Private Landmannalaugar Tour from Selfoss
10 hours · From Selfoss
From 250.500 ISK
South Iceland
Selfoss
Everyone drives through Selfoss. You come off the Hellisheiði mountain road, cross the bridge over the wide, grey Ölfusá and suddenly there's a roundabout, a Krónan and a queue at the petrol station. Most people don't stop. Some should.
Selfoss is the largest town in South Iceland, home to about 10,000 people and the main town of the Árborg municipality. It sits on the Ölfusá, Iceland's largest river by volume, around 50 km south-east of Reykjavík, where the Ring Road meets the routes to the Golden Circle and the south coast. For travellers, that makes it the natural place to stock up, fill the tank or spend a night.
Tours that visit Selfoss
One quick note: this is the town, not the waterfall. Selfoss is also the name of a waterfall on the Jökulsá á Fjöllum in North Iceland, just upstream from Dettifoss. More on that below.
What to do in Selfoss
The town centre, opened in 2021, is a pedestrianised area of reconstructed historic Icelandic buildings. In the middle is Mjólkurbúið, the Old Dairy, a food hall with a handful of eateries under one roof. It's the easy answer to "where should we eat?"
Chess fans can find the Bobby Fischer Center, a small museum about the American world champion, who beat Boris Spassky in Reykjavík in 1972 and spent his last years in Iceland. He's buried at Laugardælir church, just outside town.
The Ölfusá is fast and cold, and the riverbank walk by the bridge is pleasant. But this is not a river to go near the edge of.
Pro tip: fill up and do your grocery shopping in Selfoss before heading further east or up the Golden Circle. Shops get fewer and further between from here, and prices at rural petrol-station shops are noticeably higher.
How far is Selfoss from Reykjavík?
About 50 km, roughly 45 minutes' drive over Hellisheiði. In winter, the pass can close in storms, so check road.is and safetravel.is before you set off. From Selfoss, Kerið is about 15 minutes north, and Seljalandsfoss, the first of the big south coast waterfalls, is roughly an hour east.
Selfoss tours
Most day tours from Reykjavík to the south coast or Golden Circle pass through Selfoss, and it's a handy base if you'd rather be closer to the sights. Heads up: several tours below list "Selfoss" because they visit the waterfall in North Iceland, near Dettifoss and Mývatn, not the town. Read the itinerary to see which is which.