Hraunfossar & Barnafoss Waterfalls

Hraunfossar and Barnafoss sit a short walk apart in the Borgarfjörður region of West Iceland, each a very different type of waterfall along the same stretch of the Hvítá river. Hraunfossar, meaning lava falls, is made up of hundreds of small rivulets seeping directly out from beneath the Hallmundarhraun lava field over a stretch of about 900 meters, the water having filtered slowly through the porous rock rather than arriving via a single visible source upstream. The effect is a wide, shimmering curtain of small streams entering the main river all at once, best appreciated from the wooden viewing platforms along the bank. A short path upstream leads to Barnafoss, where the same river instead surges through a narrow, twisting rock chasm, its turquoise-white water compressed into a much more forceful and turbulent flow than the gentle Hraunfossar section. Barnafoss carries its own dark legend, named for two children said to have drowned after falling from a since-removed natural stone bridge that once crossed the gorge. Birch trees along the banks turn vivid yellow and orange in September, framing Hraunfossar particularly well for photography. A relaxed visit covering both waterfalls along the connecting path takes about an hour to 90 minutes.