Skip to content
Cascadyas
EN

Iceland Iceland Waterfall

Reykjafoss

A 20 m drop.

When to go

Reykjafoss2016
Bromr · CC BY-SA 4.0

In numbers.

20m

Height

OpenStreetMap

Jun–Jul

Best months

42m

Elevation

The water at Reykjafoss, month by month

It roars from May to June.

The fullest months: from May to June, with the snowmelt.

  1. 28%Jan
  2. 28%Feb
  3. 32%Mar
  4. 57%Apr
  5. 100%May
  6. 98%Jun
  7. 64%Jul
  8. 47%Aug
  9. 48%Sep
  10. 51%Oct
  11. 45%Nov
  12. 40%Dec
high water best months to go

Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from June to July.

Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.

Waterfall in Norðurland vestra, Iceland

Reykjafoss is a waterfall in Iceland. The water falls 20 m.

Getting there.

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.

How big is it?

How big it really is.

20 mReykjafoss1.8 ma person9.0 ma house56 mTower of Pisa

Height of the drop as mapped in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.

Seen from the sky.

8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.

Reykjafoss seen from above (Sentinel-2) N 2 km

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

The Svartá through the falls
20 m30 m40 mReykjafoss-1.5 km-1 km-0.5 km0+0.5 km+1 km+1.5 km← upstreamdownstream →

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.

The valley below the falls
−690 m+690 m

Around the falls the river drops 30 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 39 m below the lower rim of its valley.

What is around.

  • —viewpoints
  • —waymarked walking routes
  • 1car parks
  • —swimming spots
  • —picnic sites
  • 1toilets
  • —information boards and visitor centres
  • —bus stops within 1 km
  • —other named waterfalls within 4 km
  • —caves
  • 3campsitesTjaldsvæðið Steinsstöðum, Bakkaflöt, Lambeyri
  • 1hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmBakkaflöt
  • —restaurants 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).

Weather

The weather, month by month.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon °C001371214139410
Night °C-5-5-5-2168740-3-5
Rain & snow (mm)9685888174628692114110104103
Wet days222022181816181920212122
Sun h/day0.31.03.77.38.69.97.36.33.92.10.50.3
Snow on the ground (cm)70829180384017173148

Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (42 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020155%131%99%79%80%102%133%135%148%89%109%119%
2021118%69%141%84%31%145%74%63%169%142%131%62%
2022123%84%108%76%141%184%119%153%64%118%53%61%
202394%101%68%51%190%116%73%61%100%101%50%71%
202462%99%100%65%85%200%121%163%85%118%78%83%
202592%76%120%79%97%185%104%67%107%69%53%55%

130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual

Compare with the waterfalls nearby.

Reykjafoss

Iceland

  • 20 mHeight
  • —Average flow
  • Jun–JulBest months

Dalfoss

Iceland

  • —Height
  • —Average flow
  • Jun–SepBest months

See the guide

Kerafoss

Iceland

  • —Height
  • 12 m³/sAverage flow
  • Jun–AugBest months

See the guide

Goðafoss

Iceland

  • 12 mHeight
  • 70 m³/sAverage flow
  • Jun–JulBest months

See the guide

About these numbers

Names, height, width, riverWikidata (Q26208950) · CC0
Height of the drop© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ClimateNASA POWER, 1991–2020
Relief, river profile, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Paths, viewpoints, parking© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX 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, canyons, caves or dark skies?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.You are here
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit
cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Coming soonVisit
dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit