Svartifoss
Svartifoss is a waterfall in South Coast, Iceland — about 327 km from Reykjavik and reached by a hike from the nearest pull-off (bring weather-appropriate footwear). Shoot it during the summer window, when light, road status, and crowd levels line up for photography, then use the GPS coordinates, parking notes, and nearby waypoints below to fold this stop into a longer photography route.
Overview
Svartifoss is a waterfall in Skaftafell in Vatnajökull National Park in Iceland, and is one of the most popular sights in the park
As a photography stop, Svartifoss is a waterfall in South Coast, roughly 327 km from Reykjavik, reached by a hike from the nearest pull-off (bring weather-appropriate footwear). Plan the shoot during the summer window, when light, road status, and crowd levels line up for photography. The downloadable Waterfall map pins exact GPS coordinates, parking, and nearby waypoints so you can fold it into a wider route instead of hunting for the pull-off on arrival.
Planning more than one stop? Open all 43 waterfall locations to put Svartifoss on the same offline layer as everything nearby.
Notes on this location
Compiled from published sources rather than a visit. Sources are listed below.
A 20 m fall inside a natural amphitheatre of hexagonal basalt columns, 15–20 m high and about 30 m wide, in Skaftafell. The columns carry horizontal striations 5–20 cm apart, each one a stage in the lava fracturing as it cooled.
- Drop
- 20 m
- Setting
- A basalt amphitheatre roughly 15–20 m high and 30 m wide
- Columns
- Hexagonal, with horizontal striations 5–20 cm apart recording successive stages of fracture as the lava cooled
- Park
- Skaftafell, Vatnajökull National Park
- Age of the columns
- Formed about 300,000 years ago
- Getting there
- The park’s S2 route — Svartifoss, Sjónarsker and Sel — is a 5.8 km circle of about two hours, graded easy, passing Hundafoss and Magnúsarfoss on the way
- Influence
- The columns informed Hallgrímskirkja and Iceland’s National Theatre
The subject here is really the rock, not the water — a 20 m fall is modest, but the striated columns give texture that rewards a longer lens and raking light far more than a wide establishing frame. Because the columns form an amphitheatre, the surface is broken into many small planes, so flat overcast light renders them much weaker than directional light does.
SourcesSvartifoss — Wikipedia, Svartifoss — Vatnajökull National Park
Light & aurora at this spot
Calculated from this location’s coordinates (64.028, -16.977). Iceland stays on UTC year-round, so these are local times.
- Summer
- June: sun up 02:40–23:37 (20.9 h). Evening golden hour 21:43–23:37, light coming from the NNW.
- Winter
- December: only 4.3 h of daylight (10:55–15:11), but the sun never climbs above 2.7° — the entire day is golden hour. Sunrise bears SSE, sunset SSW.
- Aurora
- Aurora-grade darkness Sep–Mar, peaking at 12.9 h a night in December. Not possible Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug — the sky never gets dark enough.
Bar height is daylight hours. Months marked • have enough astronomical darkness for aurora; the rest do not.
Questions & answers
Svartifoss is a waterfall in South Coast, Iceland, approximately 327 km from Reykjavik. Exact GPS coordinates are included in the downloadable Waterfall map.
The recommended season for Svartifoss is Summer. For light, plan around blue hour and the first hour after sunrise; Iceland's long shoulder-season twilight extends usable conditions on either side.
Hike access. Bring weather-appropriate footwear and check conditions before setting out. The downloadable GPS map puts the waypoint on your phone; your own app routes you to it from wherever you are.
Svartifoss is best visited during Summer. Outside that window, expect limited access, weather closures, or significantly different photographic conditions.