Iceland 
In numbers.
May
Sep
Best months
28m
Elevation
The water at Álafoss, month by month
It roars from September to April.
The fullest months: from September to April.
- 100%Jan
- 95%Feb
- 90%Mar
- 76%Apr
- 59%May
- 40%Jun
- 35%Jul
- 44%Aug
- 76%Sep
- 80%Oct
- 80%Nov
- 92%Dec
Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: May and September.
Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Getting there.
- Mosfellsbærnearest town · 1.2 km in a straight line
- Parking 670 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Reykjavík Domestic Airport (RKV)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 13 km in a straight lineCar hire at RKV airport (Reykjavík)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- May and Septemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 18 m in 1.3 km. Here the river runs about 26 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 2viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- 96car parks
- —swimming spots
- 1picnic sites
- 1toilets
- 3information boards and visitor centres
- 18bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmTungufoss, Króarfoss
- —caves
- 1campsitesMosskógar
- 3hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmFitjar, Hótel Laxnes, Hveramýri
- 2restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Mosfellsbær1.2 km in a straight line
- Reykjavík11 km in a straight line
- Kópavogur13 km in a straight line
- Garðabær15 km in a straight line
- Seltjarnarnes16 km in a straight line
- Hafnarfjörður17 km in a straight line
- Álftanes18 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Night °C | -1 | -1 | -1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 1 | -1 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 169 | 152 | 154 | 119 | 93 | 83 | 99 | 121 | 181 | 147 | 149 | 172 |
| Wet days | 22 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 21 | 18 | 20 | 21 |
| Sun h/day | 0.3 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 6.9 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 6.8 | 5.8 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 14 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 13 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (28 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 133% | 93% | 94% | 129% | 119% | 143% | 84% | 138% | 109% | 56% | 104% | 96% |
| 2021 | 65% | 53% | 100% | 84% | 69% | 122% | 99% | 91% | 128% | 110% | 124% | 75% |
| 2022 | 133% | 105% | 165% | 78% | 98% | 113% | 120% | 118% | 65% | 72% | 64% | 29% |
| 2023 | 80% | 157% | 37% | 107% | 212% | 161% | 15% | 85% | 91% | 110% | 57% | 77% |
| 2024 | 90% | 71% | 63% | 81% | 138% | 105% | 133% | 113% | 56% | 83% | 99% | 120% |
| 2025 | 98% | 123% | 112% | 66% | 91% | 97% | 126% | 110% | 77% | 119% | 38% | 85% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Álafoss
Iceland
- —Height
- —Average flow
- May, SepBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q1890166) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.You are here
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit