·

Glymur Waterfall Hike in Iceland – Complete Guide and Review

The Glymur waterfall, which is located in Hvalfjarðarsveit, Vesturland, Iceland, is the Iceland’s second-tallest waterfall, plunging an impressive 198 meters. Once considered Iceland’s tallest waterfall, Glymur lost its title in 2011 when Morsárfoss, was officially measured and surpassed it. Glymur waterfall is an impressive sight to see and definitely worth the hike if you have the time. In this guide, I’ll give you everything you need to know about hiking to Glymur waterfall, and let you know if Glymur is worth adding to your Iceland itinerary.

Glymur Waterfall Hike in Iceland
If I’m going to hike to a waterfall, it better be good!

Iceland is filled with waterfalls, so IMO, if I’m going to spend time hiking to one, it better be good. Glymur looked really interesting to me – this tall waterfall plunging into a lush canyon, but I wasn’t completely set on doing this hike based on photos I’ve seen. It was nice, but it just wasn’t wow-ing me for some reason. My husband, on the other hand, really wanted to do this, so we did.

Glymur is not an easy hike; you will need to cross two rivers — one with a log and a rope to assist you, and one much larger river where you will cross knee-deep (at least!) water, and do a bit of scrambling with the assistance of chains. I don’t like encountering any of this stuff when doing a hike, but I still decided to conquer Glymur, as my husband was really excited to do this hike. I went along with it and I’m happy I did — this hike was out of my comfort zone and I do feel like I accomplished something — or at least got over a fear of crossing rivers on slippery rocks and logs!

What you need to know before attempting to hike Glymur Waterfall

  • ONLY attempt this hike in summer, when the log crossing is down! We did this hike on June 29th; the log was just put in place only a few days before we did the hike. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS HIKE IF THE LOG HAS NOT BEEN PUT DOWN. How will you know? I used Iceland travel Facebook groups to keep up with the latest information – I suggest you do the same, especially if traveling in late spring or fall.
  • There have been deaths on this trail. Not to scare you, but these deaths occurred during the offseason, which is why, again, I stress that you only do this hike in summer, when the log is down.
  • Hike this COUNTER-CLOCKWISE — it’s the safest. There are a few different ways you can hike to Glymur, but for the purpose of keeping it simple on this blog post, I will only be covering the counter-clockwise version of this trail. If you do this clockwise, you’re going to have difficulty with the rock scrambling/chains portion of the trail — you’ll be going down and it is very steep!
  • There are steep sections of this where you will be pulling yourself up rocks with installed chains. As someone who hates rock scrambling/chains, it’s not that difficult.
  • You should be in decent shape and have no issues with balance.
  • Bring rain gear and wear layers.
  • Bring grippy water shoes for the large river crossing. You might want to bring a change of clothes in case you slip and get wet.
  • Try to do this on a day with good weather. You don’t want to hike this in pouring rain and you definitely don’t want to hike it in the snow. There was a slight drizzle off and on when we did Glymur, which was fine.
  • The trail never felt crowded — you won’t be alone, but you won’t be in a conga line of people as you hike.

READ MORE: Like my hiking reviews? I have them all in one place here!

Glymur Waterfall Hike in Iceland - mossy green canyon
Glymur Waterfall Hike in Iceland

Glymur Waterfall Hike Basics

Distance: Roughly 4.3miles round trip, if you do the loop

Elevation: 425m

Difficulty: Moderate. This hike involves climbing up with the assistance of cables in some spots, crossing a slippery log, and fording a wide river. The trail can be difficult to follow at times, especially when you’re up at the viewpoints, where the ‘trail’ is all large, flat rocks. Additionally, when you cross the large river and start heading back, there are lots of social trails that look like the actual trail, making it easy to lose your way. We used AllTrails Pro to keep us on track.

Time needed: About 4 hours

Driving the ring road towards the Glymur Waterfall trailhead

Getting to the Glymur Waterfall Trailhead:

The place on Google Maps is noted as “Botnsá and Glymur Parking“. It’s about an hour drive from Reykjavik. We drove here after checking out of our hotel near the Reykjanes Peninsula. It’s an easy drive and the parking lot is large – we arrived around 10am and there were plenty of open spaces.

There are no restrooms at the parking lot! There is a map with information on the hike and what you’ll encounter along the way.

IMPORTANT: The Glymur Waterfall Hike can be difficult to follow at times, especially after you cross the second river. Here is the AllTrails Map we used to keep us on track.

Glymur waterfall trailhead and signboard

Starting the Glymur Waterfall Hike

The hike starts out easy enough – you’ll walk through a gate in the parking lot and then start your hike. It’s fairly flat, you’ll pass by huge fields of lupine along the way, and it’s well-marked.

The trail begins – lots of lupine and easy to follow

As you get closer to the river, you’ll walk through a really cool cave. After the cave, you’ll come to the log crossing. Here’s where it gets sketchy!

Glymur Waterfall Hike | Iceland
The cave you’ll walk through

Glymur waterfall hike – Crossing the log

When I saw the log crossing, I panicked! I was ready to chicken out. The water was very high and running fast. I watched a few people go ahead of us to see how they crossed. We noticed that everyone was taking off their shoes and crossing over the log barefoot. This surprised me but they were doing this because you get a much better grip when you cross barefoot, rather than in your hiking boots.

We took off our hiking boots and socks, but this was miserable as there are a ton of tiny flies swarming around this area. Just be aware!

There is a steel cable you can hang on to when you cross. For about 3/4 of this river crossing there is a log to walk on, and for the final push, there are large smooth rocks. My husband went through the crossing easily. Then it was my turn — I took it like a champ and pushed right on though! It was much easier than it looks, trust me! The water — even when it’s high — is still fairly shallow (especially at the area with the rocks) but it’s extremely cold.

The raging river you’ll need to cross!

My best advice is to not approach this crossing with fear. Take a deep breath, use what is provided and the worst that will happen is that your feet get wet. The steel cable will give you both stability and a sense of safety. Stand back and watch others do it and you’ll see that it really isn’t that bad! If I can do it, you can, too!

Ascent to Glymur

After crossing the log, you’ll make your way up to Glymur. This is where all of the elevation gain on the hike happens. As you get closer to the top, the trail becomes very rocky and steep. There are steel cables in place to assist you in hoisting yourself up over the rocks. It looks scary, but as someone who loathes rock scrambling (and cables and all that shit), it was pretty tame.

I know, this looks really steep. Be glad you’re going UPHILL and not down!
Cables help you up the trail

You’ll find yourself now way above the river and you’ll have viewpoints of Glymur and the canyon! It’s absolutely STUNNING – and (this is cliche) but the photos don’t do this justice – you really can’t grasp the scale and depth of this view unless you’re there in person.

Glymur Waterfall Hike | Iceland
Glymur Waterfall Hike | Iceland
Looking down into the canyon

We continued along the trail to go up higher for more viewpoints of Glymur. I couldn’t stop taking photos!

At this point, you have a choice: you don’t have to hike this as a loop — you can go up to the various viewpoints of Glymur and the canyon, turn around and head back the way you came. But keep in mind, you’ll have to cross over that log again, and instead of hoisting yourself up with the chains, you’ll have to navigate it going down, which is really, really steep.

The top of Glymur Waterfall as seen from the trail

Second River Crossing – Glymur Waterfall Hike

The climb rewards you with breathtaking views of the valley and surrounding landscapes. But the adventure doesn’t end here! A second river awaits and this time, there’s no convenient log bridge to help!

I didn’t get any photos of crossing the second river, but look towards the back and you’ll see tiny dots of people deciding on where to cross

As there will be other hikers here, as you get to the second river crossing, you will see where the others are congregating – typically this will be the best spot to cross the river — you want to cross at a shallow point where the water is moving slower.

Once again, we sat down and dug into our backpacks. We had packed water shoes specifically for this crossing. Well, my husband did. I seemed to have forgotten to pack mine!

Shit! That meant that I would either need to cross barefoot or cross in socks (I did have an extra pair in my backpack). We watched as others crossed the river — the water wasn’t that shallow — it was about knee deep for most people. Some people were taking off their pants and just crossing in their underwear! (Remember, this is Europe!) I thought about doing that, but in the end, I hiked up my pants over my knees and crossed the river in my socks.

My husband went first and did it with ease (of COURSE). Then I went for it. Goddamn that water was freezing! And this wasn’t a quick crossing. This is a wide river!!!b Beneath the icy water, the riverbed was a treacherous mix of smooth, slippery stones and jagged, foot-piercing rocks. Every step was a gamble, and man, I wished I had my watershoes!!! The current was no joke either—it was fairly fast and unyielding.

Somehow, I made it to the other side. We had packed microfiber towels to help us dry off, and they were a godsend. I changed into my other pair of socks. But I did it! I felt like I’d earned this little victory!

On the other side of the river – Glymur Waterfall Hike

The other side

This is where the AllTrails Pro map came in handy. The trails around here are very difficult to follow – they seem to go every which way. And I really don’t have any advice other than to use the offline AllTrails map. We didn’t get lost, but we did have to help others with directions who were lost. There are no signs to help you!

Glymur Waterfall Hike | Iceland
Eventually, you will see a trail on the other side. Glymur Waterfall Hike | Iceland

The other side of the river isn’t that stunning. In fact, I didn’t take that many photos because it wasn’t that inspiring. We just enjoyed the hike back down to the parking lot.

Final Thoughts on the Glymur Waterfall Hike

Even with its challenges, I definitely recommend this hike – and yes, I recommend doing the loop. For the best experience, do the trail as we did — counter clockwise — and be prepared with water shoes (or just an extra pair of shoes), extra socks, a towel, layers and maybe even an extra pair of pants! This will take about 4-5 hours — so it’s a good portion of your day — but it’s definitely worth it. You will see some amazing scenery that can’t quite be conveyed in the photos.

Hike to Iceland's tallest waterfall with this complete guide and review of hiking to Glymur Waterfall
Hike to Iceland's tallest waterfall with this complete guide and review of hiking to Glymur Waterfall
Hike to Iceland's tallest waterfall with this complete guide and review of hiking to Glymur Waterfall

You also might like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *