Gullfoss

Gullfoss is a waterfall located in the canyon of Hvítá river in the southwest Iceland. It is a very popular tourist attraction here in Iceland and can you see why here on these pictures.

Gullfoss and a rainbow

Gullfoss and the crevice

Gullfoss is like a staircase, about a kilometre above the falls it turns sharply to the left, but Hvítá rushes southward, after turning to the left it flows down into a wide curved three-step staircase and the plunges in two stages into a crevice that is 32 m deep. The crevice is at the right angles to the flow of the river so it ends going to the same direction as it started. The average amount of water running over this waterfall is 140 m³/s in the summertime and 80 m³/s in the wintertime.

Gullfoss in the night at wintertime and the northern lights

When you first approach the falls you can‘t see the crevice so it appears that the river simply vanishes into the earth. There have been attempts to utilizing Gullfoss to create electricity but many people were against it and now it is protected.