Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon is one of the most beautiful places in Iceland. And they also filmed Game of Thrones here.
This beautiful canyon of Iceland with the difficult to pronounce name Fjadrarglyufur is located in the south-east of the island, covered with lush vegetation and literally takes tourists on a fabulous journey.
The Fjadrarglyufur reaches a depth of up to 100 meters in some areas, and its length is about two kilometers. A river called Fjaðrá flows inside the canyon. The gorge has steep walls, and it is quite narrow and twists like a snake. A hiking trail along the edge of the canyon offers stunning views of the plains and glacial streams. A calm, quiet, clean, peaceful corner of nature.
Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon have formed at the end of the last Ice Age, about nine thousand years ago. When the glacier retreated, a vast mountain lake formed in the valley. The water from this lake flowed quite intensively in the direction where the canyon is located today. The river "biting" into the rock and for hundreds and thousands of years has created this miracle. The mountain lake was filled with various sediments and the powerful water flow began to gradually decrease, opening the previously flooded canyon to the eyes.
According to one of the Icelandic legends, there were trolls here too. So, one of the rocks was named "Troll's Finger" because of its bizarre shape. According to local legend, in this place a huge menacing troll was caught by the first rays of the sun, and he turned to stone, and since then he has not woken up.
There are suggestions that Justin Bieber and the TV series Game of Thrones had a great influence on the fact that the canyon of Fiarglufura became very popular among travelers. In 2015, Bieber shot the video "I'll show you" in this canyon (and in other beautiful places in Southern Iceland).
Justin Bieber's clip from the Fiarglufur canon:
And in one of the episodes of Game of Thrones (season 8), dragons flew right in the Fjadrarglyufur canyon.
And the trailer with these shots (at 1:08 minutes):
After that, tourists from all over the world flock here to see the Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon. According to statistics, the number of tourists increased by 80% between 2016 and 2017! And in 2018, about 300,000 people visited the canyon! This is almost the entire population of Iceland.
Due to such a large number of people, vegetation in the area was affected, so in 2019 the canyon was closed to the public from March to June 1, so that plants could recover normally after winter. The fragile northern vegetation cannot withstand so many people and needs help to survive.
A similar ban on visiting the Fjadrarglyufur Canyon from March to June can be expected this year.
How to get to Fjadrarglyufur Canyon
Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon is located west of the village of Kirkjubæjarklaustur, and the distance to the canyon from Reykjavik is about 255 km.
The canyon is not visible from the ring road No. 1, but the road to it takes only a few minutes. To get to the canyon, turn left (if you drive from Reykjavik) onto road 206 to Lakagígar.
After a couple of minutes, the road to Lakagígar will turn right and turn into an F-206, suitable only for 4x4 vehicles. You need to skip this turn and continue driving along the gravel road straight, it will lead directly to the parking lot near Fjaðrárgljúfur.
For more information, the route to Fjadrarglyufur can be viewed on the map:
