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Iceland Iceland canyon rim

Fjaðrárgljúfur

You can see 17 km from here, looking south-east.

35Viewyas Score

Canyon rim

Calculating the panorama…

Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.

The view

Up to 17 km away.

Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.

35out of 100

Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).

  • 17 kmFarthest ridgelooking south-east
  • 89%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
  • 75 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint

From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.

The sun

The best sunsets are from November to December.

When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.

  1. Jansouth-west40 min before the sea-level sunset24%
  2. Febsouth-west50 min before the sea-level sunset24%
  3. Marsouth-west94 min before the sea-level sunset22%
  4. Aprwest122 min before the sea-level sunset22%
  5. Maywest136 min before the sea-level sunset22%
  6. Junnorth-westsets on an open horizon18%
  7. Julnorth-west146 min before the sea-level sunset16%
  8. Augwest128 min before the sea-level sunset20%
  9. Sepwest108 min before the sea-level sunset20%
  10. Octsouth-west64 min before the sea-level sunset23%
  11. Novsouth-west42 min before the sea-level sunset25%
  12. Decsouth-west28 min before the sea-level sunset27%
  • Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
  • Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
  • %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).

The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.

The place

Fjaðrárgljúfur.

Valley in Iceland

Fjaðrárgljúfur is a canyon rim in Iceland, 75 m above the sea.

On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 17 km away, looking south-east.

The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 89% of the circle.

The skies are clearest from November to December.

Iceland 2008-05-27 (2684049831)
Guillaume Baviere from Uppsala, Sweden · CC BY 2.0

Get there and stay

Plan the visit

A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.

Tours, cable cars and tickets for FjaðrárgljúfurGetYourGuideSee prices Stays with a view near FjaðrárgljúfurBooking.comSee prices Car hire at HFN airport (Höfn)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The viewpoint and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.

Fjaðrárgljúfur seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 6other viewpoints within 5 kmSkaftáreldahraun and 5 more
  • 2named peaks within 5 kmSkálarborg, Fremra-Hrútafjall
  • 5car parks within 3 km
  • 2campsites within 10 kmKirkjubær II, Tjaldsvæðið Kleifar
  • 8places to stay within 10 kmHunkubakkar, Maddis, Klausturhof and 5 more
  • cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
  • marked trails within 3 km
  • shelters and huts within 5 km
  • visitor centres within 5 km
  • restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

What you see from Fjaðrárgljúfur, and what is near.

Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.

Peakyas13 mountains within 25 km
Eldhraun · 11 kmLauffell · 16 kmKlofasker · 16 kmKrossfell · 16 kmLambafell · 18 kmSkorur · 19 kmTjarnarhraun · 22 kmGeldingasker · 24 km
Islandyasthe island
Iceland102,775 km²
Darkskyas1 dark-sky places within 30 km
FjaðrárgljúfurBortle 1 · this place
Canyonyas1 canyons within 20 km
Fjaðrárgljúfur · this placeFjaðrárgljúfur100 m · 2.9 km
Cascadyas4 waterfalls within 15 km
Mögárfoss · 1.0 kmSystrafoss · 5.8 kmStjórnarfoss · 6.2 kmFagrifoss · 11 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The view, as people saw it.

Fjadrárgljúfur-pjt
pjt56 --- If you use the picture outside Wikipedia I would appreciate a short e-mail to pj · CC BY-SA 3.0
Fjaðrargljufur in July, 2019 1
Alexander Grebenkov · CC BY 3.0
Fjaðrargljufur in July, 2019 10
Alexander Grebenkov · CC BY 3.0

Other viewpoints nearby.

Fjaðrárgljúfur

Iceland

  • 35Viewyas Score
  • 17 kmFarthest ridge
  • —Peaks in view
  • 75 mAltitude

Hvannadalshnúkur

Iceland · 78 km

  • 84Viewyas Score
  • 207 kmFarthest ridge
  • 41Peaks in view
  • 2,076 mAltitude

See the guide

Öræfajökull

Iceland · 80 km

  • 84Viewyas Score
  • 206 kmFarthest ridge
  • 40Peaks in view
  • 2,026 mAltitude

See the guide

Hekla

Iceland · 77 km

  • 81Viewyas Score
  • 180 kmFarthest ridge
  • 72Peaks in view
  • 1,470 mAltitude

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q956845) · CC0
SunJ. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms
Peaks in viewPeakyas (Wikidata, CC0)
Panorama and altitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
CloudsNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas, Darkskyas, Canyonyas, Cascadyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Visit