are very few instances where neither feature applies. It makes for a land that often makes you feel small. You’re small against the vast, open flat areas; you’re small against the glacier-topped and snow-peaked mountains; you’re small under the night sky when it’s clear and especially when there are aurorae active. Distances look huge but everything looks within easy reach. We could see some of that very Icelandic view as we came back from the beach to the parking area ahead of our departure. Iceland is a country that gets to you and you can sense how it molds the people who live there.

There were a few buildings around the parking area at Reynisfjara, including a public toilet and a small dining establishment. We had no need of either and waited around to grab a few final photos until we saw members of our tour group starting to appear and board the bus.

In the third and final part of this south coast Iceland excursion we’ll hit the Sólheimajökull glacier to pick up the tour group passengers we’d dropped there earlier before our second waterfall of the day, Seljalandsfoss.

Getting back on the bus after our visit to Reynisfjara our guide told us that we’d all been very punctual and because traffic had been light when we were getting out of Reykjavík thanks to this being a Sunday we were running ahead of schedule. We knew that we would have to take a slight detour on the way to what should have been the last destination in order to pick up the tour group we’d dropped off earlier in the day for their glacier walk but we were now informed that since we’d have additional time there would be a chance for those of us who wanted it to get off the bus at the glacier and get a little closer to it. We were, of course, extremely happy to hear this. I mean, who doesn’t like glaciers?

Sólheimajökull Glacier

It was late afternoon as we pulled into the car park at Sólheimajökull where there were around a couple of dozen other vehicles and some buildings where those who would have been taking hikes on the glacier could get refreshments, drop off bags, and get changed into decent walking boots, etc. Our guide pointed us to a path heading northwards and informed us that if we followed it then we’d get to see the glacier and the river run-off from it, and that we’d be able to follow the path for about 15-20 minutes but that we shouldn’t go beyond where signs indicated guides were required. With only around 40 minutes before we’d need to be back on the bus we knew we’d have just enough time to get as far as it was possible to go, grab some photos, then make our way back so as soon as the bus doors opened we were off and making for the path immediately. Behind us the sun was barely above the horizon and was producing a gorgeous sunset over the Icelandic landscape but we were on a mission to hit the glacier so mostly ignored it.

The path we took was a reasonably easy one to follow. After an initial rise it mostly levelled off and although it twisted a little as it followed the edge of the valley into which the glacial melt was flowing it wasn’t a difficult route. The only problem was that this was December and the temperature was below zero and there were areas where rainfall had puddled along the path so they’d naturally turned to ice. We had to be careful getting past some of these icy patches especially where the path was quite narrow but I’m pleased to say we didn’t have any slips or falls heading to Sólheimajökull or back and we didn’t see anyone else struggle either.

The landscape of Iceland is deceptive. With such wide open spaces and huge natural wonders you can easily lose sense of scale. As we got nearer to the glacier its river run-off became more filled with large chunks of glacial ice. You knew they were large but it was only when you saw people at the ground level rather than on the path providing some context as to sizes that things become clearer as to just how massive everything was.

Sólheimajökull is a subsidiary glacier off Mýrdalsjökull which we’d seen from Vík during our visit there earlier in the day, lying to the east of Eyjafjallajökull which we’d stopped at to take photos even earlier in the day. This was definitely a tour for people who like to look at glacial ice caps. Sólheimajökull is one of the most popular glaciers to visit in Iceland on account of its relative ease of access although thanks to the climate emergency it is retreating at quite a rate so if it’s somewhere that appeals to you to visit or walk on then sooner rather than later would be the best advice here.

We’d seen glaciers before during our travels. The first time we’d seen one had been during our cruise to the Norwegian fjords in 2013 and our visit to the Kjenndal Glacier. In 2016 we’d then cruised the Chilean fjords and seen the Amalia Glacier. Sólheimajökull, to date, marks the closest we’ve been to a glacier and was probably the most impressive to see in real life. I don’t know whether that was because you could get that sense of scale sometimes when you spotted people walking on it in guided groups or whether it was because it was a surprise visit that just changed our appreciation of it in some way. I do know that we liked it a lot but locations in Iceland tend to have that effect, we find.

If you look on Sólheimajökull Glacier on the right of this picture below you can see a line of hikers walking across the ice to give you a feel for the size and majesty of the structure.

We got as far as we were allowed without guides on the path to the glacier. A rope across the path and signs marked this point and it was here that people not just from our tour bus but also from other groups or who had driven there themselves gathered to take some shots of the spectacle from as close as it was permitted.

You know it’s a good thing when the locals are still fascinated by what’s around them and what they probably visit on many occasions. We were acutely aware of how long it had taken us to walk to this point along the path but spotted that our tour guide had also made the walk along to see the glacier and take some photos too so we knew that as long as she was around we couldn’t possibly miss getting the bus back. As soon as she looked like she was about to head off we did the same. Our walk back took us almost directly south which meant that as we rounded curves in the path we were treated to the long, winter sunset of this region of the world.

Seljalandsfoss Waterfall

A fairly short bus ride once everyone was back on board then took us to the second waterfall of our south coast tour of Iceland and also the final stop for the day: Seljalandsfoss.

With a drop of around 60 metres Seljalandsfoss is about as high as Skógafoss that we’d seen earlier but considerably narrower. While it may not have had the impressive power of the other waterfall Seljalandsfoss does boast a walkway behind its fall allowing visitors to step behind the cascade coming off the top of the natural wonder. However, again, this was December and the temperatures were well below zero even at the warmest part of the day, let alone the early evening when we’d arrived, and the spray that was whipped and knocked about by the wind had frozen over the walkway to a quite obviously dangerous level. Nobody from our group was stupid enough to risk either falling or the danger of hypothermia that resided that close to the torrent’s edge and we satisfied ourselves with some more distant views of the waterfall in the rapidly fading light and increasingly freezing conditions.

There were other, smaller waterfalls along the escarpment and with more time and light there were probably some stunning views around the landscape but the sun had pretty much set completely by this time and we were more than satisfied with only a short time at Seljalandsfoss before reboarding our bus and heading back to Reykjavík.

South Iceland Tour Conclusion

Our bus ride back to Reykjavík was completed without any stops and was notable only in that for a sustained period the sky to the north had a long, green band of the aurora borealis across it. There was nowhere for the bus to stop and let us out to take photos at the time but it was clearly visible from inside, a nice end to the day, and marked the third separate occasion we’d seen the northern lights across two visits to Iceland.

Iceland is a country of contrasts. It’s both barren and it’s beautiful. At times you feel small and at others you feel like a giant. Even the prices of things in Iceland are wild with items like food and drink feeling sometimes criminally expensive yet a tour like this one, lasting 10 hours, working out at just 8 euros per person per hour; as people who like to take organised excursions when we travel that is extremely good value and we can highly recommend the service from Gray Line both on the day and ahead of the tour through emailed information.

This south coast of Iceland tour was excellent. If you’re visiting Iceland and its capital for the first time then we’d probably recommend the Golden Circle tour (even though it might feel like the too touristy thing to do) as there’s a bigger mix of things to see but if you’re in the region a second time then you won’t be disappointed at all with exploring the southern coast.

This is what I refer to as my classic black and white processing of an image and it requires a number of photos at different exposures plus Photomatix HDR software. First, I took the original RAW photo, cropped it, straightened it, removed any sensor dirt, and applied basic sharpening and noise reduction. I converted it to black and white and set basic brightness/saturation levels for the colours in the picture data then saved it along with four additional saves faking different exposures at -0.5, -1, +0.5, and +1.0, ensuring highlights weren’t blown and shadows weren’t drowning out detail in each case. I loaded these images as bracketed photos in Photomatix and used a Tone Mapping process with Details Enhancer method. Lighting Adjustments were set for a natural look, Gamma set fairly low, Strength and Detail Contrast up high, and other values were adjusted until I was happy with the level of contrast, detail, and moodiness. The processed TIFF was brought back into Photoshop for some final Smart Sharpening and conversion to JPEG for the web.