Foss a Sidu

About Foss a Sidu

Rating: 1.5

Difficulty: 1

Hiking Distance: roadside

Suggested Time:

Date first visited: 2007-07-03

Date last visited: 2007-07-03

Waterfall Latitude: 63.85378

Waterfall Longitude: -17.87211

Directions: Get to the waterfall

Vicinity: Find nearby waterfalls

Foss a Sidu (or more accurately Foss á Siðu, which literally means “waterfall at Siðu”) was a conspicuous waterfall as we drove along Southern Iceland along the Ring Road. Given its pretty light flow, we’d imagine that it would have a pretty short season (i.e. it ought to go dry or trickle deep into the Summer). We happened to see it in the state you see on this page in late June 2007.

What stood out about this waterfall was probably its fortunate location since we were driving clockwise on the Ring Road, and it was the first significant waterfall we had seen in a while (after the ones in Skaftafell National Park). So despite its rather modest dime-a-dozen characteristic, it was the waterfall that broke the drought of not seeing a waterfall for a bit, and perhaps the only reason why it got as much attention from us (and in the literature) as it did.

When viewed from the Ring Road, the farms fronting the falls made for great photo subjects giving the ability to better communicate the waterfall’s height. We also took one of the short turnoffs leading closer to the falls where there were sheep and wildflowers fronting it. There was a very short use trail that went right to the sloping bottom of the falls, but for all intents and purposes, this was a roadside attraction.

Route to this Waterfall

We saw this waterfall along the Ring Road roughly 12km east of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. The turnoff leading closer to the falls is on the left roughly 11.5km from the four-way junction at Kirkjubæjarklaustur (or “Klaustur” for short).

Klaustur was near the fear southeast end of the Southern Region of Iceland about 248km (3 hours drive) east of Reykjavík.