Iceland Travel GuideLOCAL TRAVEL AGENCY IN ICELAND
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Iceland Travel GuideLOCAL TRAVEL AGENCY IN ICELAND
My trip
Talk to a local
Barnafoss is a narrow, fast waterfall on the Hvítá river in Borgarfjörður, West Iceland, just upstream from Hraunfossar and often visited together with it. It is about 125 km (around 1 hour 45 minutes) from Reykjavík, free to visit, open all year, and takes 20–30 minutes alongside a visit to Hraunfossar.
Barnafoss, meaning "children's falls", is a compact but forceful waterfall where the Hvítá river squeezes through a narrow lava channel just above Hraunfossar. Unlike Hraunfossar's many wide, gentle streams spreading out of the lava, Barnafoss is a single, churning rush of white water through dark rock, a striking contrast between the two falls that sit only a short walk apart.
The Hvítá, the "white river", is fed by meltwater from Langjökull, Iceland's second-largest glacier, and the fine glacial silt gives the water a pale, milky blue colour that changes with the light and the season. At Barnafoss the whole river is forced into a twisting chute of dark rock, where it churns and folds back on itself before widening out again below. A footbridge crosses the gorge and lets you look straight down into the rapids. Because the water falls in several steps rather than one drop, you will also see the plural name, Barnafossar, on some maps and signs.
The name comes from a local legend about a natural stone bridge that once spanned the falls here. Both waterfalls emerge from the Hallmundarhraun lava field, the result of an eruption roughly a thousand years ago, and the whole area is protected as a nature reserve.
The story goes back to a time when a well-off family lived at the farm Hraunsás, close to the falls. One Christmas the whole household went to evensong at the church at Gilsbakki, across the river. The two young sons were left at home and told to stay indoors.
It was a bright, frosty night, and the boys grew restless and set off after the others. When the family came home the children were gone. Their footprints were followed through the snow to the natural stone arch that then spanned the river, and there they stopped. The boys had fallen into the falls and drowned.
In one version their mother had the arch broken down so that nobody would cross it again. In another she laid a curse on it, saying that no one would cross it and live, and an earthquake later brought it down. Either way, the arch is gone and the waterfall has been called Barnafoss, the Children's Falls, ever since.
On the way you pass Deildartunguhver, the most powerful hot spring in Europe, and the Krauma baths next to it, just off Road 50. Both make a good stop before or after the waterfalls.
The two falls are a few hundred metres apart on the same river, and could hardly be less alike.
Keep to the paths and platforms. The rock at the edge is undercut by the river, and the current is far too strong to survive a fall.
There are toilets and a small parking area at the shared Hraunfossar–Barnafoss car park. Cafés and shops are available nearby in Reykholt and Húsafell.
Reykholt and Húsafell, both close by, have hotels and guesthouses, and Borgarnes has a wider range of accommodation if you want a base for the whole of West Iceland.
Hraunfossar is a series of wide, gentle streams flowing out of the lava field, while Barnafoss, just upstream, is a single narrow, fast-moving waterfall through a rock channel.
About 125 km, roughly 1 hour 45 minutes by car, through the Hvalfjörður tunnel and along Roads 50 and 518.
No, both Barnafoss and Hraunfossar are free to visit.
It means "children's falls", after a local legend about two boys who drowned trying to cross a stone bridge that once spanned the river here.
On foot. They share one car park, and a marked path leads upstream from the Hraunfossar platforms to Barnafoss in a few minutes.
The Hvítá carries glacial meltwater from Langjökull. Fine rock silt in the water scatters the light and gives it a milky, pale blue colour.
Both are used. Barnafoss is the usual name; Barnafossar is the plural, for the series of falls and rapids in the gorge.
Tours and trips that include Barnafoss, booked directly with a local travel agency in Iceland.
