Iceland 
In numbers.
17m³/s
Average flow
estimate
May–Jun
Sep
Best months
9m
Elevation
The water at Laxfoss, month by month
It roars from November to April.
The fullest months: from November to April.
- 35 m³/sJan
- 35 m³/sFeb
- 32 m³/sMar
- 30 m³/sApr
- 22 m³/sMay
- 13 m³/sJun
- 9.1 m³/sJul
- 11 m³/sAug
- 24 m³/sSep
- 25 m³/sOct
- 26 m³/sNov
- 32 m³/sDec
From about 9.1 m³/s in the lowest month to 35 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May to June and September.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall on the Grímsá river, Iceland
Laxfoss is a waterfall in Iceland.
Getting there.
- Borgarnesnearest town · 14 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,720 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Reykjavík Domestic Airport (RKV)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 54 km in a straight lineCar hire at RKV airport (Reykjavík)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to June 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 19 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 16 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- 2car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 1toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 6other named waterfalls within 4 kmVeiðifoss, Tröllafossar, Lækjarfoss and 3 more
- —caves
- 1campsitesFossatún
- 2hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmFossatún, Guesthouse Hvítá
- 1restaurants 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
- Borgarnes14 km in a straight line
- Borgarnes16 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 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 2 |
| Night °C | -2 | -2 | -2 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | -2 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 134 | 124 | 119 | 94 | 73 | 64 | 77 | 90 | 136 | 109 | 114 | 136 |
| Wet days | 20 | 19 | 19 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 20 |
| Sun h/day | 0.3 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 6.9 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 6.9 | 5.9 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 21 | 22 | 21 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 12 | 16 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (9 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
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 | 150% | 87% | 99% | 119% | 130% | 136% | 81% | 148% | 119% | 59% | 104% | 93% |
| 2021 | 69% | 49% | 116% | 93% | 46% | 138% | 108% | 88% | 143% | 116% | 142% | 67% |
| 2022 | 155% | 83% | 163% | 81% | 119% | 131% | 130% | 118% | 71% | 75% | 46% | 32% |
| 2023 | 87% | 167% | 36% | 76% | 250% | 182% | 23% | 75% | 80% | 105% | 55% | 76% |
| 2024 | 88% | 73% | 56% | 72% | 143% | 116% | 149% | 109% | 65% | 111% | 114% | 134% |
| 2025 | 92% | 119% | 135% | 58% | 101% | 115% | 128% | 99% | 87% | 113% | 32% | 76% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Laxfoss
Iceland
- —Height
- 17 m³/sAverage flow
- May–Jun, SepBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q2379590) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| 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
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