History and Legends of Reynisfjara
The Trolls of Reynisdrangar
The most enduring story attached to Reynisfjara concerns the Reynisdrangar sea stacks — the jagged basalt pillars rising from the ocean just offshore, the tallest reaching 66 meters above sea level. According to Icelandic folklore, these are not geological formations. They are trolls.
The most common version of the legend tells of two trolls (some versions say three) who attempted to drag a three-masted ship to shore during the night. Trolls in Icelandic mythology are nocturnal creatures — massive, powerful, and malevolent, but fatally vulnerable to sunlight, which turns them to stone. The trolls at Reynisfjara misjudged the time. As they hauled the ship toward land, dawn broke over the eastern mountains. The first rays of sunlight caught them in the surf, and they petrified instantly, frozen forever in the act of pulling their prize ashore. The ship, too, turned to stone — some say the smaller rock formations near the stacks are its remains.
An alternative version holds that the trolls were a pair trying to carry the ship from the beach out to sea, not toward it, and were caught wading in the shallows. In yet another telling, a troll woman named Skessa and her companion were the ones petrified, and the stacks bear their individual names in local tradition.
These troll legends are not unique to Reynisfjara. Iceland's landscape is dense with stories of trolls, hidden people (huldufolk), and other supernatural beings mapped onto striking geological features. But the Reynisdrangar story is among the most famous, partly because the stacks genuinely do look like enormous figures standing in the water, especially in fog or low light when their outlines blur.
Norse Settlement and Vik
The broader area around Reynisfjara has been inhabited since the Norse settlement of Iceland, traditionally dated to 874 CE when Ingolfur Arnarson arrived in Reykjavik. The southern coastal region was among the earliest settled areas because the lowland plains (the Myrdalssandur and adjacent outwash plains) provided grazing land, and the coast offered access to fishing and driftwood — a critical resource in a nearly treeless landscape.
The village of Vik i Myrdal, the nearest settlement to Reynisfjara at just 2.5 kilometers away, is Iceland's southernmost village. Its name means simply "bay by the myrtle valley" (Myrdal). Vik has existed as a farming and fishing community for centuries, though it was never large. Its population today is approximately 300 people.
Vik's history is inseparable from the threat of Katla volcano, which lies beneath the Myrdalsjoekull ice cap directly north of the village. Katla has erupted roughly twice per century since settlement, and each major eruption produces catastrophic glacial floods that reshape the coastline. The 1918 eruption — Katla's most recent — generated a jokulhlaup that extended the coastline by several kilometers in places, depositing enormous volumes of volcanic sediment. The church on the hill above Vik (Vikurkirkja) has served as the designated evacuation point for the village during Katla events for generations.
Medieval and Early Modern Period
During the medieval period (roughly 900 to 1400 CE), the Vik area was part of the broader agricultural economy of southern Iceland. The Landnamabok (Book of Settlements), compiled in the twelfth century, documents early land claims in the region. The area around Myrdal was divided among several farming families, and the coast served as a seasonal fishing ground.
The beach itself was not named "Reynisfjara" in the earliest sources. The name derives from Reynir, a farm name in the area, and "fjara," meaning beach or foreshore. Reynisdrangar follows the same etymology — "Reynir's rock pillars."
The medieval period also saw the establishment of the Kirkjubaejarstofa parish and later the church at Vik itself. The Reformation came to Iceland in 1550, and the southern parishes transitioned from Catholic to Lutheran, as the rest of the country did.
Throughout these centuries, the beach was not a destination. It was a working coastline — a place where driftwood was collected, where boats were occasionally launched through the surf (an extremely dangerous operation on this coast), and where the rhythms of fishing and farming defined daily life. The idea of visiting Reynisfjara for its beauty would have been alien to anyone living there before the twentieth century.
Katla's Shadow
No history of Reynisfjara is complete without understanding Katla. The volcano has shaped the coastline, the sand, the economy, and the psychology of the region for over a thousand years.
Documented major eruptions include those in 934, 1177, 1262, 1357, 1416, 1440, 1580, 1612, 1625, 1660, 1721, 1755, 1823, and 1918. The 934 Eldgja eruption (associated with the Katla system) was one of the largest lava flood eruptions in recorded history, producing roughly 18 cubic kilometers of lava and enough atmospheric sulfur to affect climate across the Northern Hemisphere.
The 1918 eruption lasted 24 days and produced a glacial flood estimated at 200,000 to 300,000 cubic meters per second at its peak — a flow rate comparable to the Amazon River. The flood carried icebergs, volcanic debris, and sediment across the Myrdalssandur plain and into the sea, pushing the coastline outward. Much of the black sand that constitutes Reynisfjara today was deposited or redistributed during and after this event.
Katla is currently in a long repose period — its longest in recorded history. Icelandic geologists monitor the volcano continuously, and evacuation plans for Vik and surrounding areas are regularly updated and practiced. If (when) Katla erupts again, Reynisfjara's coastline will change once more.
The Tourism Explosion
For most of the twentieth century, Reynisfjara remained a local landmark visited mainly by Icelanders and the occasional intrepid foreign traveler. Iceland's tourism industry was modest through the 1990s, with total annual visitors numbering in the low hundreds of thousands.
The transformation began around 2010 and accelerated sharply after 2015. Several factors converged. The 2010 Eyjafjallajokull eruption, despite disrupting European air travel, put Iceland on the global map and sparked enormous curiosity about the country. Budget airlines (Icelandair and WOW Air) introduced competitive transatlantic fares through Keflavik. Social media, particularly Instagram, amplified Iceland's photogenic landscapes to a global audience. Films and television — most notably Game of Thrones, which filmed extensively in Iceland including scenes evocative of Reynisfjara's coastline — created a cultural pull.
Reynisfjara went from a quiet beach to one of Iceland's most visited single locations. By 2019, estimates placed annual visitors at Reynisfjara at over 600,000 — more than twice the entire population of Iceland. The parking lot was expanded. Warning signs were installed in multiple languages. A restaurant and facilities were built at the trailhead.
This tourism surge brought economic benefits to Vik and the South Coast but also new challenges: erosion from foot traffic, waste management, and — most critically — a series of incidents and fatalities caused by sneaker waves catching tourists unfamiliar with the ocean's power. The death of a Chinese tourist in 2016 and subsequent incidents prompted Icelandic authorities to install more prominent warning signs, barriers, and monitoring. A webcam was installed to allow remote monitoring of wave conditions and visitor behavior.
Reynisfjara Today
The beach exists today in a tension between its geological and mythological heritage and the pressures of mass tourism. Efforts are ongoing to balance access with safety and environmental protection. The Icelandic Tourist Board and the local municipality have worked together on visitor management, including seasonal rangers posted at the beach during peak summer months to warn visitors away from the waterline.
Reynisfjara remains, as it has been for a thousand years, a place shaped primarily by volcanic fire and oceanic force. The trolls still stand in the surf. Katla still sleeps beneath the ice. And the black sand, replenished by the same geological processes that created it, continues to absorb the waves.