The South Coast Of Iceland – Waterfalls, Rainbows & Black Sand Beaches

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The South Coast Of Iceland - Seljalandsfoss

On my recent trip to Iceland, my favorite day on the trip would most definitely have to be the South Coast tour of Iceland with Grayline Tours. In fact, I personally think that if there is a must-see tour in Iceland, it would have to be the South Coast tour. It was a day full of waterfalls, rainbows and black sand beaches AKA pure MAGIC!

The South Coast Of Iceland - Waterfalls, Rainbows & Black Sand Beaches - hofit kim cohen - vanilla sky dreaming

3 years ago, when I visited Iceland for the first time, I only had 4 days to plan my must go to places. Oddly enough that’s clearly not enough time to see this magical country. I’d honestly have to say that in order to get the best of Iceland, you’d probably have to plan a trip for 7-10 days because there is so much to see and do! I had to decide then, between the Golden Circle Tour or the South Coast tour and since I noticed that the Golden Circle is the most popular tour in Iceland, I went with that. Although the tour was amazing, I’m the girl that nothing is ever enough for. I always want to go see and do everything there is possible in a short about of time. I want to conquer places!

So after leaving Iceland on my trip, I knew I had to go back for more and so I did!

Here is my vlog from the South Coast Tour! Don’t forget to subscribe

Also related blog post I wrote about Iceland: 

The South Coast Tour 

south coast of iceland tour grayline

The south coast of Iceland is probably the most beautiful side of Iceland that I have seen yet. It’s a 3hr drive from the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik and the countryside of Iceland, where you will see many farms, Icelandic horses, sheeps, waterfalls and gorgeous landscapes and mountains. It also has the world’s famous, black sand beach called Reynisfjara and where the sun is normally shining. It’s the part of the island that normally, stays the warmest, given the right day.

Many of you might already recognize the south coast of Iceland from Game of Thrones, Fast and the Furious, the Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Star Wars and more.

Tour or DIY?

There are two ways of the seeing south coast of Iceland, you can do it with a tour like I did or by renting a car and driving around yourself. Everything is on the same main road and you can spot all the locations on the normal tour from the road yourself.

I’ve also written a blog post on the pros and cons of taking a guided tour or doing it yourself. Check out the link below.

 

What We Saw on the Tour With GrayLine

Skógafoss

Skógafoss Waterfall, Iceland with Rainbow - South Coast

After a long 3hr drive with a quick bathroom break and enjoying the stunning view of the countryside, our first stop of the day was the stunning Skógafoss waterfall! This was honestly my favorite place I visited in Iceland on this trip. It was just pure magic. We got super lucky with an amazing day of great weather, so it wasn’t raining or snowing, the sun was out and it was amazing. 

So much so that I actually got to see a few rainbows happening all at the same time, I’d like to think that I saw about 4-5 different rainbows at this waterfall. It was amazing!!! 

Once you get here, you can take photos from the bottom of the waterfall and get as close to the actual waterfall as you’d like, but just know that the closer you get, the wetter you get. Of course, the closer you get the better photos you get. On top of that, you can actually take a small little hike and clam up the side stairs and take photos from the top of the waterfalls which is also pretty epic! I would have totally gone up there but I didn’t have enough time, so I decided to enough the magic of the rainbows instead.

Here are some of my favorite photos from Skógafoss

Skógafoss Waterfall, Iceland with Rainbow - South CoastSkógafoss Waterfall, Iceland with Rainbow - South CoastSkógafoss Waterfall, Iceland with Rainbow - South Coastrainbow Skógafoss Waterfall, Iceland South Coast

Black Sand Beach – Rreynisfjara

Then we were off to Vík í Mýrdal AKA Vik village which is about another hour drive to the beautiful black sand beach which is called Rreynisfjara.

We actually visited 2 different sides of the beach, which had different types of sands. One had more a sand texture to it, while the other had small black rocks, you can see that in my video.

I honestly loved the first beach better because it was more peaceful and less touristy.

The other side of the beach, the one that I’ve been dying to see with the cool rocks was SO overly populated, it was kinda disappointing. I couldn’t get a photo without anyone in it, which ideally I never thought or imagined it would be like that.

However, as it turns out, all the bus tours of Iceland basically get there all at once which is a few hundred people. Plus, don’t forget that there are other tourists who drive their own car there, so it’s a pretty big hot spot. Although, I’d like to believe that if you get there early in the day, you’d have a whole beach to yourself and therefore can enjoy it a lot more. Nevertheless, I still think it was magical, amazing and stunning. ONLY IN ICELAND, can you see such amazing landscape. A must do! 

Here are my favorite photos from Rreynisfjara Black Sand Beach. 

Black Sand Beach - Iceland - Vik - South Coast Rreynisfjara

Rreynisfjara Black Sand Beach - Iceland - Vik - South CoastRocks Rreynisfjara Black Sand Beach - Iceland - Vik - South CoastBlack Sand Beach - Iceland - Vik - South Coast Rreynisfjara Rreynisfjara black sand beach iceland - hofit kim cohen - vanilla sky dreamingblack sand beach iceland - hofit kim cohen - vanilla sky dreaming

Seljalandsfoss 

I think the drive back from the black sand beach to Seljalandsfoss waterfall was probably 2hrs heading towards Reykjavik. It was a beautiful drive back, the sun was setting and we had the perfect view. On the flip side of things, we also didn’t want to get to the waterfall during dark because we wouldn’t be able to take photos.

We literally got there the moment the sun went down which basically made me run and powerwalk there to get the perfect photos and videos before it was too late. This waterfall was epic! Stunning! Huge!

The cool thing about the Seljalandsfoss waterfall is that you can actually get photos from behind the waterfall but again, if you do this you’ll get super wet. Since it was already becoming dark and -6 degrees, I decided that it wasn’t the best idea, although I did see some of my friend’s photos and they were amazing. Many of them slipped trying to get those photos though.

Seljalandsfoss waterfall iceland - hofit kim cohen

This entire day was pure magic you guys! I highly recommend it to anyone going to Iceland! 

A HUGE THANK YOU to Grayline Tours for an amazing day!

If you have any questions, please leave comments below! 

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South Coast Of Iceland - Waterfalls, Rainbows & Black Sand Beaches

 

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