Studlagil Canyon vs Iceland's other basalt columns
Iceland has hexagonal columns in a dozen famous places, and many travelers wonder whether Stuðlagil (Studlagil in English spelling) earns the long drive east. We set it beside the five column sites people ask about most, with the walk, the setting and the catch of each.
Why Iceland is full of columns
Most of Iceland is stacked lava, and wherever a thick flow cooled slowly it cracked into long prisms, usually six-sided. Geologists call it columnar jointing, and you meet it in sea cliffs, under waterfalls and along roadside crags all over the island. What changes from site to site is the setting around the rock, and that setting decides whether a stop takes ten minutes or a whole day. How Studlagil Canyon formed tells the story of the columns in the east.
Stuðlagil is unusual in one way. Here the columns line both walls of a river canyon for a long stretch, with glacial water running between them, and on the east bank you can walk down and stand at the bottom. None of the other famous sites puts you inside a corridor of columns quite like that.
The six sites side by side
| Site | Region | What you see | Walk | From Seyðisfjörður port |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stuðlagil | East Iceland, Jökuldalur | Column walls on both sides of a glacial river | Steps to the west-bank platforms, or about 3 miles (5 km) there and back on the east bank | Yes, every tour on this site |
| Litlanesfoss | East Iceland, Fljótsdalur | A waterfall of about 100 feet (30 m) inside tall, straight columns | Part of the climb toward Hengifoss | Possible by car, no tour here goes |
| Svartifoss | South-east, Skaftafell | A thin waterfall over dark hanging columns | An uphill path from the Skaftafell visitor area | No, a long day's drive south |
| Reynisfjara | South coast near Vík | Stepped columns beside a black sand beach and sea cave | A few minutes from the car park | No |
| Aldeyjarfoss | North, edge of the highlands | A river dropping about 65 feet (20 m) through columns | Short, at the end of a long gravel road | No |
| Gerðuberg | West, Snæfellsnes | A long, even cliff of columns beside the road | Almost none | No |
Svartifoss, the famous one in the south
Svartifoss, the black waterfall, sits in Skaftafell inside Vatnajökull National Park. A thin fall drops over a curved amphitheatre of dark columns that hang like organ pipes, roughly 50–65 feet (15–20 m) high, and the shape is said to have inspired the Hallgrímskirkja church in Reykjavík. You reach it on an uphill path from the visitor area, and it is one of the busiest stops on any south coast trip.
Compared with Stuðlagil it is smaller and more vertical, a single frame rather than a canyon you walk into. If your Iceland trip is a ring road loop, you can see both. If you are on a cruise calling at Seyðisfjörður, Svartifoss is out of reach in a day, and the canyon is the column site you can actually get to.
Reynisfjara, columns by the sea
On the black sand beach of Reynisfjara near Vík, the columns climb the cliff in giant steps beside a sea cave, and people sit on them for photos. It is easy to reach, a short walk from the car park, and the setting with the sea stacks offshore is a world away from a quiet river gorge.
The catch is the sea. Waves at Reynisfjara run far up the sand without warning and have pulled visitors in, so stay well back from the water whatever the weather looks like. At Stuðlagil the danger is the cold, fast river, and the rule is the same in both places: no paddling, and keep children close.
Litlanesfoss, the neighbor most people miss
The closest rival to Stuðlagil is in the same corner of the country. Litlanesfoss pours about 100 feet (30 m) through a ring of unusually tall, straight columns in Fljótsdalur, on the path up to Hengifoss, one of Iceland's highest waterfalls. One walk gives you both.
None of the tours on this site stops there, so it suits travelers with a car and a spare half day. Pair it with the canyon on the same drive from Egilsstaðir, and read driving to Studlagil Canyon on your own for the roads. The waterfalls on the way to Studlagil Canyon covers Hengifoss and the falls the tours do visit.
Columns from the river's edge
Tanni Travel's small-group hike walks the east bank down to the canyon floor, the one view no other column site gives you, with fifteen people at most and pickup at the port or in Egilsstaðir.
Aldeyjarfoss and Gerðuberg, for collectors
In the north, the river Skjálfandafljót drops about 65 feet (20 m) at Aldeyjarfoss through columns in a lava field roughly 9,000 years old. It sits where the highland road begins, at the end of a long gravel drive, so it is a summer stop for people with a sturdy car and a free day.
Gerðuberg on the Snæfellsnes peninsula is the opposite, a long, even wall of columns some 23–46 feet (7–14 m) high right beside the road north of Borgarnes. You see it in five minutes from the car, which makes it a good stop on a west Iceland drive and nothing you would cross the country for.
Which one should you pick?
If your ship calls at Seyðisfjörður, the answer is simple, because Stuðlagil is the only famous column site you can reach and return from in a port day. Every tour on our list of six is built for that, from a coach with an hour at the canyon to a hike down to the water. Studlagil Canyon hike: east side or west side? helps you choose between the platforms and the riverbank.
On a ring road trip with a car, Stuðlagil and Litlanesfoss are both within reach of Egilsstaðir, and the south gives you Svartifoss and Reynisfjara on the same coast. Time the canyon for early summer if you can, since the water often turns gray later in the season; when to visit Studlagil Canyon for turquoise water has the details. If you would rather see the canyon from the platforms and spend the afternoon in hot water, Tanni Travel's express day with the Vök Baths, from ~$324, does that. Expect no time at water level on that one, and just five reviews on each booking site when we compared them.