Studlagil Canyon Shore Excursion from Seydisfjordur
A studlagil canyon shore excursion tour runs inland from the cruise pier through the wide Jokuldalur valley to Studlagilsgljufur, where hexagonal basalt columns rise in tiers above the Jokulsa a Dal. The gorge only emerged after the Karahnjukar hydroelectric dam slowed the glacial river in 2009, leaving the water a pale blue-green against the dark rock. Guides fill the drive with geology and sheep-farming history, which makes this one of the more rewarding East Iceland landmarks reachable in a single port call.
Until 2009, the columns at Stuðlagil could not be seen at all. The glacial river Jökulsá á Brú ran high and grey over them, hiding one of the largest concentrations of columnar basalt in Iceland beneath silt-heavy water.
The Kárahnjúkar hydroelectric scheme, and the Hálslón reservoir behind it, diverted much of that flow. The canyon that surfaced is now the reason a Studlagil Canyon Shore Excursion appears on almost every East Iceland itinerary.
The rock itself is far older. Thick basaltic lava, cooling slowly and contracting as it lost heat, fractured into vertical prisms — most of them hexagonal, some five- or seven-sided. The joints run true enough that early travellers mistook stretches of the wall for masonry. Similar formations occur at Svartifoss and Reynisfjara, but nowhere in the country do they line a river gorge for such a distance. In summer the water clears to a pale blue-green once suspended glacial sediment settles upstream, and the contrast between that colour and the dark grey stone accounts for most of the photographs taken here.
The canyon lies at Grund, Jökuldalsvegur, 701 Egilsstaðir, in the Jökuldalur valley south-west of the town. Two banks offer two vantages: the eastern side looks down from above, the western shore meets the columns at river level. The 239 steps that drop from the eastern car park toward the viewing deck are the only engineered element in sight. Stuðlafoss, a broad waterfall framed by the same jointing, sits upstream. Access is unusually democratic — entry costs 0 ISK, with only a parking fee charged per vehicle through the Parka app — which is partly why Stuðlagil gljúfur, once a farmer's shortcut, now anchors Studlagil Canyon Shore Excursion tours across the region.
Cruise traffic reshaped that arithmetic. Ships calling at Seyðisfjörður sit roughly 110 kilometres away by road, close enough that a single day ashore reaches the canyon and returns. Passengers comparing the average cost of shore excursions across a North Atlantic itinerary — against, say, excursions to do in Amber Cove on a Caribbean leg — find the pricing here unusual, since the site itself charges nothing and the fare covers only the road. As a shore excursion example, it is unusually plain: stone, water, weather. That plainness is precisely what Studlagil Canyon Shore Excursion tickets are built around.
5 hr
