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his unique location has also been used to film scenes for many movies, including such blockbusters as Game of Thrones and Star Wars, and in 1991 this beach was even ranked among the top ten most beautiful non-tropical beaches in the world.
Reynisfjara is a black beach located near the town of Vik, in the southern part of Iceland. It is both Beauty and the Beast, as not only attractions but also dangers await visitors here….
Exceptionally attractive black beach
Reynisjfary’s black sand alone is certainly attractive, but along Iceland’s southern coast such black beaches stretch for dozens if not hundreds of kilometers.
What sets Reynisfjara apart from other black beaches are the beautiful basalt columns on one of the coastal cliffs, the beautiful coastal cave Hálsanefshellir, and the distinctive lone Reynisdrangar rocks standing in the ocean near the shore (naturally, according to legends, they are trolls turned into rock). The Reynisdrangar rocks can also be seen well – and perhaps even better – from Vik itself, the beach by the parking lot in the southern part of the town (behind the stores, gas station, etc.).
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his unique location has also been used to film scenes for many movies, including such blockbusters as Game of Thrones and Star Wars, and in 1991 this beach was even ranked among the top ten most beautiful non-tropical beaches in the world.
Dangerous Reynisfjara beach
Thanks to its beauty, Reynisfjara attracts crowds of tourists. During the summer season, a solitary stroll on the beach can only be a dream, but paradoxically that’s a good thing, because Reynisfjara is really dangerous.
After all, the entire southern coast of Iceland is exposed directly to the open Atlantic. The first mainland directly south of here is…. Antarctica! So the ocean waves here can sometimes be extremely unpredictable and dangerous. Tourists hang around a lot, everyone is looking for the best place to take a photo, the atmosphere is cheerful and no one expects danger. Unfortunately, sudden, strong and surprisingly large waves here really “take with them” inattentive tourists.
An exceptionally large ocean wave can reach up to the knees, sometimes higher. And such a wave is already enough to knock a person over, then pull him into the ocean. Let’s remember that no one comes here dressed as for a swimming pool, so once you lose your balance it is really difficult to regain it, defy the ocean, get up and not be pulled down to the depths. This unfortunately also applies to those who try to help. In addition, not all tourists are in great physical condition, and in a soaked jacket and heavy boots they drown, often in front of terrified family or friends. In the Icelandic media at least once a year there were reports of more tourists “caught” by the ocean, some of which unfortunately confirmed that the tourists could not be rescued. Excerpts from such reports were also depicted on information boards, which stood here until 2022 as a warning.
Old warning signs on Reynisfjara beach
What’s more – waves are not the only danger for visitors to Reynisfjara. In August 2019, rock debris was also sprinkled on tourists from the cliff, injuring several people, and a day later a large part of the slope (about 100 x 50 m) slid onto the beach. Fortunately, no one was on the beach at the time of the landslide, but local authorities believe that the landslide could happen again, so access to the further eastern part of the beach was closed until further notice.
New warning system at Reynisfjara
Since the information boards were quite widely ignored by tourists and accidents kept happening, a new warning system was installed on Reynisfjara beach in late 2022. It consists of a map dividing the beach into zones and traffic lights showing the current state of emergency.
A green traffic light means that you need to be careful, but you can walk all over the beach. Yellow, that you should not go further than the height of the last rocks. Red, on the other hand, that one should not enter the beach at all beyond where the traffic signals stand.
From our observations, the new system is as ignored as the old one. With the yellow beacon active, no one should be on the farther part of the beach, in the cave, and not even farther away at all. Meanwhile, tourists are there then as much as ever….
One can only hope that maybe at least the red traffic light will actually change the behavior of tourists, although it will probably end in hope.
How to get to Reynisfjara
Reynisfjara is located just outside the town of Vik in southern Iceland, about 200 km southeast of Reykjavik. From Vik you can just walk out to the coast and admire the black beach, but to see this particular one – Reynisfjara specifically – you have to go around the nearby hill. Leave the city north on road #1 (toward Reykjavik), and after about 5 km turn left / south on road #215 (access is clearly marked).
At the end of the road there is a large parking lot, a restaurant, a hot dog stand (in season) and toilets (payable 2×100 ISK, but you can also use a card).
Beds at The Barn
For those more demanding ones – The Barn also offers hotel rooms and bungalows, so we highly recommend checking it out: bookings at The Barn.
