Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon is one of the places that are not included in the regular tours in the South of Iceland. The beauty of it and the fact that it is hidden makes it even more interesting to find.

First time, I have been there 2 years ago after it became very popular because of Justin Bieber’s video. There are two roads that you can take to get to the canyon and both of them start in the South of Iceland, just before Kirkjubaejarklaustur. After the main road splits, one of the roads take you up the canyon and there is another one that will lead you to the bottom of it.

Recently, the canion walking paths were closed due to the danger of destoying the area, but for now during the summer it is open again, but it is recommended that you use the road that takes you at the bottom of it.  It is very important to keep the nature as it is because if you let all the tourists walk around, without following the paths all the moss and grass will become an area full of mud and it will affect the habitat.

The beauty of it is that you cannot actually see it from very big distance, it is somehow hidden. When you get closer, the first reaction is to stop and say WOW. The landscape is absolutely breath-taking because of the cliffs and the bright green that is everywhere. There is also one waterfall there, because Iceland is more the land of the waterfalls. The area is calm and quiet and you just need to take a moment to look around to understand that it is more than what you see in front of you, as the canyon is about 2km long.

The place is not so busy with tourists because the big companies operating tours do not go there, as it would be very damaging to go with big buses there. I have found only one company that makes a stop by the canyon, which I Gateway to Iceland, https://www.gtice.is/. Visiting the canyon is part of their tour to Glacier Lagoon, that is very, very long: my tour was 16 hours long, which might be too much, but still, you get to see a lot in a day.