Öxarárfoss

Öxarárfoss is where the Öxará river tips over the edge of the Almannagjá gorge — not huge, but perfectly formed: a white ribbon dropping between dark basalt walls into a pool of rounded boulders. A boardwalk and viewing platform put you straight in front of it, a few minutes off the main gorge path.

The gorge holds the falls in shade for much of the day, which is good news: the even light lets you shoot toward the water without blown highlights, and a slower shutter turns the ribbon silky while the couple stays sharp on the platform rail. In winter the spray builds ice cascades over the boulders and the falls sometimes frame in blue-white completely — bring traction spikes for the boardwalk, which ices over.

It is the single most-visited point inside the park after the viewpoint, so the platform gets a steady rotation of visitors from mid-morning; early or late, you can have it alone for minutes at a time. The boulder field in front of the pool looks tempting for a closer stance — it is wet, rounded and genuinely slippery, and the platform frame is better anyway.