Lake Mývatn and Powerful Dettifoss Day Tour from Akureyri
Max 12Pickup1.5 hours at the falls
From $401 per person
Visiting Dettifoss Without a Tour: An Honest Guide
Short answer. You can, easily, in summer. Dettifoss is free, Route 862 is paved and any car manages it. Drive it between June and September if you have a hire car and an unhurried day. Book a seat between October and May, or whenever your day ends with a ship or a flight.
Plenty of sites in this position would not tell you this. Dettifoss has no gate, no ticket and no parking charge, and the road to the west rim is public and paved. So for a good part of the year the honest answer to “do I need a tour?” is no. Here is when that changes, and why.
What does it cost to drive there?
Fuel, and the car. From Akureyri it is about two hours each way, so call it four hours of driving and 270 to 300 kilometres round trip. In a small petrol hire car that is a modest tank. Add nothing for parking, nothing for entry and nothing for the toilets, because all three are free.
| Driving yourself | A guided day | |
|---|---|---|
| Direct cost | Fuel, plus the car if you are hiring for the day | From $209 per person |
| Two travellers | Clearly cheaper | Two fares |
| Four travellers | Overwhelmingly cheaper | Four fares |
| One traveller | About the same once the car is counted | One fare, no driving |
| Time | 5–7 hours, your call | 7–10 hours, fixed |
| If the road shuts | You lose the day and the fuel | Full refund or another date |
If the car is already booked for a week in Iceland, the marginal cost of one more day is fuel and driving wins outright. If you would be hiring specifically for this, the day rate plus fuel plus the insurance excess lands close to two guided fares — and you still do the driving.
Is the road hard?
No, in summer. Route 862 is paved from the Ring Road to the west car park: 55 kilometres of it, built in stages between 2010 and 2021. That road is what turned Dettifoss from a rough-track destination into an afternoon's drive. Any car manages it, and the turn is signposted off Route 1 on the Mývatn heath.
Route 864 on the east bank is a different proposition — gravel, slow, and closed from the first autumn snow until around the end of May. The east-versus-west guide covers which rim you actually want.
When is driving the wrong call?
Between January and early April
Route 862 is not in winter service in those months. It is not barriered and it is not officially shut. But nobody is ploughing or monitoring it as a matter of routine, and it opens and closes with the weather. The national park points visitors at the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration for exactly this reason. Making that call yourself, on a road you have never driven, at seven in the morning, is the part a guided departure removes.
When your day ends with a ship or a flight
Two hours each way on a road that can close, against a fixed sailing time, is the one scenario where self-driving is wrong in any month. The cruise departures carry return-to-ship guarantees, and one refunds in full if your ship never docks. A hire car offers neither.
When the path is frozen
From autumn to spring the last stretch to the viewpoint ices over. Travellers have described needing crampons in February. Guides on several departures carry spikes and hand them out at the car park, which is not something you can buy on arrival.
⚠ Check the road, not the forecast. vegagerdin.is publishes live road status and the national park points visitors there. Check it on the morning you travel rather than the night before, because the answer changes overnight. Or book a Dettifoss tour from Akureyri and let the operator make the call, with a full refund if it is no.
What do you miss by driving?
Three things, and they are worth naming honestly.
- The stops you would not make. Hverir, the Skútustaðagígar craters, Grjótagjá, Dimmuborgir. When the waterfall is the objective, these are things you drive past.
- Somebody who knows the ground. Which path has the spray, which has the photograph, where Selfoss is and whether today is a day for it.
- The refund. If the weather closes the day, a booked seat becomes money back or another date. A tank of fuel becomes nothing.
What do you gain?
- Time at the falls. Unlimited, against thirty to ninety minutes on a guided day.
- Selfoss without a watch. The 600-metre walk upstream that most itineraries do not allow for.
- The hours either side of the crowd. Arrive at eight or at six and the west viewpoint is close to empty, with the same light.
- The east side. No guided departure uses Route 864, so the head-on view and Hafragilsfoss are self-drive only.
Can you get there by bus?
Not usefully. There is no scheduled public service to the falls, and the practical alternatives to a hire car are a guided departure or a taxi that would cost several times a tour fare. If you are not driving and not booking, you are not going.
What should you take if you drive?
- Food and water for the day. Nothing is sold at the falls.
- Fuel from Reykjahlíð or Akureyri — there is none out there.
- Boots with grip, and spikes between October and May.
- Waterproofs. The lower viewpoint is inside the spray.
- A downloaded map. Signal at the falls is patchy at best.
What is the drive itself like?
Undramatic, which is the point. You leave Akureyri on Route 1 and climb east over the heath past Goðafoss. The landscape opens out around Lake Mývatn into craters and steam, and then Route 862 turns north across open ground with almost nothing on it. The last stretch is the emptiest road most visitors drive in Iceland.
Two practical notes. Fuel up in Akureyri or Reykjahlíð, because there is none beyond. And download your map before you go — signal is patchy across the heath and absent at the falls.
How early should you set off?
Earlier than you think, and for one reason: the coaches. Diamond Circle departures converge on the west viewpoint around midday, and the platform is not large. Leave Akureyri at eight and you arrive at ten with the place close to empty. In June and July you could equally leave at four in the afternoon and get the same solitude with better light.
This is the single biggest advantage of driving, and it costs nothing. A guided departure cannot give it to you, because its schedule is built around several stops rather than one.
What about doing it as part of the Ring Road?
If you are driving Iceland's Route 1 anyway, Dettifoss is a two-hour detour from the Mývatn area and the road is paved. That is a much easier proposition than a dedicated day from Akureyri, and it is how a good proportion of self-drive visitors actually see the falls.
The catch is the same one: between January and early April the detour depends on a road nobody is guaranteeing. Build it into the plan as an option rather than a fixture, and check the morning you are in the area.
The version we would actually recommend
If you have two days in Akureyri and a car, split them. Take a guided Diamond Circle for Goðafoss, Ásbyrgi and Húsavík. Then drive back to Dettifoss alone on the second day, early, and stay as long as you like. You get the route explained and the waterfall on your own terms. It is not the cheapest plan and it is the best one.
What do you do when you get there?
Park, and walk. From the west car park the viewpoint is about a kilometre, and the national park lists the return trip at 1.5 kilometres and half an hour to an hour. At the junction the signpost reads Dettifoss 0.2 kilometres one way and Selfoss 0.6 the other, and names the marked routes D1, D2 and D3.
Take the lower branch to Dettifoss first, while your camera is dry, then the upper viewpoint, then Selfoss if you have the time. That order is the one thing a guide would tell you that the signpost does not, and it is worth the two minutes it takes to remember.
Frequently asked questions
Can you drive to Dettifoss yourself?
Yes. Route 862 to the west rim is paved and public, there is no entry fee and parking is free. In summer any car manages it and the drive from Akureyri is about two hours each way.
Do you need a 4x4 for Dettifoss?
Not for the west side in summer. The east side on Route 864 is gravel and slow, and higher clearance is the sensible choice there — as is checking whether your rental agreement covers gravel damage.
Is there public transport to Dettifoss?
No scheduled service that is useful. The realistic options are a hire car or a guided departure from Akureyri.
What happens if the road is closed when I get there?
If you are driving, you lose the day. If you booked a seat, the operator cancels and refunds you in full, and several offer another date instead. That difference is the whole argument for booking between October and May.
Is it cheaper to drive to Dettifoss?
For two or more people with a car already booked, clearly. For a solo traveller hiring specifically for the day, the sums are close once the day rate and excess are counted — and you still do four hours of driving.
The one mistake self-drivers make
Arriving at midday. It is the natural time if you leave Akureyri after breakfast, and it is the hour every Diamond Circle coach is also aiming at. The west viewpoint is not a large platform, and forty people arriving together changes the place completely. Leave at eight, or leave at three, and the same drive delivers a different waterfall.
For the road, roads and access. For the month, the month-by-month page. For the departures if you decide against driving, Dettifoss Tours.
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