Waterfalls · Iceland
Hafragilsfoss
Hafragilsfoss drops 27 metres into the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon, a few kilometres downstream from Dettifoss. It is the smaller of the two, but the canyon around it is deeper and more open, so you look down into a wide rust-coloured gorge rather than straight at a wall of water.
I saw it from the west side, on the paved road, as an add-on to Dettifoss — that is the easy way to do it and it costs you almost no extra time. What you get from there is the view down the canyon rather than a close look at the water. If you want to stand near the fall itself you need the gravel road on the east side, and I did not drive that.
My rating
Scale 1–5. On Cost, 1 means free and 5 means pricey. On Crowd level, 1 means near-solitude and 5 means tour-bus central.
Two out of five for the fall, which is the honest number — it is Dettifoss with less water. The canyon it sits in is the reason to look, not the drop itself.
There are viewpoints on both sides. The east side is reached on Road 864, a gravel road where a 4x4 is the sensible choice and which is only open from late May to early October. The west side is on the paved Road 862, open roughly April to December and fine for any car. Checked August 2026.
Parking is free and can be combined with visiting Dettifoss.
Less visited than nearby Dettifoss, Hafragilsfoss offers a quieter, more secluded waterfall experience, even during peak tourist seasons.
Before you go
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My full 14-day route — roughly 2,500 km, every campsite I used, what I actually spent, and the stops worth the detour. The plan I drove, in one PDF.
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