Brúarfoss

Waterfall in the Brúará

The Brúará is a nearly 40 km long river in the municipality of Suðurland.

Shortly behind Brúarfoss, the Brúará crosses the Laugarvatnsvegur (road no. 37) between Laugarvatn and the high-temperature area of ​​Haukadalur, where Iceland's two best-known geysers are located. The Brúará flows into the Hvitá.

The Icelandic word "brú" means "bridge", so the "Brúará" is the "bridge river". The river is said to take its name from a natural bridge, a stone arch, that once spanned the river just north of the current bridge.

On July 20, 1433, the then Bishop of Skálholt, the Dane Jón Garreksson, was dragged out of his church in the course of long-term disputes, put in a sack and drowned in the upper reaches of the Brúará.

Episcopal see in nearby Skálholt

At the beginning of the 17th century, the stone arch is said to have been destroyed by workers from Skálholt to cut off the way to the manor house for unwanted strangers. It is said that the estate manager himself later drowned in the river here...

Brúarfoss is located practically directly on the Golden Circle and, for me, with its bright blue color, is definitely one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Iceland - but it is in no way developed for tourism.

There is not even a sign about this waterfall. You have to turn off road number 37 at a summer house settlement, past a construction yard, rumble past the (surely annoyed) holiday home owners, then park your car at a parking bay and walk across the heathland to the river. By the way, part of the holiday home complex is already secured against unwanted visitors with barriers and wire.

The path was extremely muddy for us and we always got stuck in low birch trees.

You can hear the Brúarfoss before you even see anything of it, you then simply walk in the direction of the noise - and you stand in front of a bridge with a view of this fantastically beautiful waterfall with its intense blue water.

By the way, when we were at Brúarfoss, we only saw Asian tourists there, with large cameras, who were busy photographing this beautiful waterfall.

We were able to explain the way to the waterfall to a young couple we met at the parking bay. Afterwards we met her again at the Geysir parking lot - the young woman immediately happily showed us her completely muddy shoes - yes, we had pointed out the "mud" there!

[Translated from .]