Gullfoss

Gullfoss, meaning Golden Falls, lies on the Hvítá River in south-west Iceland, on the border between the municipalities of Bláskógabyggð and Hrunamannahreppur. The Hvítá is fed by the Langjökull glacier, and the falls sit a short drive from the Geysir geothermal area in Haukadalur.

In the early 20th century the falls were leased to foreign investors who planned to use the river for hydroelectric power, but the schemes never went ahead. Sigríður Tómasdóttir, the daughter of one of the landowners, is remembered for her campaign to protect the falls, and a stone memorial to her stands near the upper viewpoint. Gullfoss was later sold to the Icelandic state and became a protected area in 1979.

The river drops in two stages, first about 11 metres and then about 21 metres, into a crevice roughly 20 metres wide and 2.5 km long that runs at a right angle to the river's flow. Seen from above, the water seems to vanish into the ground. Average flow is around 141 cubic metres per second in summer and 80 in winter, and on sunny days spray from the lower drop often forms rainbows.

Gullfoss is one of Iceland's most visited natural attractions and, with Þingvellir National Park and the Geysir area, makes up the popular Golden Circle route. A visitor centre with a café and shop stands at the top of the site.

There is no entry fee, though parking charges may apply. Paths lead to an upper viewpoint and down to a lower trail that goes close to the edge of the falls, which may be closed in winter because of ice. Bring waterproof clothing, as the spray is heavy, and expect the busiest times around midday when tour buses arrive.

The fight over the falls began in 1907, when an Englishman offered to buy Gullfoss from the farmer Tómas Tómasson of Brattholt. Tómas refused to sell, but he later leased the falls, and the hydroelectric plans stalled for lack of money. In 1940 his son Einar Guðmundsson, Sigríður's brother, took over the waterfall from their father and afterwards sold it to the Icelandic state. The land around the falls was declared a nature reserve in 1979.

The canyon below the falls is what makes the view so dramatic. Its walls reach up to 70 metres, and the Hvítá carries meltwater from Langjökull, the second largest glacier in Iceland, which explains the milky grey colour of the river on summer afternoons.

Visitor services grew slowly. Tourism at the neighbouring farm of Brattholt began in 1985 with rooms and meals, and in 1990 the government built Sigríðarstofa, an information and service centre close to the falls. Since 1996 the centre has been run by Svavar Njarðarson and Elfa Björk Magnúsdóttir, and it now has a shop and a café and restaurant that take Visa and Mastercard. The viewpoints themselves are open 24 hours a day, so a summer visit late in the evening, after the day tours have left, is the quietest way to see the falls.