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Ninety seconds on Gullfoss
Yes. The waterfall can be visited free of charge, 24 hours a day, every day, except in special weather conditions. Gullfosskaffi, the cafe and shop by the falls, keeps its own hours: as of 2026, 09:30 to 19:00 daily.
About three minutes on foot. A wooden boardwalk runs from Gullfoss Café, at the upper car park, to the waterfall. From the lower car park, an out and back trail to the falls runs about 2 km.
Late afternoon gives some of the best light for photographs, and sunny afternoons raise the chance of a rainbow in the spray. Tour buses are busiest between 10:00 and 15:00, and the hours outside that window are usually quieter.
No. Any vehicle can reach Gullfoss, as the road is good and no 4x4 is required. The falls sit at the end of Route 35, where the Kjölur road begins. In winter, weather and road conditions need checking before setting out.
Partly. The lower car park is set aside for disabled visitors, it has a good view of the fall, and its walkways are generally passable by wheelchair. Winter drifts and heavy ice from the spray can cut that access.
On the canyon rim you stand above a glacial river as it drops 32 metres in two stages, into a gorge whose walls rise as high as 70 metres.
Gullfoss means Golden Waterfall. It carries the Hvítá, the White River, which is fed by Langjökull, Iceland's second biggest glacier.
The upper drop is about 11 metres. The second, larger plunge of 21 metres takes the river into Gullfossgljúfur, a canyon about 2.5 km long.
Look at the canyon walls for the layering. Grey basalt forms the lip of the fall, over thick sedimentary beds, and layers from the last ice age, named the Gullfoss beds, show plainly in the gorge.
On average 109 cubic metres of water pass over every second, and in floods that can reach 2,000. The canyon was cut by catastrophic floods working together with the river's steady flow.
A memorial on the lower area honours Sigríður Tómasdóttir of Brattholt, who fought to protect the falls and is often called Iceland's first environmentalist.
Start at the timber viewing platform above the falls for the view down onto both drops. It is a short walk from the upper car park, where Gullfosskaffi has its cafe and souvenir shop.
Then walk the path along the canyon towards the fall itself, looking down into Gullfossgljúfur as you go.
Stairs link the upper and lower areas, and the steps are easy enough to take with a pause or two. Take them down to the lower viewpoint, closer to the water.
Bring boots and a raincoat, because the mist on the trail to the falls will soak you.
Geysir is a 10 km drive west, and organised tours usually visit Þingvellir National Park and Geysir before Gullfoss.
In winter, snow and ice make the ground slippery, so carry cleats to pull over your shoes.
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