Golden Circle. ‘Gullfoss’ (‘Golden Falls’) is a waterfall located in the canyon of the Hvítá river in southwest Iceland. The popularity and attraction of the ‘Golden Waterfall’ lie in its unusual, cascading shape and in its being extremely photogenic from every angle and in every season: open the whole year-round, during the summer Gullfoss waterfall amazes on average more than 2000 people per day.
The Hvítá river flows southward, and about 1 km above the falls it turns sharply to the west and flows down into a wide curved three-step “staircase” and then abruptly plunges in two stages (11 m, and 21 m) into a crevice 32 m deep. The crevice, about 20 m wide and 2.5 km in length, extends perpendicular to the flow of the river. The average amount of water running down the waterfall is 141 cubic metres per second in the summer and 80 cubic metres per second in the winter. The highest flood measured was 2,000 cubic metres per second. During the first half of the 20th century and some years into the late 20th century, there was much speculation about using Gullfoss to generate electricity. During this period, the waterfall was rented indirectly by its owners, Tómas Tómasson and Halldór Halldórsson, to foreign investors.
However, the investors’ attempts were unsuccessful, partly due to lack of money: the waterfall was later sold to the state of Iceland, and is now protected. Sigríður Tómasdóttir, the daughter of Tómas Tómasson, was determined to preserve the waterfall’s condition and even threatened to throw herself down. A stone memorial to Sigriður is located above the falls. Gullfoss is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Iceland. Together with Þingvellir and the geysers of Haukadalur, Gullfoss forms part of the Golden Circle, a popular day excursion for tourists in Iceland.
