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The Ring Road's southern arc: waterfalls, black sand and glacier tongues, on the wettest side of the island. Daytime highs in south Iceland run from about 0 °C in January to 12 °C in July, an annual range of roughly 12 °C.
On a strict reading, no month in south Iceland clears every threshold for a hiking trip. The limits below are absolute, not relative to the region. That does not make it a bad destination; it means the trip has to be planned around a specific constraint rather than a season.
What rules months out here is rainfall and temperature, not any composite judgement. January is the weakest month on these criteria.
What south Iceland is known for
- Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss are roadside waterfalls; Reynisfjara's black basalt columns are at Vik
- Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon calves icebergs that wash onto the neighbouring Diamond Beach
- Thingvellir, where the Atlantic plates separate visibly, hosted the world's oldest parliament from 930
- Aurora needs darkness, so it is a September-to-March phenomenon here, not a summer one
Month by month
| Month | High °C | Low °C | Precip mm | Wet days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0 | -4 | 232 | 20.1 |
| February | 1 | -4 | 215 | 18.8 |
| March | 2 | -3 | 203 | 19.8 |
| April | 4 | -1 | 158 | 18.3 |
| May | 7 | 2 | 139 | 18.4 |
| June | 11 | 6 | 120 | 17.8 |
| July | 12 | 8 | 129 | 19.1 |
| August | 12 | 7 | 172 | 19.1 |
| September | 9 | 5 | 214 | 20.5 |
| October | 5 | 1 | 230 | 19.0 |
| November | 2 | -2 | 202 | 18.4 |
| December | 1 | -4 | 212 | 19.5 |
Ticked rows are months where every hard requirement for a hiking trip is met across at least half the month.
Open South Iceland on the map →
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Nearby regions
Figures are 30-year climatology sampled at Vik, Selfoss, Hvolsvollur, Kirkjubaejarklaustur and Skaftafell, averaged across those locations, from ERA5-Land reanalysis fitted with a harmonic seasonal cycle and a trend term, evaluated for 2026. Sampling named towns rather than averaging the whole region avoids blending valley and mountain conditions into a figure true of neither. Cells are about 0.08° wide, from ERA5-Land's 0.1° grid, which is itself driven by a 0.25° (~28 km) atmospheric reanalysis — so individual valleys, sheltered bays and single summits are not resolved. In steep terrain read these as conditions for the wider area rather than for one village. They describe typical conditions, not a forecast. Read how the climatology is built.