Highlands

Jan

2022

Day 6 – Hidden hot spring, Canyon and Road

Hidden hot spring. Hidden canyon. Hidden gem. Everybody wants to see this hidden place for himself. And logically, there’s a huge debate on what “hidden” nowadays actually means. Some argue that once you write about it, it’s not hidden anymore. That’s why I don’t like the word hidden at all. Let’s say the places we write about are hard to access. And that’s why, for most of the tourists, they are “hidden”.

Map of our day around Fjallabak highlands

Contents

Rainy forecast and planning
F261 from west to east
Markarfljotsgljufur canyon from the west
Strútur track
Strútslaug hot spring
Crazy Hungurfit track
Videos

Rainy forecast and planning

The third day in a row forecast showed rain almost everywhere in the south and around the places we planned to visit. Once again, we had to alter our plans and chase the only remaining spots of good weather. If you are interested in how we do it, feel free to read our piece about finding a good weather in Iceland.

The forecast showed considerable rain at all the places which remained on our to-do list and even at all my back-up options. So, we basically had the following options:

Drive and hike in a considerable rain and most likely also fog with no visibility – No.
Make it a hot spring day in hot springs we had already visited in the past and around the pretty touristy and accessible southern region – No.
Stay inside, go for restaurants, cafes, museums etc. – No.
Do short hikes and go see waterfalls – we’d already done all we wanted in the south – No.
Go for the only spot where the forecast showed only a little rain, although we’d already been around that area, highlands around F261 and F210 – OK!

Our cabin between Hella and Hekla volcano

Our friend Haraldur gave us an insider tip to go see the very remote and picturesque highlands hot spring called Strutslaug, located exactly in this area. We couldn’t make it to Strutslaug on Day 2 of our trip, because we already had a pretty packed schedule and Haraldur told us it’s roughly a 4-hour hike roundtrip. This time it looked like the most plausible option – if it rains, at least we can soak in the hot spring. And let’s go for some adventure!

I also wanted to see Markarfljotslgjufur canyon from the west and if we had enough time and favorable weather, maybe also to drive the entire Hungurfit track. We had already driven the first part of the Hungurfit track on Day 2 and it was amazing (although really scary at times). So, this was the plan 🙂

F261 from west to east

F261 Emstruleið

The forecast was indeed right. We left our cabin near Hekla and it was raining. It was raining also all the way towards F261. But once we got on F261, like a miracle, it just stopped raining and the skies even seemed to clear! Once, again – chase the weather 🙂

The western part of F261 basically leads through the other bank of the Krossá river and you are able to see the Thorsmork area and F249 well from it. This part contains a lot of big gravel and the drive has to be slow and not very comfortable. The scenery is beautiful as always, although, for me, F210 was even more picturesque. This may, however, be due to the effect that we had seen F210 first 🙂

Einhyrningur mountain next to F261 road Emstruleið

F261 near F210 is composed of big gravel and some steep sections so you have to drive slowly. F261 doesn’t contain any major river crossings, only Blafjalakvisl in the end (next to F210). Blafjalakvisl is considered to be a medium river crossing. At the time of our visit, this area was pretty dry and the water level in the rivers low, so it was pretty easy to cross the river. It’s definitely possible to drive F261 also in SUV like Dacia Duster, although I cannot imagine how uncomfortable it has to be. We recommend Land Cruiser and bigger.

Markarfljotsgljufur canyon from the west

markarfljostgljufur canyon west and east access

Markarfljótsgljúfur canyon west and east access

Near the end of F261, there’s a dirt track leading right as a detour from F261. It’s a detour to the western viewpoint of Markarfljotsgljufur canyon. We wrote about driving to Markarfljotsgljufur from the east here. The dirt track towards Markarfljot canyon is in pretty bad conditions, with some sharp stones all over the road. It’s also steep and narrow at some spots. However, it’s quite short. That being said, if you don’t feel like driving it, it’s also possible to simply hike/walk it.

Markarfljótsgljúfur canyon from the west viewpoint

The dirt track ends at a flat-ground spot considered to be sort of a car park. There was a group of 3 jeeps driving the track right in front of us, so we all left our 4 cars at this parking spot. There’s a sign pointing to the left (north) with the name “Markarfljotsgljufur” and a walking sign, indicating a hiking trail. However, there’s no clear trail anywhere. Definitely not a marked one.

We managed to find a not very well visible path and follow it. However, this was a real challenge given that it simply disappeared from time to time. We took special care not to walk through any moss or other parts of the fragile nature and managed to somehow always connect to the well-trodden path. The unmarked trail mostly leads along the edge of the canyon.

Hard to find the western trail of Markarfljotsgljufur canyon

At this point you are already able to see some parts of the canyon, which is stunningly beautiful, however, you cannot see it in its entirety, because getting to the edge is simply too dangerous. There are no ropes, or barriers to prevent you from falling so you have to be very careful. We walked along the edge of the canyon towards the north for about 20-30 minutes when the path suddenly completely ended. The canyon widened and branched towards left and right at that point. I think the path was supposed to continue to the left (west) but we didn’t follow it anymore and rather turned back.

Amazing rock formations of the Markarfljotsgljufur canyon in Icelandic highlands

In the beginning, we also met a group of jeep travelers, who we realized were from Switzerland. They told us they didn’t manage to find any trail and came back to their cars. Luckily, we seemed to find a much bigger part of the trail than they did. Views along the path were beautiful, but they were definitely more stunning from the eastern viewpoint. So, if I chose to visit the Markarfljotsgljufur canyon again, I would definitely go for the eastern viewpoint only.

Strútur track

To get to the Strutur dirt track, you have to first ford the Blafjalakvisl river at the end of F261. We wrote more about F261 here and also in our List of F-roads. Then you have to drive a considerable part of F210 all the way towards Maelifell. We wrote about driving the F210 towards Maelifell here. Coming from the west of F210, right before the majestic Maelifell, there’s a turn left for the dirt track with the sign “Strútur hut”. That’s exactly where we turned this time.

Beware, the Strútur tracks we drove are just dirt tracks. Not even F-roads. This means they are even harder to drive than F-roads. Always check with your rental company if it allows for such roads, choose your car wisely and study the roads in advance. Mostly only super jeeps are allowed to drive the dirt tracks.

Strútur track to Strútslaug map

The dirt track towards Strútur hut (and Strútslaug hiking point) was a beautiful, totally remote track accompanied by many sheep, river streams, and tons of lush green moss. We drove in a cloudy weather and light drizzle, which made the specific lunar atmosphere of the place even stronger.

The Strutur track is not very long but you have to drive through multiple small to medium-sized river streams. The only spot which seemed terrifying at the first glance was a drive literally through the river for a hundred of meters. We reached the spot where the normal road simply ended and we couldn’t see any road, not even in the distance. Just yellow sticks in the river which led into the river and along the river bed (not to the other side of the river as usually).

Strutur track to Strutslaug in a foggy weather

We had already driven through the length of the river bed at that point, during our drive via F210, but that was just a very shallow stream. Here the river already had some depth, I would consider it a medium-sized river crossing, but not just crossing, but rather river driving 🙂 There was no current, though and the river looked calm. I examined the river thoroughly and thanks to its calmness I could even see the bottom of the river bed which looked firm and even. The same was true for the rest of the river – at least as far as I could see.

The yellow sticks were located along the right bank, which looked slightly deeper than the left bank. But, I had already realized in the past – the sticks are there for some reason! Don’t try to be smarter than Icelandic rangers. It usually doesn’t end well 🙂 Thus, I came back inside our Land Cruiser, turned on 4×4, low-gear and locked the differential, and drove slowly along the right bank. The crossing was pretty exciting because we were virtually driving in the river for some time, but otherwise, it went smoothly.

As far as I remember, there were maybe 1 or 2 more river crossings but none of them were that big. Soon we arrived close to the Strutur hut on our left, which looked lovely in the surroundings full of moss. There was a wooden sign pointing at several available trails from this point. We aimed at Strutslaug, naturally – this was the trail to the right.

Soon we realized, the trail is actually the road with very clear and well-trodden tracks. Hence we got back into our car and drove 1 more kilometer through this right detour and arrived at the little car park with another wooden sign pointing at different trails. This was the end of the Strutur dirt track. We left our car here and began our hike towards Strutslaug.

Strútslaug hot spring

See that little white thing? That’s our car at the improvised Strutslaug car park

The hiking trail towards Strútslaug is roughly 5 kilometers long, not difficult at all, and it took us around 1.5 hours to finish it at a normal pace. It leads through nice valleys full of moss and along river streams. To hike to Strutslaug is a nice way to experience Icelandic highlands, even for families. The hike is pretty easy, just a bit long, but it doesn’t have any steep or exposed passages. It’s basically a walk through the moss valleys. Up until the last meters we were not sure where the end of the trail actually is. The Strutslaug itself is not well visible from the distance.

Beautiful Strútslaug hiking trail full of vivid green colors

When we arrived, we were very surprised not to be completely alone there. One hiker had been already there, setting up his tent in the area. After a short talk, he told us he was from the Netherlands, doing a walk all the way from Akureyri towards Hella, only via highlands and camping along the way. Brave guy 🙂 If it wasn’t for this adventurer, we would be definitely alone at Strutslaug.

There’s no changing cabin at Strutslaug. Anyway, we looked very much forward to bathing in Strutslaug, because the weather was very moody, with completely clouded skies and light drizzle throughout our entire hike. We put a bag on the wet ground, changed our clothes, covered them with waterproof clothes, and ran for the hot spring.

Surroundings of the Strútslaug hiking trail

Strutslaug is a pretty big natural hot spring that could easily welcome tens of visitors. I guess it’s never really full, given its total remoteness. It’s also pleasantly hot, with a water temperature of around 40°C according to my (non) professional estimate. It’s a very surreal and pleasant bathing experience in the middle of the total nowhere. One of my favorite Icelandic hot springs.

A really surreal place. This is a hidden hot spring Strútslaug

After soaking up in Strutslaug for about an hour, we hiked back to our car, drove back via Strutur track to Maelifell and then drove back via western F210 to F261. We crossed Blafjalaskvisl again and were deciding whether to go for one more adventure or not. Of course, we went 🙂 I persuaded my wife to drive the entire Hungurfit track.

Crazy Hungurfit track

We had already driven around one-third of the Hungurfit track on Day 2 of our highlands trip. It was very difficult, yet also amazingly stunning. As we already wrote about here, the first part of the Hungurfit track consists of narrow and steep passages and uneven gravel ground. You definitely need at least a big 4×4 to drive it, but we rather do recommend a superjeep, to be sure to drive it safely. Our friend Haraldur told us, our raised 33” Land Cruiser with snorkel was just about a minimum requirement for the Hungurfit track 🙂

Beware, the Hungurfit tracks we drove are just dirt tracks. Not even F-roads. This means they are even harder to drive than F-roads. Always check with your rental company if it allows for such roads, choose your car wisely and study the roads in advance. Mostly only super jeeps are allowed to drive the dirt tracks.

This is the legendary spot on the Hungurfit track. Many call it “impassable” 🙂

Left or right?

After the first part, you arrive at the main crossroad of the Hungurfit track. The left part leads through the amazing area full of river streams, many small river crossings, and a legendary place where you drive between two very close huge stone boulders. The right part leads through more steep and mountainous terrain with bigger holes and uneven ground and slopes, but no river crossings. For me it was an easy choice – I definitely wanted to drive again through the river crossing area. This river crossing area at the Hungurfit track was one of the most beautiful remote places I’ve seen in Iceland.

After finishing driving through the river streams area, we arrived at the crossroads which connect the two main detours (left and right) at their other endpoint. Afterwards the road continues into the steep hill and as far as I remember there were two paths available – one steeper but with better ground and one less steep but with big holes and worse terrain. I don’t remember which route we chose, but none of them was easy. We had to drive very slowly, though steadily with all our 4×4 assistants turned on and yet still the drive was scary and at times we really felt our 33” Land Cruiser drives on the edge of its capabilities. But we made it.

Many small to medium river crossings are an amazing part of the Hungurfit track

Although it started to get darker already (and thus much scarier) the views along the road were amazingly beautiful and one of their kind. The surrounding landscapes were breathtaking. This drive’s gonna stay long in my memories 🙂 There are different kinds of steep and narrow terrains, ascents, descents and even a drive in very narrow and deep tracks which you have to exactly follow meter by meter to not get yourself bumped away out of this world. We had thought this was the worst. No, it wasn’t 🙂

River crossing

We arrived at the pretty fast flowing river, which didn’t look shallow at all. And the crossing was wide. This was the point where I was seriously considering turning back even with our 33” Land Cruiser with snorkel. I simply didn’t feel like wading this river nor by walking through it first, it just looked dangerous. And I didn’t know anything about it. No cars in the radius of a hundred of miles maybe. I contemplated a little and then I decided for the most rational option – to put on my wading socks, take my hiking poles and attempt to wade the river firstly by foot very very carefully.

After getting into the river I realized the current wasn’t as strong as I had thought and also the river wasn’t as deep as I had thought, so I was able to get almost to the middle of the crossing. At that point I pretty much knew our Land Cruiser should be able to make it. I came back to our car, turned on all the 4×4 support systems (low gear, differential lock) and went slowly for the crossing exactly in the way I waded by foot. And the crossing went well! To not look too brave – we (and I) were still scared as hell when doing the crossing 🙂 but we had made all the rational precautions to ensure that we should be able to make it.

Ascents and descents

So, the worst part behind us. Or no? Not really. Soon we arrived at the top of the steep descent with the Hungurfit hut already visible in the far distance in front of us. This had signaled we should be nearing the final part of the road. The descent didn’t look that bad only because of the steep slope. The main problem was the quality of the track – big sharp stones stuck out every few meters from the ground followed usually by even bigger holes – and all of this in a steep descent.

Surroundings of the Hungurfit track are also amazingly beautiful

There was actually a crossroad at this point with the left and the right track both ending at the same point. None of the tracks looked attractive, though. We eventually chose the right track. It was already almost dark and the descent again tested the abilities of our Land Cruiser hugely. We successfully avoided the biggest holes and sharpest stones and got successfully to the end of this passage.

The rest of the road was thankfully much easier. I remember one more river crossing which was shallow, thus without any problems. After driving next to the Hungurfit hut we finally arrived at the junction with F210, turned left and headed towards west end of F210. Still an hour of driving via F210, now completely in the dark. Interesting experience. However, we had already driven via this part of F210 on Day 2 of our trip, so we knew it should be OK and it was.

Videos

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Jan

2022

Day 5 – Hekla Highlands

Highlands around Hekla are a unique area of remote and rough Icelandic nature almost untouched by tourists.

Map of our day around Hekla highlands

The weather forecast was not very favorable once again. So, we had to chase the weather yet another day. We were based in Hella and I had prepared several backup plans and alternative options for each day to stay flexible, as mentioned in our article – how to plan an Icelandic highlands road trip. On day 5 of our trip, however, the forecast showed rain at ALL of the places I had planned 🙂 Welcome to Iceland.

Nevertheless, there were no weather warnings, nor road closures, so we (I) definitely wanted to head out for some new adventures. I finally decided where to go based on the forecast showing probably the least rain in the area near Hekla, south of Landmannaleid (F225). Moreover, this day plan contained a lot of driving and you don’t care that much about rain when driving (unless it’s torrential, which it wasn’t).

Enjoy car rental discounts and tour discounts in Iceland for our readers.

Contents

F225 – Landmannaleið
- F-roads and dirt tracks near Hekla
Hekla track (F-road)
Raudaskal crater
Krakatindur track – Krakatindsleið
Raudfossar
- Rauðufossar trail
- Raudufossafjoll
Blahylur (Hnausapollur) lake
Gjain
- Stong Viking House
- Videos of highlands near Hekla

F225 – Landmannaleið

From our accommodation located at the beginning of road 26, it took us only a couple of minutes to reach the junction with F225 road, Landmannaleid. Landmannaleid is an old highlands road that serves as a shortcut from Hella/Hvolsvollur to the Landmannalaugar area.

F225 Landmannaleið in rain

All the blogs and articles recommend taking the northern part of road 208 (previously F208) to reach Landmannalaugar. They claim this route is easier, faster, and safer. None of these is true in my opinion. F225 did undergo many road improvements, and it’s possible it will even be reclassified to 225 (without an “F”). Driving F225 was liking driving on a highway for me 🙂 It’s much more comfortable, more straight, less bumpy, with fewer potholes, and considerably fewer cars compared to 208 (F208) north.

Moreover, landscapes around F225 are 100x more beautiful than those around F208 north, which are pretty boring and there’s pretty much nothing to see. F225 is also much shorter and thus quicker than 208 north. Even Icelandic highland buses use F225 to reach Landmannalaugar – and they know why. The only disadvantage of road F225 is that it contains 2-3 little water streams that need to be crossed, but they were of minor size at the time of our visit (late August) and they never turn to big river crossings. Of course, it’s always best to adhere to all river crossing rules, but these fords shouldn’t be any problem even in a smaller 4×4 SUV like Suzuki Jimney.

F-roads and dirt tracks near Hekla

While F225 is a “highway F-road” in my opinion, this definitely cannot be said about other roads in the Hekla area. All the roads and tracks connecting to F225 are rough highlands roads and you will need a big 4×4 car to pass them safely. We wrote an article about which cars are suitable for F-roads and tracks around Hekla and similar. Hint – aim at least for a Land Cruiser – or better a raised super-jeep-like vehicle. I rented exactly a super-jeep-like vehicle (raised Land Cruiser with snorkel) to be able to pass all these roads safely.

Hekla track (F-road)

Our first stop after turning right to F225 was another turn right towards Hekla. There’s a track that leads around halfway to the top of Hekla. This means some gorgeous views when it’s not foggy. Definitely, a place we wanted to visit 🙂 Some (and Google as well) mark this road incorrectly as “Hekla F-road”. However, this is not an F-road! It’s just a dirt track, which means, the quality is even worse than for an F-road. Always check with your rental company if it allows for such roads, choose your car wisely and study the roads in advance. Mostly only super jeeps are allowed to drive the dirt tracks.

Beginning of the F-road to Hekla

This road is even marked on Google maps (unlike other dirt tracks in the area), so getting in the right direction shouldn’t be a problem. There are no river crossings on the Hekla road. The road consists mostly of ash and mould, is really bumpy, and gets pretty steep soon. The main difficulty with the road is undoubtedly its steepness – and big potholes on steep slopes. You need a 4×4 with big tires and a great grip on these tires to be able to make it all the way to the top through the potholes.

Hekla F-road near the top

That being said, with every additional meter climbed, the views get better and better. We eventually reached the point (the last kilometer or so of the road) where the slope was so steep that it looked really scary. We stopped at that point, parked our car next to the road on the only flat ground, and wanted to climb the rest of the road by walking. However, we could hardly get out of the car, because the wind blew so strongly, it wasn’t even possible to open the doors. After getting out of the car, we felt like we would be blown if we jumped a little, so we decided to get back to the car.

The final ascent of the Hekla F-road track.

I tried to persuade my wife to go to the top in our Land Cruiser – which would definitely make it – but she was too scared. The slope up to Hekla wasn’t only probably the steepest we’d seen at that time, but also very uneven, narrow, and full of potholes and other similar obstacles. Thus, I didn’t push it further and rather turned the vehicle and went back. Bye-bye Hekla, maybe next time.

Raudaskal crater

One of the “secret” and “impassable” places where guided tours in the highlands would take you is a Rauðaskál crater. You will not find Raudaskal in many guides or lists of to-visit-places because it’s still not much visited and thus also not touristy at all. Surprisingly, Raudaskal is not hard to access at all. Of course, you need a 4×4 and have a proper map to find it. But there are no river crossings on the way and you can make it to Raudaskal in basically any 4×4.

Rauðaskál crater, often marked as a “hidden” spot.

Here is a map of Raudaskal. After a few kilometers of driving the F225 from the west, you simply turn right towards “Hekla F-road” and then, instead of continuing straight/right towards Hekla, you turn left. A few hundred meters from this left turn there’s another left turn and you will quickly find yourself at improvised gravel parking in front of Rauðaskál. There have been issues of illegal offroad driving in the past – drivers drove right on the edge of the Raudaskal crater – which is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. You need to leave your car at the gravel parking spot and continue by walking. There’s no road at the edge of the crater.

Raudaskal crater map

Raudaskal crater is one of these lunar, out of this world and completely remote places, not yet discovered by hoards of tourists. Its green and red colors and surreal surroundings are both unique and stunning at once. It’s possible to walk a while around Rauðaskál, however, we had a really strong wind during our visit so it didn’t feel safe at all to approach the edge of the crater. Thus, we rather observed the crater from a safe distance – which I recommend everyone to do as well. There are no ropes, nor any safety barriers. This is still a pretty wild place.

Krakatindur track – Krakatindsleið

Rainy Krakatindur track

Next on my list of unexplored Icelandic dirt tracks was a track named Krakatindur. Krakatindur is an older volcano/mountain in the middle of the highlands south of F225 and north of Landmannalaugar. There are several dirt tracks in this area and the Krakatindur track is one of the best known out of them. As the name suggests it leads to and around legendary Krakatindur mountain. Once again – this is not an F-road! It’s just a track, which means, the quality is even worse than for an F-road. Please carefully check with your car rental company if you can drive it.

Krakatindur track near Hekla. Watch out for your car’s ground clearance!

Krakatindur track starts right next to road F225 and next to the detour to Raudaskal. It is a narrow track in the huge moss area surrounded by hills, moss and absolute silence. It’s impossible to drive the road fast because it has many holes, little and bigger slopes, twists, turns and all of those even combined together to give you a hard time in some passages. Here is a map of Krakatindur road – Krakatindsleið.

Legendary Krakatindur mountain

Nonetheless, the Krakatindsleid road is picturesque, and more so are its surroundings. For highlands track lovers, this one is a must. We’ve done the track in a raised Land Cruiser (33” Cooper discoverer tires) and the car felt just right for the road. We had seen also one Dacia Duster on this road, but in my opinion, Duster is simply too small for the Krakatindur track and I consider it irresponsible driving in the Duster in here. Come only with a large 4×4!

Crazy Krakatindur F-road track – where to now?

There are no river crossings on the Krakatindur track, but remember, the road is not easy to drive on. Our aim was to finish at the north-east part of the road which is located next to Raudfossar. We firstly passed Krakatindur mountain (roughly in the middle) and then headed to Raudfossar area. At times, there were some pretty big holes at the track, testing the ground clearance of our Land Cruiser pretty well. Eventually, we arrived at Raudfossar gravel car park.

Raudfossar

Another of the “hidden gems” we wanted to explore in this part of the Icelandic highlands was the not that much known Raudfossar waterfall. We were surprised to arrive at the little gravel car park to find there 5-6 cars already, which seemed a lot, given the place is still pretty unknown and hard to access. We then realized why this was the case – Krakatindur is not the only way leading to the Raudfossar trail. The turn to Raudfossar is located closely to the main F225 Landmannaleid road, so it’s actually pretty easy to access from F 225. And that’s how all these cars got here.

Raudafoss, a.k.a. Raudfossar, hiking trail

The rain didn’t get any better at this point, rather the opposite – not only wind, but now also more rain. All that in 5°C in the middle of August. Welcome to Iceland once again 🙂 My wife really didn’t feel like going for a hike in this kind of weather, so she stayed in the car. I put on all my wind and waterproof layers and went for the hike towards Raudfossar. This was supposed to take me some 20 minutes one way (still unpleasant with the wind blowing the cold rain into my face). But I didn’t feel cold, nor I was wet, thanks to the layers, so the hike was doable.

Rauðufossar, Raudfossar or Raudafoss – all the different names for the same picturesque waterfall.

Rauðufossar trail

After 10 minutes of walking on the well-trodden path through the giant moss field, I was already able to spot Raudafoss in the distance. Beautiful sight in beautiful surroundings. It’s roughly 2-3km from the car park and it took me roughly 20-30 minutes to reach Raudfossar. The last part of the trail is slightly steep (a couple in front of me even used hiking poles), but for me it was manageable also without the poles. It was definitely much much easier compared to e.g. parts of the Fimmvorduhals hike.

Amazing views from the hiking trail next to Raudfossar (Raudafoss)

Raudfossar waterfall is very unique with all its orange colors and I definitely do recommend doing this short hike. Even in unpleasant weather the short hike to Raudfossar was doable without problems, when dressed properly. Raudfossar definitely belongs to one of my favorite Icelandic waterfalls.

Raudufossafjoll

The trail towards Raudfossar doesn’t end at Raudfossar, though. You may continue to pursue the source of all these orange colors and orange-colored water in Raudfossar. That’s what I did. In the beginning, I was just curious what will be the view like if I climb the nearby hill right next to Raudfossar. I climbed the hill right of Raudfossar and the view over the entire moss area was amazing (see picture above). There’s also a big crater hidden in that way, which you will be able to spot only after climbing the hill.

Hiking trail between Rauðufossar and Rauðufossafjöll

The trail then continues along the water streams further ahead. I didn’t have any idea if it was worth going forward or not. I met a British couple and asked them if the trail is worth continuing and they replied “absolutely, it’s amazing”. I was too curious not to continue after these words 🙂 However, I wasn’t sure how long will it take me to reach the end of the trail. I went anyway, with my wife still waiting in the car.

The end of the Raudfossar hiking trail, a stream called Rauðufossafjöll

The trail continued into the new and new valleys, new and new moss fields, over new and new water streams. I don’t know why I had thought it will end in a few minutes, but it didn’t :)) The further I got, the less I wanted to turn back before reaching the end. Eventually I finally reached the end of the trail in around 1 hour, which was much longer than I expected. And I hiked at my full speed, which I don’t consider to be slow.

That being said – it takes around 3 hours from the car park to do the entire Raudfossar – Raudafossafjoll round trip. Or around 1 hour if you want to go for the waterfall only.

Raudufoss stream source – Raudufossafjoll

There’s an oval orange source of all these orange water streams at the end of the trail. There’s also another cute little orange waterfall. The entire area fits well into the moon-like landscapes of this part of highlands. Was it one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen in Iceland? Probably not. Was it worth hiking the extra 1 hour one-way? Probably yes, the area is very nice.

Blahylur (Hnausapollur) lake

During our last visit, we had found out that probably the most beautiful crater lake near Landmannalaugar was supposed to be Ljotipollur and we were happy to see it and admire it, being entirely alone there. This just confirmed our thoughts that Ljotipollur was a very good option when searching for beautiful, non-touristy places. We had not gone for any other lakes at that time, though. This time I wanted to explore also another, supposedly more touristy, crater lake – Bláhylur also known as Hnausapollur.

If you have time, nice weather and a good camera, you may take a picture like this one from Blahylur. We had none of those 3 so we took a picture below 😀

Hnausapollur, a.k.a. Bláhylur int not that good weather

Blahylur (Hnausapollur) is located already on 208 (F208) north. It’s also possible to get very close to Hnausapollur by driving. You don’t need any special 4×4 to visit them, basically, any SUV should be enough, even Suzuki Jimny or Dacia Duster. Blahylur lake is beautiful and pretty much comparable to Ljotipollur, yet a bit different. We didn’t even meet many fellow tourists there (maybe due to rainy weather?). Blahylur lake is also definitely one of the places which are fine to visit in the rain because it is easy to access and does not require extensive walking.

Gjain

View over the entire Gjain area – hobbit land 🙂

After driving and exploring F-roads and dirt tracks around the Hekla area, the weather still didn’t get any better with rain and fog still in place. Hence, we decided to go and see one of the more touristy spots that was situated nearby (and we hadn’t been there yet) – Gjain. From my own Icelandic research, I had never found Gjain particularly interesting, but several visitors praised it for being beautiful, so we decided to go and to form our own opinion.

Everything is smaller in Gjáin. Especially waterfalls.

There’s an easy gravel road leading towards Gjain, without any river crossings. It’s bumpy, so cars with really low ground clearance may struggle a bit, but definitely doable for everyone. I had thought before, that Gjain is a larger natural area, but it’s actually pretty small. To us, it seemed like a hobbit land. Everything was smaller in Gjain than at other similar Icelandic places. Smaller waterfalls, smaller lakes, smaller rivers, smaller islands, shorter trails. Like a huge miniature of the Icelandic countryside.

One of the waterfalls in Gjáin

Nevertheless, Gjáin is a nice, short, stop when going to/from the Landmannalaugar area and/or Haifoss. If you don’t like it, you may simply leave earlier and it will not cost you a lot of time. Gjain doesn’t belong to one of our favorite places in Iceland, but we still do find it interesting and some other visitors even amazing. It’s also one of the spots which are easy to visit even if it rains.

Stong Viking House

The rain still poured persistently, so we went for our last stop, which lied very close to Gjain, and was actually a part of it probably – old Viking house. It’s actually a reconstruction of the real old Viking house with some parts of the base of the building still being original. Interesting, though not my cup of tea 🙂 But, my wife seemed to be thrilled.

Videos of highlands near Hekla

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Dec

2021

Guide to Laki craters

Laki craters are an amazing remote place in the Icelandic highland in the south. Climbing Mt. Laki and seeing the remnants of the 250-year-old eruption is an unforgettable experience. The eruption changed European history and we were able to feel that pretty lively when visiting Laki volcanos.

Contents

Rainy forecast – what to do?
How to get to Laki craters
- F206 and F207 to Laki
- How long is a trip to Laki craters?
Fagrifoss
Laki craters – the main area
- Laki crater hikes
  - Mt. Laki
  - Visitors’ trail
- Laki crater lakes
Our experience with Laki craters

Rainy forecast – what to do?

We had beautiful weather during the first 3 days of our trip. Then the weather got worse, exactly according to the forecast. In our case, this meant some rain at most of the places in the south and clouds everywhere. Light rain is still good, unless the visibility worsens, i.e. unless fog appears. Because once it does, any place with a view won’t serve you any view.

Our summer season in Iceland was very specific, with the south having colder, cloudier, and more rainy weather compared to the north and the east. And this persisted throughout most of the summer. For our trip, we planned 9 days in the south and 9 days in the north and the east. So, the question was – with 3 already nice days – what to do with the 6 remaining days which were supposed to be rather rainy?

F207 around Laki craters in rainy weather

Luckily, the rain often isn’t everywhere. This means, that even in a rainy forecast, it’s often possible to find some places where it either doesn’t rain a lot or it even doesn’t rain at all. And that’s what we actually successfully achieved – to “chase the non-rainy skies”. We wrote an entire article about that – “How to find a nice weather in Iceland”, feel free to read it.

This was exactly the case also on Day 4 of our trip – rainy forecast for most of the south. Yet, we managed to find some local regions where the forecast didn’t show the rain. One of them was Laki craters.

Be sure to also check our List of the 25 Best Places in the Highlands of Iceland!

How to get to Laki craters

Almost everyone knows where the Fjadrargljufur canyon (Justin Bieber canyon) lies. Yet, almost nobody knows where Laki craters are 🙂 Even despite the fact that, in my opinion, Laki craters are 100x times more interesting than the over-touristy Fjadrargljufur canyon. And surprisingly, the road to Laki craters is located right next to the Fjadrargljufur canyon.

You can also take a super jeep tour to Laki.

Laki craters roads map

F206 and F207 to Laki

F206 – Lakavegur and F207 – Lakagigavegur are F-roads leading to and around Laki craters. Roads are quite long and you have to drive slowly on them, because of their uneven surface and narrow paths. I drove there twice this summer – once in light rain and total fog, the second time in cloudy weather, but with good visibility. If it’s foggy, you definitely have to slow down even further.

F206 to Laki craters in rain and fog

If it’s not too rainy or it has not rained too much in previous days/weeks (rising water levels in the rivers too much), even an ordinary 4×4 like Dacia Duster should be enough for the road – when driven carefully. To be almost 100% sure to pass without any damage, I, however, do recommend bigger 4×4 like Land Cruiser or Defender.

The roads lead through various different landscapes. Some of them are full of moss. Some of them are just huge gravel areas. And some of them are already part of a volcanic crater area near actual Laki craters. The landscapes around F206 and F207 leading to Laki are beautiful and I do recommend taking your time to go and see them.

F207 river crossing (road to Laki craters)

There are two medium-size river crossings on roads F206 and F207. One is on F206 leading to the ranger’s hut a.k.a. tourist information center next to Mt. Laki. The other river crossing is near the end of the F207 loop around the Laki craters area. Both F206/F207 river crossings are similar – the water is calm (no strong current) and the riverbed is pretty even and flat. The only issue is with the water level which varies. At the time of our visits, however, water levels were very low, making it an easy ford. Except for these two crossings, there are several other smaller ones.

How long is a trip to Laki craters?

The answer highly depends on 1) weather, 2) your driving skills, 3) how much time you want to spend in the main Laki area. It took us roughly 2 hours of quick driving in foggy weather to get from the beginning of F206 to Mt. Laki. To finish F207 and come back via F206 count for around 2,5 hours of quick driving. Add to that the time you want to spend in the area (2-4 hours) and you will arrive at almost a full day trip 🙂

Fagrifoss

There’s a beautiful stop roughly in the middle of F206 towards Laki craters – Fagrifoss waterfall. For me, this was one of the most interesting waterfalls with a very special remote atmosphere. Fagrifoss car park is located a few meters to the right from the main F206 road (when coming from Kirkjubaerklaustur). You should find it easily because it’s basically the only detour to the right in the middle of F206. You can also try to locate it on the map.

Fagrifoss – a beautiful waterfall next to F206 on a way towards Laki craters

There’s a big gravel car park next to Fagrifoss, where we even saw 2 buses parking (not both at one time). Most of the time, however, you should be here almost alone. It’s then a short 5-minute walk from the car park towards Fagrifoss via a paved path and a little gate (close it after passing). There’s even a viewing deck built over the waterfall, so you can enjoy it from a very nice viewpoint.

During our first visit to the waterfall, Fagrifoss was partially covered in the mist. The atmosphere was still very special though and I would recommend seeing it even in a partial fog. During our second visit to the waterfall, we didn’t have any fog and were able to see Fagrifoss and its surroundings in their entirety.

Laki craters – the main area

Laki craters area map

When I was planning the trip to Laki craters, I was struggling to find specific information about the Laki craters area. How big and long is the Laki area? What exactly is at Laki craters? How much time should we devote to Laki?. This is one of the reasons why I decided to write an article about it more in detail.

Once you reach the crossroads of the roads F206 (Lakavegur) and F207 (Lakagigavegur) you have arrived at the Laki craters area. The area is full of little old volcanoes, lava, ash, and moss. The circular road F207 leads around the area. The road is OK to drive through even in smaller SUV like Dacia Duster (during summer, if there are no weather alerts). There are some small car parks along the road where you may stop your car and take some pictures or just admire what you see.

F207 – Lakagigavegur

Except for these “car stops” there’s also the main Laki craters area. You will reach it the soonest if you turn right at the crossroads of F206 and F207 (which most visitors do). The main Laki craters area is located just below Mt. Laki. There’s a map of the area, ranger’s hut, toilets, and visitors’ center right below Mt. Laki. This is the main starting point to explore the area.

Laki crater hikes

The two main hikes in the Laki craters area are the visitors’ trail and the trail to the peak of Mt. Laki. If the visibility is good, I definitely do recommend you climb up the Mt. Laki.

Mount Laki trail, a quick hike with some solid elevation

Mt. Laki

The views from the top of Mt. Laki are simply breath-taking. This was one of the most amazing places I’ve been to in Iceland. Looking at many small 200-year old eruptions from the bird’s eye perspective was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The hike is a bit steep but short and not dangerous at all in a normal weather. There’s a well-marked path all the way to the top, which took us 15 minutes to complete at a quick pace.

Mount Laki views

With each step up, the views are getting only better and better and once you reach the top you will be rewarded with an unbelievable 360~ scenery. During our first visit to the Laki craters we had foggy weather and little visibility, so climbing the mountain made no sense. However, we went for Mt. Laki also for the second time, during the good visibility and we don’t regret going there twice at all!

Visitors’ trail

The visitors’ trail was the second most interesting hike in our opinion. It’s a really easy 30-minutes long walk (rather than a hike) via out-of-this world little old volcanoes covered with green moss. It serves as an introduction to the entire area and has a unique atmosphere attached to it.

Laki craters visitors’ trail – the easiest hike

The Laki visitors’ trail begins a hundred meters left to the ranger’s hut and there’s a small car park right next to it. Thus, if you want to save 5 minutes, you may drive from the car park in front of the tourist center to this little car park right next to the trail.

Laki crater lakes

There are several lakes located in the Laki craters area. Two of them are easily accessible by car and/or walking and one of the Laki lakes (Tjarnargigur) is really picturesque (and recommended by rangers to visit).

If you continue in the counter-clockwise direction via F207, you will arrive at the Tjarnargigur lake on your left and at the Lambavatn lake on your right. There’s an improvised gravel car park in front of the Tjarnargigur lake where you have to leave your car and continue further by walking. On the other hand, you may drive all the way to the Lambavatn lake with your car.

Tjarnargigur lake at F207 – a beautiful spot near Laki craters

It takes about 10 minutes of walking from the car park to arrive at the Tjarnargigur lake. We went there in light rain and foggy weather and the surrounding landscapes shined in the green color of the moss. The lake is very nice, peaceful and easy to visit. It, of course, is worth the little detour.

Our experience with Laki craters

During our first visit, this was one of the very few places in the south where it wasn’t supposed to rain all day. Yet, it was still foggy. We had to drive slowly and carefully all the way from Fjadrargljufur canyon, next to Fagrifoss to Laki craters. The visibility was bad, the roads narrow, twisty and full of gravel. In foggy and rainy weather, the drive is not that pleasant and feels a bit long. It’s still a surreal experience, though, given the beautiful Icelandic landscapes coming out of the mist from time to time.

F206, Lakavegur, in rain

We made a stop at Fagrifoss, being entirely alone there and enjoyed it in a partial mist. Yes, we couldn’t see it entirely clear, but still it was beautiful.

Then we continued towards Laki craters and crossed the only medium-sized river there without any problems (low water level at the time of our visit + adhering to river crossing rules). Soon after the river crossing, we arrived at the crossroads. This is where the Laki circle begins and road F207 – Lakagigavegur starts. You may continue in either of the directions, but most of the visitors (and us as well) go right first. If you turn right, you will reach the tourist information center (a.k.a. ranger’s hut) with toilets and map of the area after some 20 minutes long drive.

F207 to Laki in rain

At that time the crater area full of old lava popping out of the moss already starts to reveal in front of you. Once we arrived at the ranger’s hut, the ranger immediately welcomed us, showed us the map of the area, and suggested doing the short visitor’s trail and finishing the Laki circle of road F207. He also suggested making a stop at Tjarnargigur lake, which, in his opinion, is one of the most beautiful places in the Laki area. On the other hand, the ranger suggested not to climb Mt. Laki due to foggy weather and no visibility from the top.

Laki craters when it rains

We followed the ranger’s advice and went for the visitor’s trail located a few hundred meters left, up the hill, from the visitor’s center. Laki visitor’s trail is basically a nice, easy and short walk in between the old lava and little craters created during the Laki eruption in late 1700’s. It was an amazing experience even in foggy weather and light rain. Then we tried to climb at least a bit towards Mt. Laki and realized the ranger was right and we couldn’t see a thing as we progressed towards the peak. Hence, we decided to turn back, get into the car and continue towards Tjarnargigur lake.

Laki craters in rain (view from the Mt. Laki trail)

The F207 road is just a bumpy dirt road, without any huge obstacles so we drove it all the way to the Tjarnargigur lake without any problems. It’s roughly a 10-minute walk from the little car park towards Tjarnargigur lake. The lake is located in a very fragile vegetation environment, full of stunningly green moss, and once again has a pretty special atmosphere. Definitely worth making this short detour.

After the visit to the Tjarnargigur lake, we continued to finish the circular F207 Lakagigavegur. There we encountered our second medium-sized river crossing which was pretty similar to the first one and we didn’t have any problems with the ford. Short before the end of the F207, there’s even a small campsite where you may spend the night if interested in that. Not our case, we continued back via the same road F206 to Kirkjubaerklaustur.

There are 2 or 3 no-name roads other than F206 and F207 as detours from these roads which lead either west or east of Kirkjubaerklaustur. These roads are considerably less maintained, so we decided not to go for them this time and used the ordinary F207 and F206 to get back. Maybe next time.

Laki craters in nice weather

Two weeks after our first visit to Laki craters (which was really foggy and with an all-day-long drizzle) we decided to go see them again. We didn’t climb Mt. Laki on our first visit, due to the fog and no visibility at all. This time we wanted to climb it and see the views! We finished all our activities on that day at 4 PM and the weather was great. Thus, we made a quick decision to hurry up and headed directly to Mt. Laki. Laki-ly, by 6 PM we had our car already parked in front of Mt. Laki.

View from Mount Laki at Laki craters on a beautiful day

The hike to the summit is really quick in nice weather. And the views are more than just stunning. Seeing the earth “opening” in front of our eyes is an unforgettable experience. It was definitely worth it going to see Laki again in clear weather.

Laki craters Videos

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Dec

2021

Day 3 – Fimmvörðuháls hike

This article just summarizes in detail our experience during the Fimmvorduhals hike. If you are interested in a detailed Fimmvorduhals hike guide – including tips on weather, season, clothes, transportation, length, and difficulty – read our full Fimmvörðuháls hike guide.

Fimmvörðuháls hike map (from Skógar to Thórsmörk)

Since the day I’ve first seen the Fimmvorduhals hike and read about it, I knew I have to try it 🙂 Planning is crucial for the Fimmvorduhals hike (see below). After many changes, we finally decided to go for the hike on Day 3 of our highlands trip.

A month before the hike I found my hiking buddy via Facebook group Travel Iceland. My wife didn’t feel like going for such a long hike and I didn’t want to push her. My buddy – Vicente – seemed to know what he was doing, although you never know before you really get to know each other 🙂 I took care of the entire organization of the trip – i.e. mainly choosing the specific day, buying bus tickets, and making a bus seat reservation.

The final part of the Fimmvorduhals hike near Thorsmork

Contents

Our plan
The Fimmvorduhals trail step by step
Coming back
Fimmvorduhals hike Videos

Our plan

We had a 3-day window when we could both do the hike (as an intersection of my and Vicente’s schedule). I waited 5 days before the hike and when the weather looked reasonable I booked the bus (10% discount code: EPICICELAND) and reserved the seats for Friday. I received the response from the bus company anytime from 1 hour after my email to almost 24 hours – but they always responded and always positively. Vicente travelled from Reykjavik, I travelled from Hvolsvollur.

The plan for our trip was as follows:

Vicente getting on the bus at 7:00 in Reykjavik towards Skogar
Me coming by car to Hvolsvollur and getting on the same bus to Skogar at 9:00
Starting the hike at 10:00 in Skogar
Finish the hike before 20:00 in Basar
Take the bus back from Basar hut at 20:00 – me to Hvolsvollur, my friend to Reykjavik

The waterfall way in the first third of the Fimmvörðuháls hike

3 days before the hike the weather forecast changed and it looked much better for Saturday. So, I wrote a kind email to the bus company asking for rescheduling and they quickly replied positively. 2 days before the hike the forecast started to show some strong winds exactly in the worst part of the hike – between the two glaciers. I decided to reschedule again – back to Friday – although I must have looked dumb already at that point in the eyes of the bus company.

On a Thursday evening, I looked at the forecast once again and it showed slight rain for Friday and the wind forecast for Saturday disappeared. I felt like an idiot but I decided to write the bus company once again and reschedule the trip for the fourth time. They replied late in the evening that yes, it’s rescheduled. At that moment I just prayed I had made a good decision. And it turned out I did. The weather on our day was almost perfect.

The snowy part of the hike

The Fimmvorduhals trail step by step

1. Skógar and Skogafoss

The Fimmvorduhals trail starts with the magnificent, giant green scenery of Skogar. This is usually the place where most of the tourists both start and finish, as was the case during our first visit to Skogafoss. While Skogafoss is an admiringly beautiful place definitely worth visiting, it’s a mistake not to continue further up the Skogafoss waterfall trail. It doesn’t take too long to finish it, nor is the trail too hard. So we do recommend you reserve some extra time to see it!

Bottom part of Skógafoss waterfall (and a wedding in the background ☺)

2. The waterfall way

It is the waterfall way that begins with the famous Skogafoss and continues with several other, less known but not any less beautiful waterfalls. The waterfall way is one of the most beautiful short hikes in Iceland I’ve seen. I can highly recommend doing this hike to everyone – even if you don’t want to continue. Just take the waterfall way from Skogar and come back.

The waterfall way looking back to Skogar

The entire waterfall way is around 8 kilometers long and took us around 2 hours to complete from Skogafoss to the last waterfall on the route. That being said, we hiked very quickly with only short pauses for taking pictures. At a relaxed pace, it may take some 2.5-3 hours one way. But you don’t need to take it all the way to the end. The most beautiful part was its first half, i.e. some first 4 kilometers. Doing that as a roundtrip makes for some 3-hour long hike at a relaxed pace that everyone can make.

waterfall way skogafoss fimmvorduhals iceland

The Fimmvörðuháls hike trail during the waterfall way part

Water and moss are literally everywhere during this part of the Fimmvorduhals hike. We felt as if we were a part of some fairy tale, with hobbits possibly chasing us somewhere. This hike is also doable even if it rains lightly and the visibility isn’t perfect, so it’s a great candidate also for moody days. And what’s one of the best features about Icelandic landscapes – they look very different in the cloudy and in the sunny weather. So, you may even visit them twice and still have a different experience!

One of the largest waterfalls at the waterfall way of the Fimmvorduhals hike

3. The ascent towards Baldvinsskáli hut

The waterfall way ends with a little bridge and roughly marks the first third of the Fimmvorduhals hike. The next part is the most boring one – the first part of the ascent towards Baldvinsskali hut. For around 40-50 minutes there’s pretty much nothing to see and you just have to walk up the gravel road where emergency vehicles can drive to Baldvinsskali hut.

The most boring part of the Fimmvorduhals hike – right after the end of the waterfall way

Then you will reach the area where nice views start to slowly appear – in good weather with good visibility of course. The combination of snow, gravel, and hills in the distance is very nice, though definitely not the best part of the hike. We soon spotted the Baldvinsskali hut in front of us, and, as expected, it was covered in a fog 🙂

fimmvorduhals trail to baldvinsskali hut

Fimmvorduhals trail just before the Baldvinsskali hut

This part of the hike took us around 1.5 hours to complete, still at a pretty quick pace, including a 10-minute lunch break. After 3.5 hours of quick pace, we were supposed to be already almost halfway through the entire hike. This meant, we decided to slow our pace and enjoy the scenery more and take more pictures.

A very bad selfie (and our only picture) of us in front of the Baldvinsskáli hut in a total fog

4. Between the two glaciers

The middle part of the hike – between the Baldivnsskali hut and the Kattarhryggur pass is the most difficult one, yet I still think – not too difficult. This is also where the weather usually gets worse (more foggy, rainy, or windy). We were pretty lucky, though, to have nearly perfect weather with fog only on at a short part near the hut. This middle part is also the one where hiking poles do come in handy.

Right after the Baldvinsskali hut, first glacial snowfields of the Fimmvorduhals trail appear

The first snowfield appears right after the Baldvinsskali hut (coming from the Skogar direction) and in our case was pretty easy to walk on. Just remember we had no rain, no wind, and an occasional fog and sun. There are several other snowfields on a way towards the craters of Magni and Modi. None of the snowfields seemed difficult to us and crampons were useless in our opinion. If you walk carefully and follow the steps in the snow (in case they are there), you shouldn’t have a problem crossing the fields. This part of the hike really felt like “ICEland” thanks to all this snow even in the middle of the summer.

5. The most difficult part of the Fimmvorduhals hike

After a few snowfields, the most difficult part of the hike (at least for me) followed. We descended into the small valley full of ash, clay, and melting ice and snow. Firstly, we had to descend down through the slippery path consisting of ice and ash. It was unclear where exactly the path led and we had to find our own. OK, done. But next, we had to climb the very unpleasant hill. We had already seen several hikers in front of us struggling at this part and in a while, I completely understood why.

For me the most difficult part of the Fimmvörðuháls trail in front of us

The hill in front of us was pretty steep and had a pretty bad grip. It reminded me of the slippery part of the hike to Bláhnjukúr in Landmannalaugar, but this one was much worse. This hill again consisted of black ash, melting ice, gravel, and clay. None of them was any firm and I felt like slipping and falling with each step. And this didn’t feel very pleasant given that you were on a steep slope. This part was the only one where I was a bit scared and which seemed dangerous to me. But that may be only me – I just hate places where I can’t stand firmly on the ground.

The steep and slippery trail made of ash and dry clay. Hiking poles saved my life.

Hiking poles literally saved my life at this part and thanks to them I was able to finish it without stumbling. I cannot imagine hiking this part in rain or strong wind, that must be terrifying.

6. Almost two thirds into the hike

Afterwards, several lunar landscapes followed. Red ash, black ash, moon-like hills, really a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The terrain wasn’t difficult anymore at this part. The only spot where we were slightly confused was a crossroad where you had to decide to go on a big snowfield or climb through big black lava stones. We decided to go for the stones and then followed to the nearest yellow stick-mark.

For me one of the 3 most beautiful parts of the Fimmvörðuháls hike

What follows is a beautiful picturesque lunar area around the craters of Magni and Modi. The views are getting better at this part and in nice weather, you are able to already see a bit into Thorsmork valley as well as into the other beautiful valleys in the distance.

7. Magni and Modi craters

If you have time, definitely go for the little detour up to the Móði crater. It takes less than 10 minutes to reach the top (turn left in the direction of the red peak, coming from the Baldvinsskali hut).

Unforgettable views from the peak of the Móði crater

If the visibility is good, views from the top of the Móði crater are entirely stunning. 5 hours have passed and we were already two-thirds into the entire hike, so we took our time and stayed for a while on top of the Móði, enjoyed the views, and slowly descended back.

One of the highest points of the Fimmvorduhals hike with stunning views

Shortly after reaching Magni and Modi craters, the magnificent Thorsmork valley starts to reveal itself in front of you. This was one of my favorite views of the entire hike. A huge green valley, mountains, rivers, and different valleys are everywhere in the distance. From this point onwards, only the descent follows – no more climbs 🙂

8. The only chains of the hike

The only chains at Fimmvörðuháls trail

As you approach Thorsmork, views are getting better and better. Eventually, we reached the only technical passage of this part of the hike – chains. The descent continues next to the steep ravine and to make it more safe chains were tied into the nearby stones. Take care though, some of them are moving. This passage is a little bit scary when looking at it but otherwise isn’t dangerous because you just walk on the firm flat ground, holding onto chains (and the ravine is below you).

This is the wrong way. The right path leads to the left via chains.

My friend mistakenly took the wrong way and had to literally jump a bit from the cliff to be able to proceed. Do not take this way, it’s dangerous. After seeing him struggling, I took the right path described above. Chains are the right part. Take chains.

The part many find the most dangerous. Not me. Chains to the right, valley to the left.

These chains at Fimmvorduhals are the part many people described as the scariest one. I definitely didn’t think so. The worst part for me was the one in the middle of the hike with slippery ash and clay without any chains.

9. Thorsmork valley descent

Views of Thórsmörk from the final part of the Fimmvörðuháls trail

The final slightly technical part of the entire hike is the famous Kattarhryggur, or “cat’s spine” pass. It’s a narrow pass where there’s a steep ravine both on your left and on your right. There are no chains, but the pass is pretty flat with firm ground. Unless the weather is very windy or otherwise unpleasant, hiking this part shouldn’t be any problem.

A famous Kattarhryggur (cat’s spine) pass was not that bad in a beautiful weather

The gradual descent into the Thorsmork valley continues afterward. Huge green areas with views towards Thorsmork, Krossa river, and its arms. We made roughly a 1-hour long break before Kattarhryggur to admire the surroundings and arrived down at the Basar hut at 7 PM. Without the break, the hike would take us 8 hours at a medium-to-quick pace, including photo pauses and short food pauses. Our bus was supposed to leave from the Basar hut so we stayed at Basar and waited for it.

Coming back

Bus to/from Thorsmork standing at Básar hut

If you have time, energy, or you simply don’t go for the bus from Basar, you may continue on foot to other campsites which are further away. The closest one is the Langidalur campsite (another bus stop), which is roughly 30 minutes by walk from Basar. And then there’s also the Husadalur campsite with well-known Volcano huts, which is another 20-30 minutes by walk from the Langidalur campsite. We took the bus from Basar to Hvolsvollur (and my friend to Reykjavik) at 8 PM and ended our beautiful day.

Fimmvorduhals hike Videos

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Dec

2021

Day 2 – Fjallabak highlands in the South

If you ask a typical tourist if they have visited Fjallabak reserve in the Icelandic Highlands, they would probably give you a weird look asking something like “What is Fjallabak reserve?”. And that’s exactly one of the reasons why we definitely wanted to visit Fjallabak roads 🙂 Not many people tend to go there.

The reason is, it’s not that easy to find information about beautiful places over the Fjallabak, and last but not least it’s not so easy to get there. You definitely need a good car for that. And still, almost every tourist surely has visited Fjallabak once, because that’s where also famous Landmannalaugar is located.

The weather slowly started to get cloudier and rainier in the south so we had to pick our next destinations really carefully. Our accommodation was near Hella, so there were still plenty of options to go at. One of the areas where the weather was supposed to be nice (i.e. not rainy and hopefully not foggy) was the Fjallabak nature highlands reserve. Fjallabak, i.e. the area around roads F210 and F261 was on the top of our list anyway, so it was an easy choice for Day 2 of our Highlands trip.

F261 near Markarfljotsgljufur canyon

Contents

Highlands of Southern Iceland
How to get to Fjallabak – F210 and F261
1. F210 west to Alftavatn
2. Alftavatn
3. F210 east towards Maelifell
4. Maelifell
5. F210 east towards Raudibotn
6. Rauðibotn highlands
- Raudibotn trail
7. F210 south to Markarfljotsgljufur canyon
9. Highlands around Hungurfit track
- Left and right turns from the track towards Hungurfit hut
10. F261
Fjallabak highlands Videos

Highlands of Southern Iceland

Our plan for the day was to drive the road F210 starting from the west (Hella side), stop at Alftavatn campsite/lake, and admire the surroundings of the magnificent F210. Next, if the weather and road conditions allowed, we planned to drive to legendary Maelifell and if we had enough time and courage, also to Rauðibotn.

Raudibotn is a remote place away from all of the tourists, hard to access, yet stunningly beautiful. At least that’s what I managed to find out from scarce sources beforehand. To get there, however, you need to cross the Holmsá river, which can get really dangerous at times, so we left it as an optional activity if the crossing looked safe only.

Then we planned to come back via F210 around Maelifell to go see Markarfljotsgljufur canyon, which was said to be one of the most beautiful, yet still pretty hidden. Then, if we still had some time a friend of mine suggested an adventurous 4×4 track leading north in between F261 and F210 to Hungurfit hut. He said our (slightly) modified Land Cruiser should be just enough to drive the route.

How to prepare for the Icelandic Highlands Road Trip

Our friend also mentioned to us a really remote hot spring – Strutslaug – but we saved that one for another day. Yes, a very packed day, but still pretty flexible, because we could basically cancel any activity if it seemed undoable. And that’s what everyone should plan for I think – anything should be cancellable, just in case.

How to get to Fjallabak – F210 and F261

No, there’s no bus here, such as the one in Thorsmork. The only way to get to F210 is by taking a guided tour (10% discount code: EPICICELAND10) or driving there by yourself (a time-consuming option demanding planning, experience, and driving skills). We naturally opted for the second option.

F210 (Fjallabaksleid sydri) between Keldur and Alftavatn

Most of the F210 is without bigger river crossings, so in case of good weather, even if you don’t feel like doing bigger river crossings, you may try to drive it in a proper 4×4 (ideally Land Cruiser or bigger, see our guide on how to choose a proper car for Iceland) – up to Alftavatn mountain hut.

We can also take you here on our Epic Private Tour, just email us.

Up to Alftavatn hut, the road is just bumpy, with potholes and some steep sections, but really picturesque and one of my favorite Icelandic roads. You will get amazing views in each direction – seeing Landmannalaugar from the distance and a big part of Fjallabak Park.

1. F210 west to Alftavatn

F210 west near Keldur

Even until Alftavatn, you will still have to cross several smaller streams, and even drive in the riverbed for around 100 meters! This is really one of the “once in a lifetime” experiences, for anyone not used to it (yes, maybe not for Icelanders ;).

As I mentioned, the road leads through multiple mountainous areas, so if you are unsure about driving in such an environment, please don’t go. Once you pass Alftavatn, the first real obstacle gets into your path – crossing the Kaldaklofskvisl river.

Kaldaklofskvisl crossing on F210 can get tricky at times because there are some large boulders in the river that you are unable to see beforehand. Secondly, the water level in the river may get too high to allow for safe crossing in vehicles not big enough.

It’s always necessary to strictly adhere to all the river crossing rules, watch someone cross before you, wade the river yourself if feeling unsure, and if still feeling unsure better turn back.

Kaldaklofskvísl river crossing

2. Alftavatn

We had nice partially cloudy/partially sunny weather, luckily with no fog and no rain. We already knew from our friends and from the day before, that the water level in rivers is favorably low and rivers are shallower than usual. These are practically one of the best conditions possible.

Hence, we drove F210 all the way to Alftavatn lake. The road was admiringly beautiful. The part I liked the most was the highest spot just before Alftavatn, where you could see all the surrounding land, including Landmannalaugar in the distance, almost from the “bird’s eye” point of view.

Álftavatn lake

We took a short break at Alftavatn lake, which is a very nice, calm, and quiet spot to stop at and have a picnic or short stay during nice weather. We were lucky enough that exactly after our arrival at Alftavatn the sun started to fight its way between the clouds and we could even walk in the T-shirt outside.

3. F210 east towards Maelifell

F210 after Alftavatn then continues in two directions – south towards F261 and east towards Maelifell and Holmsa river. Since our journey went smoothly up to this point, we definitely wanted to take a detour toward Maelifell and so we did. We turned left on the eastern part of F210. Here’s where the truly lunar landscapes have begun to emerge.

F210 Fjallabaksleid Sydri east to Maelifell

F210 towards Maelifell is definitely one of the most unique Icelandic roads. Firstly, the weather almost always changes when driving on this road. F210 towards Maelifellsandur literally feels like a gateway towards another world, thanks to this. Secondly, the road itself is very specific – it starts with huge boulders and continues as a black sand road.

And it’s almost always covered with some kind of mist – either light or heavy. Huge boulders are the most difficult part of F210 towards Maelifell. The road doesn’t have a clearly visible track, and if you don’t take enough care, you may damage the underside of your car.

Read our guide on how to choose the best car rental insurance for Iceland.

After basically driving on huge stone plates rather than an ordinary road, the route turns into tracks in the black sand. Oftentimes expect it to be wet and muddy because this is the area where it may rain occasionally. This part of the road doesn’t have any huge obstacles, or rivers, so it looks like a giant moon highway.

There are no more river crossings going from Kaldaklofskvisl to Maelifell. If you are the only car on the road (which is frequently the case, as with us) then your only guides are the tracks in the sand and yellow sticks marking the side of the road.

4. Maelifell

After a drive in the middle of “black sand nowhere”, you will be able to spot majestic Maelifellsandur in the distance. If you are lucky enough, and Mr. Maelifell is not covered in fog – which he likes to do – your view will be truly amazing. As I already mentioned, the weather usually changes to worse after turning towards Maelifell. This was exactly our case (multiple times). This time it, however, only changed to cloudy with occasional little rain – which is still considered good weather.

Maelifell in Fjallabak nature reserve

Finally, after an adventurous drive – there it stood – Maelifell volcano. It’s a view as if you were on a deserted planet. A huge green volcano in front of you, surrounded by black sand fields, with occasional little lakes created by past rain and absolute silence in the air.

It’s even possible to climb the Maelifell, but we don’t recommend doing that unless you are really experienced in performing steep, unmarked hikes unless there’s ideal weather and ideally only with a guide. We didn’t go for the hike as it may be really dangerous (and the view from above wouldn’t be great in partially foggy weather).

5. F210 east towards Raudibotn

We still had enough time at that point of the day, because everything went pretty smoothly. Thus, we decided to take a look at the Holmsa river crossing with an aim of seeing Raudibotn – the beautiful hidden (from a typical tourist) area with a crater, river, and amazing landscapes all around.

After reaching Maelifell, we continued east and we soon arrived at the Holmsá river crossing. According to a friend of mine, the crossing was supposed to be doable, without problems, at this time of the year (especially due to low water levels). Beware, this is the river crossing which may get pretty nasty. Always check both beforehand and on-site.

Holmsá river crossing at F210

The crossing looked exactly like my friend Haraldur described it – this time harmless. I examined the river anyway and it looked calm and shallow. Because of this, we decided to go for a ford even without wading the river on foot. And the crossing went smoothly. There’s a small hill with the road, usually easy to spot on your left after the Holmsa crossing.

The road ends soon at the improvised clay car park for a few cars. There was only one car other than us already parking at the spot. We just saw a crew of this car in the distance when arriving at the place and they were apparently heading back, so we decided to wait on them and ask about the route.

6. Rauðibotn highlands

In spite of having read already about the place, it wasn’t very clear from that article where to proceed. It was also unclear if it was possible to make a round trip (via different trails) or just to use the same way there and back. Thirdly, it wasn’t clear how much time should we devote to the entire trip. Once the group, which turned out to be the French family, came back, I asked them if it is worth making the hike, to which they immediately replied “Yes, it’s stunning”.

The second thing I asked was how long it takes to do the hike. They replied “3 hours”, although I’m not completely sure they understood me because, in reality, the little hike took us much less – around 1,5 hours. My last question was if they had done the roundtrip via 2 different routes. The answer I got was “No, I don’t think so unless you want to climb up to the volcano”. OK, thanks, some useful info 🙂

Rauðibotn parking

Raudibotn trail

The trail towards Rauðibotn starts as a steep quad-bike track (I wonder who had driven up this steep hill, I wouldn’t…). It then turns right down the hill towards the picturesque green valley surrounded by a river, a volcano hill, and a lot of moss. Speaking of moss – please really do your best to NOT step on it – it takes ages for it to grow again and sometimes it will even not grow anymore. As we found it a bit difficult to orientate in the area, we put together a simple map of Raudibotn for you:

Map of Rauðibotn

The trail is not marked. The only way how to follow the trail is to look for the tracks, which are, however, most of the time easy to find. An entire area has an amazing lunar charm, where you once again really feel like on another planet. This time one which is greener and filled with a lot of water.

After roughly 30 minutes of following the trail, we arrived at the beautiful crater where the mist literally traveled up and down in the air. In the background, there was an amazingly red crater and the entire place was really pretty and definitely worth visiting. Even in cloudy and partially foggy weather which we experienced.

Raudibotn waterfalls

At that point, we tried to discover whether it was possible to come back via a different route or not. The article I had read mentioned that in order to do that you need to ford the river – but the river didn’t look fordable at all – the current looked too strong. Even when looking at the map, there didn’t seem to be an option to ford the river. Thus, we concluded – no ford – only the same way back.

The road, however, continues further next to the river all the way toward Strutslaug’s hot spring area. So, if you are into remote hiking and if you have enough time (and can somehow plan it all) feel free to proceed even further.

Rauðibotn volcano crater

After shortly examining the road further in the direction of Strutslaug (i.e. the one leading next to the big lake), we turned back and arrived at our car park via the same trail. And yet, the day still had not ended for us. One of the last stops I planned for the day was located on the way back, near the southern part of F210.

Hence, next, we drove back through Holmsa crossing, next to Maelifellsandur, and back to the F210 crossroads. At the crossroads, we turned left and headed towards our next stop – Markarfljotsgljufur canyon.

7. F210 south to Markarfljotsgljufur canyon

There are two major river crossings on the F210-F261 roundtrip. The first one is the Kaldaklofskvisl River, after Alftavatn and the second one is the Blafjallakvisl River further down F210 to the south (after not turning towards Maelifell at the crossroads). Our friend Haraldur told us that if we succeed in crossing Kaldaklofskvisl, then Blafjallakvisl will be easy because it’s a smaller crossing.

Bláfjallakvísl river crossing at f261

You can watch how we crossed the Blafjallakvisl river at F261 here. And we crossed it the wrong way. You may see in the video how our car struggled in the middle of the crossing, splashing a huge amount of water. This is exactly what you shouldn’t do. Luckily, our Land Cruiser has survived without any damage thanks to a snorkel and high ground clearance.

What happened here was that we, firstly, went too fast (overconfidence maybe?) and, secondly, probably took the wrong path. The river bed was very uneven and we fell into the deeper part with our car. All of this could have been avoided, had we waded the river by foot beforehand.

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After crossing Blafjallakvisl, we headed towards the Emstrur hut to see the Markarfljotsgljufur canyon from the eastern side.

How to get to Markarfljotsgljufur Canyon

There are two ways to get to the Markarfljotsgljufur – from the west and from the east. A little warning in the beginning – neither of the roads leading there is easy. On Day 2 of our trip, we decided to take the eastern route, from the Emstrur side. On Day 5, on the other hand, we decided to see Markarfljotsgljufur canyon from the west.

This is the map of Markarfljotsgljufur canyon access roads and the way we took:

Markarfljótsgljúfur canyon map and roads

Beware, the Emstrur tracks we drove are just dirt tracks. Not even F-roads. This means they are even harder to drive than F-roads. Always check with your rental company if it allows for such roads, choose your car wisely, and study the roads in advance. Mostly only super jeeps are allowed to drive the dirt tracks.

When taking the eastern route, you have to make a detour from F210 towards Emstrur hut. There are actually two different paths – the northern one and the southern one. We took the northern one on our way there and the southern one on our way back. Both were pretty scary even in our (slightly) modified Land Cruiser.

The northern route leads primarily to the Emstrur hut. It’s a steep gravel road where you have to drive very slowly, in low gear, with 4×4 turned on, and beware of any mistakes like hitting the big stones.

Emstrur track (northern part) to Markarfljotsgljufur

When looking at the map, the Markarfljotsgljufur canyon was supposed to be located right to us, but we weren’t able to see any detour leading there. So we ended up parking our car at the Emstrur campsite. We were the only car with tires smaller than 40” there, and the locals gave us some curious looks (apparently not many travelers come here by car, and most of the time locals only).

We asked at the hut where to proceed to see the canyon. They advised us we should come back a little by car, leave the car there and then follow the hiking trail on foot. We did exactly as we were advised.

There’s a little wooden sign saying “canyon”, not very well visible, which we apparently missed. Next to the sign, there’s a place to park a few cars, so we left ours there (as the only car). We continued by walking. It takes around 10 minutes to reach the edge of the canyon. And hell, the walk is completely worth it 🙂

Markarfljotsgljufur Canyon from the east

I’m not sure if this is the biggest canyon in Iceland but it definitely looked like it. Seeing Markarfljotsgljufur was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, which cannot even compare to seeing the over-touristy Fjadrargljufur canyon or other similar places. At least for us.

The east viewpoint of Markarfljótsgljúfur Canyon

Surprisingly we were not alone here, with maybe 2 or 3 other couples admiring the place. The reason is simple – Emstrur hut serves as a shelter along the famous Laugavegur trail. At the time we reached the canyon, it was already time when most of the hikers had already arrived at the hut and were spending their late afternoons doing this little hike towards Markarfljotsgljufur.

The views from the edge of the canyon are more than just stunning. It’s also possible to hike along the edge of the canyon. Take great care though, this place doesn’t have any ropes or barriers to keep you safe from falling off the giant cliffs. The biggest plus of Markarfljotsgljufur is definitely its remoteness, which means you definitely won’t meet many fellow tourists here.

How to get from Markarfljotsgljufur

As I already mentioned above, to get to or from Markarfljotsgljufur from the eastern side, you may use two roads – both detours from F210. One northern and one southern. We used the northern detour to get there and the southern detour to get back. However, if you don’t have a huge car and you don’t like damaged roads, I don’t recommend you take the southern one.

The southern detour is an old broken track leading towards Hattgilsskáli hut. I don’t remember any major river crossing, but I definitely do remember a track in some bad condition. This southern detour from Emstrur-Botnár is a short, yet pretty intense, steep, and difficult-to-drive track. Broken stones and boulders are all around the track and huge holes meet you at every corner. At one point my wife was so scared she simply got off the car and continued walking (and shooting my drive ^^).

Once you reach the highest point of the track, the steep descent follows, once again with some huge holes which cannot be avoided, because the track is narrow and there’s a hill on your left side and a steep fall on the right side. Yes, this track from Emstrur is definitely doable in a proper car and with proper skills, but it’s not a very pleasant experience, I wouldn’t take it again. At one point our 33” Land Cruiser had two wheels in the air and I felt like this is the edge of what this car can make and I shouldn’t push further.

Anyway, with some slow driving and checking the track frequently, we eventually made it back to F210 and still had some spare hours, even though the dark was getting close. I persuaded my wife to try at least for a while the track our friend Haraldur recommended to us, the track towards Hungurfit hut.

9. Highlands around Hungurfit track

Some tour guides say they will take you to impassable places and this is exactly one of these places 🙂 Please don’t even try without enough experience in 4×4 driving, steep hills, narrow roads, and river crossings. And preferably a super jeep, or at least a Land Cruiser-like vehicle. Our friend was right, though, and the track toward Hungurfit hut is definitely one of the most exciting (and difficult) tracks I’ve driven in Iceland. Due to the shortage of time, we decided to drive only less than half of it – the circular round trip. However, in the following days, I decided to come back and do the whole track.

Beware, the Skaelingar and Blautulon tracks we drove are just dirt tracks. Not even F-roads. This means they are even harder to drive than F-roads. Always check with your rental company if it allows for such roads, choose your car wisely, and study the roads in advance. Mostly only super jeeps are allowed to drive the dirt tracks.

Hungurfit track between F210 and F261

There’s no proper road service on this road, so expect it to be difficult to drive. Big gravel and narrow steep hills are a certainty. Other than that, there’s one (not just one, to be precise) specialty at the track towards Hungurfit hut why all these guides and even locals go have some fun in here.

Once you reach the first fork/crossroads you may choose – the track towards the left leads through a gorgeous area full of little river crossings and one surprise. On the other hand, the track towards the right leads through a mountainous area with beautiful views. We’ve done the whole roundtrip.

Left and right turns from the track towards Hungurfit hut

We started with a track towards the left and descended towards an area full of small river crossings, which, for me, was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Of course, we were completely alone there. On the one hand, this was amazingly beautiful, on the other hand, it was a bit scary as well. I definitely wouldn’t want to get a flat tire in here or get stuck in the river. Forget about any cell phone signal or internet connection. Just you and the rough Icelandic highlands.

Taking the left detour at the beginning of the track towards Hungurfit hut you will soon arrive at the famous spot, which is the reason behind so many locals going in here. There are two giant stones on both sides of the road, making the road so narrow that you may pass only with a few centimeters of free space on both sides of your car.

At the same time, the track obviously isn’t flat underneath your car. There’s another huge stone on the ground, followed by a big hole and another sharp stone. So you would need to maximize your patience (and driving skills) to pass through without any damage to your car.

Hungurfit track

I took enough time to study the passage and to check whether everything is fine for me to pass and we passed well. The river crossing area then continues for a while and then you’re gonna connect to the right detour. From there, you may either come back (as we did this time) or continue around 50 kilometers all the way toward the northern part of F210 (as we did next time).

We came back via the right track, which was similarly exciting, just in a different way – some more steep and narrow passages with potholes. You can watch the entire video of our Hungurfit round-trip here.

10. F261

F261 Emstruleið

It was already evening, so we had to head back. We completed our round trip via F261 back towards Hella. F261 doesn’t contain any major river crossings, only Blafjallakvisl at the beginning (next to F210). And, as I mentioned above, Blafjallakvisl was easy this time and generally should be easier than Kaldaklofskvisl (if crossed correctly).

F261 near F210 is composed of big gravel and some steep sections so you have to drive slowly and the drive is not that comfortable. It’s definitely possible to drive F261 also in an SUV like Dacia Duster, although I cannot imagine how uncomfortable it has to be.

F261 near Fljótshlíð

You can watch the entire video of our F261 drive here. The western part of F261 basically leads to the other bank of the Krossá river and you are able to see the Thorsmork area and F249 well from it. Even this part contains a lot of big gravel and the drive has to be slow and not very comfortable. The scenery is beautiful as always, although for me F210 was even more picturesque. This may, however, be due to the effect that we had seen F210 first 🙂

Fjallabak highlands Videos

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Nov

2021

Day 1 – Thorsmork

Thorsmork is an unbelievably beautiful, one-in-the-world valley located in the southern Highlands of Iceland, near the ring road close to Seljalandsfoss. It is pretty hard to access, mainly due to treacherous river crossings, which need to be managed very very cautiously and with respect.

Þórsmörk. The “Valley of Thor” has been high on our list of to-visit places since our first ring road trip to Iceland. Why? Because it’s amazingly beautiful and it’s still one of the places which are not crowded yet. The reason behind that is pretty straightforward – it’s accessibility. The road F249 leading there contains several river crossings which get bigger and bigger as the road progresses and eventually end with the biggest one – the Krossá river.

Stakkholtsgjá canyon Þórsmörk

Some say “never go to Thorsmork with a rental car!” or “go to Thorsmork only with a guide!”. While I mostly agree, this is still too much of a generalization. I would rather say: Don’t drive to Thorsmork if you are not WELL PREPARED. What does well prepared mean? You should go in the right season, during the right weather, drive the proper car, study the roads in advance, study the river crossings in advance and on-site.

If this is too much effort for you, then don’t go to Thorsmork with a rental car! For those willing to put up this extra effort, we wrote this guide on visiting Thorsmork.

We also made video footage of our self-drive day trip to Thorsmork, including all of the major river crossings and best stops along the way. Just a word of caution – we went under almost ideal conditions!

Contents

Our trip to Thorsmork
Nauthusagil waterfall
Gigjokull glacier
Stakkholtsgja canyon
F249 river crossings
Valahnjukur hike
Seljavallalaug hot spring
Videos

Our trip to Thorsmork

We had a base near Hella and were choosing where to go on our first day mostly based on the weather. As the weather looked nice all around the south, the choice was tough. After some thinking, we chose Thorsmork, because you really need a nice day to visit it. Our Icelandic friends had also told us that the water level in the rivers was pretty low these days, which encouraged us to try getting near the Langidalur campsite of the Thorsmork valley.

F249, a dangerous road to Thorsmork, due to its river crossings.

We had left our accommodation at 9 AM and headed towards Seljalandsfoss, where a detour towards Thorsmork lies – roads 249 and F249. Our ultimate destination for the day was the Langidalur campsite. We didn’t want to go directly there though, because this would involve crossing the Krossá river. However, it was still possible to avoid Krossá by leaving the car just a few meters away from the crossing and continuing by a footbridge. I also planned for several nice stops along the road, the first of them accessible even with a 2wd car.

Road 249 and the following F249 are gravel roads without any steep sections and without potholes, which is pretty good, given the roads are F-roads. The only quality issue with the roads (not talking about river crossings) is the big gravel. This means you have to drive really slowly to not damage your car and the journey will be bumpy anyway. The biggest caveat of F249 are river crossings, though.

Nauthusagil waterfall

Soon we arrived at the first stop of our trip – Nauthusagil canyon and waterfall. For us, Nauthusagil was one of the most magical places we’ve seen around Iceland. The place is still remote and not that much visited, despite its remarkableness. One way trip to Nauthusagil takes about 20 minutes.

Nauthuságil waterfall “parking” 🙂

The waterfall and the canyon are accessible even by a 2wd car because they still lie next to 249 road only. We left our car at the small car park, where at the time of our visit 3 other cars stood. At that moment, the sun had already started to shine in between the clouds, only confirming our view that this should be a very nice day for visiting Thorsmork.

After parking the car, we followed the paved path along the small stream heading towards (not yet to be seen) the hidden Nauthusagil canyon. The path is easy to follow and it’s almost impossible to get lost since there’s only one way. The path soon gets narrower and changes into the hop-on-the-stones route. The rest of the way is basically walking and jumping on the various types and sizes of stones and boulders in the little water stream.

Nauthusagil waterfall trail

Only walking the entire path is a truly magical experience. We felt like in a fairy tale. This was even underscored by the fact that we hadn’t met a single person yet at that time. The gorge is really beautiful and not that long. Soon you will reach the point where some tend to stop and turn, however that is a huge mistake in our opinion 🙂

If you want to get directly to the Nauthusagil waterfall, you have to climb 2-3 meters of boulders with a help of a vertical chain. Some find this spot intimidating, but even my wife who is afraid of all types of chains during hikes was able to make it with some help. It’s not the place for people with any movement problems, though.

Nauthusagil waterfall chains

The most beautiful part of this little hike comes right in the end. We reached the source of all this water – the Nauthusagil waterfall. And it quickly became one of our favorite Icelandic waterfalls at all. We were also lucky enough to be there completely alone. Moreover, the sun played its beam game by shining through the cracks from above making it an even more stunning experience. One of the top places in Iceland.

Magnificient Nauthusagil itself

My advice for Nauthusagil would be simple – go for it as soon as you can – before it becomes as crowded as many other Icelandic spots!

Gigjokull glacier

After leaving Nauthusagil canyon, road 249 soon changes into F249, which means the first river crossings are coming. The tour companies making trips to Thorsmork usually also stop next to the Gigjokull glacier. This is the glacier tongue pretty well visible on your right when coming from Seljalandsfoss direction. If I had to say how is it different from any other Icelandic glaciers – I’m not sure – maybe because of its steepness. Otherwise, it’s a classical blue-white-black color combination of ice-snow-ash when it comes to Icelandic glaciers.

The road to Gígjökull is a detour from 249 to the right towards the mountains. After driving for a few minutes, we reached the pretty fast-flowing river. The river looked like you definitely don’t want to wade into it by feet – which is also a good rule of thumb whether to try to ford it by car or not. If you are afraid to try it by feet, it’s probably too dangerous to drive through it as well. Hence, we decided to turn back. Looking back at the situation, I think our car was pretty much capable of doing that crossing, but never mind – better choose the safer option than to risk wrecking your car if feeling unsure.

Gígjökull glacier and river crossings

Beware, the Gígjökull tracks we drove are just dirt tracks. Not even F-roads. This means they are even harder to drive than F-roads. Always check with your rental company if it allows for such roads, choose your car wisely and study the roads in advance. Mostly only super jeeps are allowed to drive the dirt tracks.

I had studied before there’s also another road leading to Gígjökull – if you continue a few hundred meters further via F249 there’s yet another detour to the right. And yes, we tried even this route. But firstly, you have to cross the first “bigger river” near the Lónið lagoon. This was a first crossing that looked scary. Firstly, the river was flowing really fast, which is a thing you generally want to avoid. Secondly, we were not able to assess what the depth of the river actually was, because the current was dirty and we couldn’t see through to the bottom.

First scarier river crossing on F249 next to Lónið lagoon

Since trying to “randomly cross” is usually not a good option, I decided to put on my wading socks and get into the river myself. Although the current was strong as expected, the river was pretty shallow. Thus, I decided “it’s time to cross”. The crossing, although bumpy, was otherwise smooth and we safely made it to the other bank. Then we turned on the road to Gigjokull glacier, making it our second attempt to reach it.

Once again, we soon arrived at the fast-flowing river and the little hill leading down to the crossing was in a very bad condition with huge holes, stones, and sharp boulders all over the road. At that point, we already had a pretty nice view of the Gigjokull glacier (and didn’t want to waste the whole day for the glacier) so we decided to turn back and rather enjoy our next stops.

Me wading river Lónið at F249 in Thorsmork

We were heading towards Stakkholtsgja (see below) and on the way there, another major obstacle has been waiting for us. The crossing of the Steinsholtsá river may often be classified as bigger. We arrived at Steinsholtsa with big respect and were ready to turn back in any case if feeling unsure. We were lucky that at the time of our visit 1) water levels were generally low due to the dry period, 2) our friend reassured us this day was good to cross, 3) we could observe a car crossing right in front of us.

We wrote much more about river crossing tips, techniques and warnings here, though. Having almost ideal conditions for crossing, we decided to move forward and were able to finish the Steinsholtsa crossing without bigger problems.

Stakkholtsgja canyon

Our next stop was another supposedly-beautiful and not that much visited place – Stakkholtsgja canyon. We arrived at the improvised gravel car park – which can be found thanks to the sign “Stakkholtsgja” (or thanks to cars parking there ;)) We parked our car next to huge modified Land Cruisers with 40”+ tires, making our car look like a small one. I guess this time of the year these huge superjeeps were just overkill because the roads were passable even with a smaller car. But I’m also pretty sure that at many other times these beautiful ones do come pretty handy.

Stakkholtsgja canyon is a stunning ravine carved in between huge rock formations on the sides. The trail towards the end of the ravine (which ends up being surprisingly amazing) is an easy walk that takes around 40 minutes one way if you know the trail. If you don’t know the trail – as was our case – add around 30 minutes for figuring out how to ford the Stakkholtsgja river by feet 🙂

Stakkholstgjá canyon beginning of the trail

Stakkholtsgja ravine trail

Stakkholtsgja canyon hike is an unmarked hike where you again can’t get lost easily because it leads in between the two bigger hills. In the beginning, the path is a well-trodden mud path, which then turns into a gravel road leading along the river stream. Once again, only walking this path is an amazing experience, where you’re basically strolling through the base of this magnificent canyon. It definitely belongs to one of our favorite Icelandic canyons, easily surpassing e.g. Fjadrargljufur canyon (mainly due to being roughly a thousand times less touristy).

Stakkholstgja canyon trail

After 20 minutes of walking, we arrived at the river which was crossing the path. We met there the group of tourists who were trying to figure out the same as us – how to ford the river without getting wet? This was the question of the day 🙂 For about 20 minutes we desperately searched for a suitable place to ford – without success. The group we met probably made the same conclusion because they got their shoes off and crossed barefoot. This definitely didn’t look like a pleasant experience, not that much because of the cold water but mostly because of the uneven, rocky riverbed.

Fording Stakkholtsgjá

At that point, we looked at our trail map and realized we are already pretty close to the end of the trail, so we wanted to turn back – or more precisely, my wife wanted to 🙂 I didn’t want to give up that easily and persuaded my wife to keep searching for the way to cross. And actually, she was the one who found the proper way soon after our little argument. We crossed the river at its left part, some 100 meters before the river turns right (and crosses the trail). The crossing meant jumping several times from stone to stone and from mud to mud. We successfully didn’t get wet though and didn’t have to ford the river barefoot.

As much as I would love to describe the exact spot where we forded, I’m unable to do so. We didn’t take any footage while holding our hands and jumping from stone to stone. We may reassure you, though, it should be possible even without getting wet 🙂 Just search for the right spot.

Stakkholstgja river fording

After the ford, we continued hiking at the left part of the canyon reaching the final part of this little hike completely from the left (opposite to our first attempt from the right). At that point, we eventually met the group we had met before, that had just finished their barefoot ford. We continued towards the end of the trail (which was located pretty close by). At that moment we realized what a good decision it was not to turn back. We arrived at the end of the canyon which is a huge stony gorge and you may hike it all the way up through the big boulders!

Stakkholstgja ravine waterfall

Rewarding End

This is exactly what we did and didn’t regret doing it at all. It’s a place somewhat similar to Nauthusagil ravine but much much bigger and still somewhat different. I definitely do recommend making the extra effort to get there to be able to admire this beauty. Surroundings like from a different world.

Stakkholstgja ravine with its “secret” endpoint

When coming back from the endpoint of the Stakkholtsja hike, we again struggled a little bit to find the best spot to ford the river, but after a few minutes, we again managed to cross the river without getting wet. Back at the car park, we saw a couple with a guide apparently on a “private tour”. They just went out of the car, looked at the canyon from the distance, and headed back. What a pity they weren’t advised to continue towards the end of the gorge…

F249 river crossings

We already mentioned two major river crossings in the text above – Lónið lagoon river crossing and Steinsholstá river crossing. The Steinsholtsa river is notoriously known for getting some tourist cars drowned regularly. You really ideally need to do all of the following: 1) ask locals for conditions, 2) look at the weather forecast, 3) have a proper car, 4) have already some experience with river crossings, 5) check for conditions onsite, ideally by wading the river yourself by feet or watching someone cross before you. Read more on river crossing rules and techniques on our blog.

On our way to Langidalur campsite (towards Valahnjukur hike), there were 3 more major river crossings. The first of them was the Stakkholstgjá river, the second crossing was the Hvanná river and the third one was the famous Krossá river. We did the first two crossings (Stakkholtsgja and Hvanna) in our car and definitely wanted to avoid Krossá as it is too dangerous. We highly recommend you avoid it as well.

Crossing Steinsholtsá river on F249

F249 river crossings of Stakkholstgjá and Hvanná were very similar to the Steinsholtsá crossing we described above. We were lucky with having almost perfect conditions of low water levels, i.e. shallow rivers and even some drivers crossing right before us, so we didn’t even have to wade these two rivers by feet. However, oftentimes the conditions are much worse! That being said, if you are unsure, better try fording by feet / or wait for someone else to cross first. And if still feeling unsure, better always turn back!

Valahnjukur hike

As a next activity, I wanted to do a hike which would give us a nice view from above the entire Thorsmork area. I studied beforehand all of the hikes available around the area (and there are many of them) and finally opted for probably the shortest one. Not because we couldn’t do a longer one, but because the Valahnjukur hike seemed to be the best in terms of view/difficulty ratio. And it was 🙂

Valahnjukur hiking trail

Thorsmork hiking trails

Thorsmork is a hiker’s paradise. Here is the map of all Thorsmork hiking trails (or at least most of them). If you are into hiking, you may easily spend here a week and still not be able to hike every trail. That being said, the area has a similar “nature shape” around all of the hikes. This means if you choose just one good hike during the good weather (no rain and good visibility) it will give you a very good overview of the area. And any other hike will be pretty similar in terms of views and surroundings.

Thorsmork hiking trails map

On the next day, I did a Fimmvorduhals hike, which actually was much higher in terms of peak height compared to Valahnjukur. But the view over the Thorsmork valley still wasn’t as good as from Valahnjukur – so the height isn’t everything, also the location is.

Crossing Krossá

An ideal start point for the Valahnjukur hike is the Langidalur campsite, which is located right next to it. How to get to the Langidalur campsite? To get to Langidalur, you need to cross the Krossá river. We definitely didn’t want to do this in the car, even when the water levels were pretty low and we had a big car. Krossá is notoriously known to be one of the most dangerous river crossings in Iceland, due to its strong current, uneven riverbed, and deep water levels.

So what if you don’t want to ford Krossá by car? Well, you can either take the bus (as we mentioned in our Thorsmork guide), or call the “Krossa taxi” at Volcano huts (but you need to get closer to Husadalur campsite in this case). Or you may use the footbridge over Krossa – if it’s there – as we did.

Thorsmork Krossá Langidalur footbridge

When are the footbridges in place and when not? They are in place during summer if it is not too dangerous. What does it mean too dangerous? Well, mostly high water levels and/or bad weather. Yes, that water level can even reach the footbridge – in that case, the footbridge is removed by rangers and you cannot cross Krossa any other way than by superjeep/bus. Exactly this was the case some 4-5 days after our trip – it rained a lot in the area and the footbridges were removed. And even the Icelandic bus got stuck in Krossa at that time!

However, as I mentioned, at the time of our visit Krossá was calm. We parked the car close to the big green footbridge over Krossá and used the bridge. Please, be sure to park the car in the right spot – i.e. NOT on the road and NOT even on any tracks which you see on the ground. Buses and modified superjeeps use this way, so please don’t get your car in their way to not get yourself fined. Leave your car next to the road on the gravel – use your common sense.

Right after we climbed on the bridge, we spotted an Icelandic bus nearby. We waited to watch it do the Krossá crossing. It’s always admirable to see it being done correctly 🙂 The bus didn’t go exactly where the road led, but rather it made a turn and positioned itself in the direction of the stream. Exactly as you should do it according to the river crossing rules – go down the stream. Even under these very good, dry conditions, we saw how the bus was shaking on an uneven riverbed. We just got a visual confirmation that the decision to not do the crossing on our own was good.

Valahnjukur

Coming back to Valahnjukur – Valahnjukur is a really easy, quick, and very rewarding hike in terms of views all around the Thorsmork valley. You can easily do it with your family or your older relatives. Even in rain, the hike seems to be pretty doable. Just keep an eye on visibility – if it’s foggy, you won’t see anything, I’m sorry. But since Thorsmork is located in between the mountains, all the storms and clouds tend to “break” on them, and the weather in the valley is usually much better compared to all the nearby places (e.g. Fimmvorduhals pass). More about this in our “How to find nice weather in Iceland” article.

A spectacular view from the top of Valahnjukur

Valahnjukur hike is well marked right from the Langidalur campsite, and, again, it’s almost impossible to get lost. It took us around 30 minutes one way to get to the peak, including pauses for photos and view admiration.

We arrived at the peak of Valahnjukur at 4 PM. We were lucky enough to both – be there alone and have beautiful visibility all around the area. This is one of the best short hikes all around Iceland. If you are able to reasonably get here, I definitely do recommend you take it. Views are simply stunning.

Thorsmork Valahnjukur hike

To come back to Langidalur, you may either use the same trail (the quickest option) or take the loop firstly to Husadálur and then back to Langidalur. We went for the first option because there is pretty much nothing special to be seen on the second route.

On our way back to Hella I wanted to make two more stops – Gljufrabui waterfall and Seljavallalaug hot spring (yes, both the really touristy ones, we had not been there yet before and wanted to see them). Anyway, my wife told me she has enough energy for one more stop only, so we compromised on picking Seljavallalaug hot spring.

The water level in the rivers usually tends to be higher in the afternoon/evening due to melting ice. At the time of our visit, however, this wasn’t the case. We already knew from the crossings in the morning that the rivers are pretty shallow, so the crossings weren’t problematic nor time-consuming this time. Please take special care that this is also true in your case – it doesn’t have to be!

Seljavallalaug hot spring

If I said that Nauthusagil, Stakkholtsja, and Valahnjukur were some of the most beautiful places in Iceland, with Seljavallalaug this was not exactly the case. The surroundings of the pool were beautiful – untouched nature all over the place. However, the pool itself was one of the worst of all hot springs in Iceland – dirty, slippery, not very hot, and full of tourists. Still worth visiting, though.

Seljavallalaug hot spring trail

Seljavallalaug is located on private land and to get there you need to walk. You can park your car also on the private land – there are 2 not very big car parks, which, however, weren’t completely full at the time of our visit. We parked the car at the one closer to the pool (but it really doesn’t make any difference, because they are both next to each other). Luckily for visitors, the landowners have not yet started to get money for the parking and visit of the pool. This may change in the future, though.

After parking your car it’s a 30 minutes (one way), non-demanding walk around a nice area. It’s not marked, but it also isn’t hard to follow because a) there’s no other route, b) you will probably meet several fellow tourists on the way there. Exactly as I explained above about the weather in Thorsmork, while Thorsmork was partially sunny at the time of our visit, here at Seljavallalaug the sky was clouded completely and it rained lightly.

Seljavallalaug hot spring

There’s an old changing room at Seljavallalaug (actually 2 rooms, maybe supposed to be for men and women, but people mixed it anyway). As I said above – the pool is big, full of algae, slippery, and with water of a temperature of around 30°C+, which is not that much compared to several other 40°C+ Icelandic hot springs. Nevertheless, many other visitors seemed to enjoy the pool very much anyway. To sum it up, Seljavallalaug was still a nice experience, although we prefer other Icelandic hot springs and pools much more.

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Oct

2020

Kerlingarfjöll Guide in 2024 – Hiking Trails + Top Places

The orange mountains of Kerlingarfjöll are one of the most beautiful places in the highlands of Iceland. Its main geothermal area – the Hveradalir Hot Springs – offers otherworldly colors like no other place in the world!

You can best enjoy the spectacularness of this place on one of the fantastic Kerlingarfjöll hiking trails or by soaking in the Kerlingarfjöll hot spring!

We have been to Kerlingarfjöll three times and are happy to share all our experiences about the area, trails, places, and conditions.

When visiting Kerlingarfjöll, be sure to also visit a nearby Hveravellir Geothermal area (different from Hveradalir) next to Kjölur Road 35, as we did!

First, a little trivia:

Hveradalir = geothermal area with bubbling mud holes, where you CAN NOT bathe
Kerlingarfjöll Hot Spring = hotpot where you CAN bathe, four miles away from Hveradalir
Hveravellir = another geothermal area with bubbling fumaroles, 30 miles away from Kerlingarfjöll

Kerlingarfjöll Map

How to get to Kerlingarfjöll

You can easily get to Kerlingarfjöll in summer by highland roads (F)35 and F347 from the south or the north.

The optimal route depends on what your other plans are. Technically, it’s a shorter route from the south, but the difference is negligible.

F35, aka Kjalvegur, near Hveravellir towards Kerlingarfjöll

By Car

Kjölur, Kjalvegur, or just (F)35 is a long gravel road connecting north and south Iceland. Somewhere around halfway through it lies the detour towards the Hveravellir hot springs area, and a bit further towards the south lies a detour towards Kerlingarfjöll.

There are better parts of Road 35 and worse parts of Road 35. Better parts mean you may drive quite fast. Worse parts mean a lot of potholes and turns, i.e., you have to drive slowly. Importantly, there are no river crossings on F35, only very small ponds doable even by a 2wd car.

A final detour to Kerlingarfjöll, F-road F347, also has no river crossings and is pretty similar to F35. The closer you approach the Highland Base, the more the road becomes mountainous and interesting.

By Bus

There used to be a bus service from Reykjavik to Kerlingarfjöll, operated by Gray Line, but it has been discontinued recently. Most likely due to being uneconomical for the bus provider.

The only way to reach Kerlingarfjöll other than driving there yourself is by taking the guided tour.

By Tour

A picture from the Kerlingarfjöll guided tour on a clear day

Only a handful of providers in Iceland offer guided tours to Kerlingarfjöll. We picked two of them – one from Reykjavik and one from Akureyri, which we believe are the best. We also partnered with them to exclusively offer you discounts on these tours.

10% discount code for the Kerlingarfjöll guided bus tour from Reykjavik: EPICICELAND24

The cheapest option is to take the Kerlingarfjöll bus tour from Reykjavik.

The most exciting option is to take the Kerlingarfjöll super jeep tour from Akureyri.

10% discount code for the Kerlingarfjöll super jeep tour from Akureyri: EPICICELAND

We can also take you to Kerlingarfjöll on our fully tailored Epic Private tour. Just e-mail us at [email protected]!

Best places in Kerlingarfjöll

Kerlingarfjöll Hveradalir Geothermal area iceland

You can easily see the top places in Kerlingarfjöll in one day. And they mostly involve breathtaking hikes.

The most popular place to visit is undoubtedly the Hveradalir Geothermal Area, the main attraction of Kerlingarfjöll. But there are also many other spots, not many travelers know about!

Kerlingarfjöll Hikes

The number one activity is hiking. Kerlingarfjöll treks offer unique, stunning, and mystical views that will make you feel like you’re on another planet.

How to Prepare for the Highlands road trip in Iceland.

The most famous hike is the shortest Hveradalir Hot Springs hike among scenic orange hills and bubbling hot pots. Our favorite is the much lesser known Snækollur hike instead, with even better views!

Horseshoe Bend

The Horseshoe Bend in Kerlingarfjöll. Photo by amazing www.adventures.is

The Horseshoe Bend is a place that got famous thanks to Instagram, yet almost nobody knows its location. Well, this picturesque twisted river is situated next to Road F347 to Kerlingarfjöll.

Gýgjarfoss Waterfall

Gýgjarfoss

Another beautiful stop along your way to the Hveradalir Geothermal area should be Gýgjarfoss waterfall. It typically stays almost unnoticed along Road F347.

Kerlingarfjöll hot spring

Bathing alone at Kerlingarfjöll hot spring

There is one and the only hot spring in Kerlingarfjöll where you can bathe. It’s totally worth a separate 1-hour hike!

The Highland Base

The Highland Base hotel, formerly The Kerlingarfjöll Mountain Resort

The only accommodation in the area used to be called the Kerlingarfjöll Mountain Resort. However, it has recently gone through a major reconstruction and will soon turn into the luxurious Highland Base.

Exclusive Discounts for the best car rentals and guided tours in Iceland.

Best hikes in Kerlingarfjöll

Once in Kerlingarfjöll, you have numerous hiking options. The two most popular Kerlingarfjöll hiking trails we really enjoyed are the hike to Hveradalir and the Kerlingarfjöll Hot Spring hike.

Although these two hikes are a must-see, we recommend checking out also the other hikes in Kerlingarfjöll! Some of them are even more scenic than these two! Our secret tip is a hike to Fannborg and Snækollur.

Map of Kerlingarfjöll hiking trails

Map of all Kerlingarfjöll hiking trails

Above is the Kerlingarfjöll hiking trails map depicting the most favorite trekking options.

You can also check out an even more detailed map of Kerlingarfjöll hikes by the Icelandic Environmental Agency.

If you are unsure about the Kerlingarfjöll trail conditions, you can consult by email with EIA, or with SafeTravel.

1. Hveradalir geothermal area hike

One of the summits of the several smaller hills around the Hveradalir in Kerlingarfjöll

Hiking time: 1 to 3 hours
Difficulty: easy to moderate, due to a lot of stairs
Trail Map: Hveradalir hiking trail

Hveradalir lets you see one of the most stunning views of Kerlingarfjöll in the shortest amount of time possible.

Hveradalir geothermal area is one of the most captivating places I’ve ever been to in my life – together with Askja, Landmannalaugar, and the F-roads south of Landmannalaugar.

This time it’s not rainbow mountains, no black sand, no green moss. This time, it’s orange mountains mixed with wild sulphuric hot springs and snow. A lot of snow. And cold. And the wind. Welcome to Hveradalir.

2. Kerlingarfjöll Hot spring hike

Hike to Kerlingarfjöll Hot Spring

Hiking time: 1 hour, one-way
Difficulty: easy
Trail Map: Kerlingarfjöll hot spring trail

The easiest picturesque trek in the area is the hike to Kerlingarfjöll Hot Spring. With a very rewarding end!

You will be traversing a cute green canyon with a river until you get to the only bathe-able hot pool in Kerlingarfjöll.

3. Snækollur hike

Snækollur hike

Hiking time: 2 hours, one-way
Difficulty: moderate to difficult, some parts are steep and slippery
Trail Map: Snækollur hiking trail

If you asked us for one hidden gem in Kerlingarfjöll, we would immediately reply: Snækollur hike.

Very few visitors aim to hike the Snækollur peak, yet it offers the best views of Kerlingarfjöll. Snækollur is also the highest summit in the area.

Right before reaching Snækollur, you will also pass the peak of Fannborg, a great short stop with dazzling views as well.

4. Highland Base to Hveradalir hike

Kerlingarfjöll Mountain Resort and Campsite – newly renamed to The Highland Base is the second starting point of the Hveradalir hike

Hiking time: 4 to 6 hours, round-trip
Difficulty: moderate, due to a lot of stairs
Trail Map: Highland Base to Hveradalir hiking trail

Want to hike to Hveradalir? You don’t have to drive all the way there, you can also start at the Highland Base. This area is called Ásgarður in Icelandic.

It will take you around an hour and a half to reach the Hveradalir area, and you may enjoy some additional nice views on top of that.

The main advantage of this trail is that the Highland Base is both your start point and endpoint. The disadvantage is the time aspect, as you will be spending additional 3 hours just getting to and from Hveradalir.

5. Hverabotn hike

Hike to Hverabotn

Hiking time: 2 hours, one-way
Difficulty: moderate
Trail Map: Hverabotn hiking trail

Hverabotn is another geothermal area in Kerlingarfjöll, different from Hveradalir. It’s located further away from the main area, which is a reason why it’s not so popular.

You can hike to Hverabotn either from the Highland Base or from Hveradalir. Either route you choose, it will take you less than 2 hours one-way.

6. Skeljafell hike

Kerlingarfjöll, Iceland

Hiking time: 2 hours, one-way
Difficulty: moderate
Trail Map: Skeljafell hiking trail

Now we are coming to the more off-the-beaten-path hikes in Kerlingarfjöll chosen only scarcely by foreign visitors. One such hike is Skeljafell.

Skeljafell hike is located entirely away from Ásgarður or any main Kerlingarfjöll area. You need to drive a dirt track to get to the starting point.

Once on this hike, don’t miss Kerling Mountain, after which the entire Kerlingarfjöll is named!

7. Ásgarðsfjall hike

asgardsfjall hike kerlingarfjoll iceland

Ásgarðsfjall hike, photo by: Kleppur

Hiking time: 30-60 minutes, one-way
Difficulty: moderate
Trail Map: Ásgarðsfjall hiking trail

Another overlooked hike of Kerlingarfjöll is a trek to Ásgarðsfjall.

Ásgarðsfjall Hill sits right next to the Highland Base and offers fantastic views of the campsite and all the surroundings.

For awesome views you don’t even need to hike to the peak, you can just take walks around the Ásgarður valley.

8. Mænir hike

View from the Mænir hike, photo by: Kleppur

Hiking time: 3 to 5 hours, one-way
Difficulty: difficult
Trail Map: Mænir hiking trail

Mænir is one of the tallest peaks of Kerlingarfjöll. It’s also part of the legendary multi-day ring hike called the Hringbrautin Circuit.

Hiking Mænir is more difficult due to poorly marked trails and challenging terrain. On the other hand, you will definitely be alone on this expedition and enjoy one-of-its-kind views.

9. Ögmundur, Röðull and Höttur hike

Ögmundur, Röðull and Höttur peaks in winter, photo by: https://highlandbase.is/

Hiking time: 3 to 5 hours, one-way
Difficulty: very difficult, glacier crossing
Trail Map: Hiking trail

If you are up for a challenge and a very experienced hiker, you may attempt at hiking the three peaks of Ögmundur, Röðull, and Höttur. The panoramas will be stunning.

These three summits too are among the tallest in Kerlingarfjöll and are often covered by snow, even in summer.

10. Hringbrautin Circuit

Kerlingarfjöll Circuit hiking trail, photo by: Krator, under CC3

Hiking time: 2 to 3 days
Difficulty: difficult
Trail Map: Hringbrautin Circle hiking trail

The Hringbrautin Circuit, also known as the Ring Route or the Kerlingarfjöll Peaks Hike, encompasses all the biggest summits of Kerlingarfjöll.

This hike is sometimes wrongly being called as Austurfjoll Peaks by other bloggers who haven’t even hiked any of these peaks.

This is a very challenging multi-day hike, where you will be going to need very good gear (e.g. crampons) and be in a very good physical condition. It will take you about three days and involve sleeping in mountain huts, bivouacking, and crossing rivers.

Our Kerlingarfjöll Tips and Experience

kerlingarfjoll hveradalir hot springs iceland

Kerlingarfjöll – Hveradalir hot springs geothermal area

When to go

You can easily visit and hike Kerlingarfjöll only in summer, typically from June to September. This is when the roads to Kerlingarfjöll are officially open to foreign visitors.

Our tip: Always check the current road conditions in Iceland before driving on any Highland road.

The orange mountains are fully covered by snow, and not orange anymore, from around November until April.

In winter, you can still visit Kerlingarfjöll by taking a local private super jeep tour, but it’s a bit pointless and expensive in our opinion.

How to Choose the Best Car for Iceland.

Where to stay

The accommodation options in Kerlingarfjöll are very scarce. Only one place, the Highland Base, is designated for overnight stays. Alternatively, you may also stay in Hveravellir.

The Highland Base Hotel

Visualization of the new Highland Base hotel

The Highland Base Hotel is the newly refurbished lodge and the only hotel in Kerlingarfjöll. It used to be called the Kerlingarfjöll Mountain Resort.

It now offers multiple different accommodation options in various budget categories. You can stay in the mountain hut, in the luxury lodge, or even in the dormitory room.

Kerlingarfjöll Campsite

Visualization of a new Kerlingarfjöll campsite

You can camp in Kerlingarfjöll in summer. The campsite is located just next to the new luxurious Highland Base Hotel. Just bear in mind the weather conditions.

Kerlingarfjöll camping is one of the coldest places in Iceland available for camping.

On the 8th August, 3 pm in the afternoon (i.e. probably one of the warmest times possible) the temperature climbed to tropical 5°C (41°F). And the strong wind didn’t help it at all, making everything feel even some 5°C colder. Now doing the math that nights are additional 5°C-7°C colder compared to daytime temperatures, you’re going to be freezing for sure.

Our Tips

Come on a day with clear skies. Or at least try to do it. It will be a very hard task, but more than just worth it!
Don’t go when it’s too foggy. Or when it rains too much. You will see very little of otherwise breathtaking Hveradalir.
Bring hiking poles. If you plan any longer hikes than just the main Hveradalir Geothermal Area.
Dress well. Layers are a must. Kerlingarfjöll is one of the coldest places in Iceland. Daily summer temperatures often hover just around 5°C (41°F).
Hike to Snækollur. If you are fit enough. This is the most rewarding hidden hike of Kerlingarfjöll.
Take a dip in the hot spring. There’s just one where you can bathe, but totally worth the detour.
Leave the pretty shoes at home. The orange soil in Hveradalir will partially destroy your shoes. At best, they will just be very dirty.
Check the conditions before going. The road conditions, the weather forecast, and any safety warnings.

Our Experience

One of the numerous trails in Hveradalir area of Kerlingarfjoll

We have been to Kerlingarfjöll several times and wrote an even more detailed article about our first full-day visit to Kerlingarfjöll and Hveravellir geothermal areas than this one.

In short, we drove F35 from north to south. We first stopped at Hveravellir hot spring area, then hiked at Kerlingarfjöll as a highlight, and we finished our day in the south by seeing Gullfoss and Strokkur. We had camped at Varmahlíð campsite the night before.

Our drive to Kerlingarfjöll

Having already experienced awe-inspiring roads like the F208 south of Landmannalaugar, the stellar F235 leading to Langisjór, or the lunar landscapes of F905 and F910 near Askja, the F35 appeared to be a standard gravel highway with no exceptional features to take note of.

But remember, we are still talking about Iceland, so the environment will always be lovely, just not extraordinarily so (as was the case with formerly mentioned roads).

F347 road next to Hveradalir hot spring area in Kerlingarfjoll

The F35 also seemed to attract a pretty high volume of cars. This can be a slight nuisance as many of them either crawl along at a snail’s pace or race down the track. And, as you can imagine, Icelandic F-roads are not exactly designed for maneuvering past other vehicles.

Our Hveradalir hike experience

Once we reached Hveradalir geothermal area via a quite steep final part of the road F347, we felt like entering a whole new world. The orange-white universe.

Our tip: If you put “Hveradalir” in the Google maps, the place with no road appears, quite far from the car park. The main hiking area starts right next to the parking lot.

We spent roughly an hour and a half wandering around the place, savoring each second, except for the chilly gusts.

Our latest visit to Hveradalir

As for visibility, the foggy mist would dissipate to reveal slightly clearer skies, and then roll back in again, all in a span of 5 minutes. Therefore, a little patience could reward you with better photographic opportunities. Alternatively, you could just get lucky and arrive during a clear weather spell.

Our tip: There are several smaller hills with wooden stairs-like steps almost on each of them to help you with the ascent. Your shoes will be full of orange clay anyway, though.

We hiked about 4-5 hills, retracing from each back when deep snow began to blanket the path or when we ascended to heights entirely shrouded in fog.

Our Kerlingarfjöll hot spring experience

Our Kerlingarfjöll hot spring trip

On our second visit to Kerlingarfjöll, we finally managed to hike to the Kerlingarfjöll hot spring where you can bathe. And I highly recommend you take this hike!

Our tip: The trail is marked well and this walk can easily be done also with small children.

We did this easy trek in a moody weather accompanied by a light drizzle and it was pleasant anyway. The most rewarding is naturally the end with the hot spring hidden in the middle of nowhere.

Our Snækollur hike experience

Views from the peak of Snækollur

On our most recent trip to the central highlands, we hiked the tallest peak of Kerlingarfjöll – Snækollur. And this was our ultimate adventure in the area.

Snækollur hike is more difficult, but it was worth every (steep) step for us. Especially on a clear day. We encountered one of the best views in Iceland at Snækollur.

Kerlingarfjöll vs Landmannalaugar

Should you rather visit Landmannalaugar or Kerlingarfjöll? If you have the opportunity, don’t hesitate and go see both! Experiencing Landmannalaugar is very different from Kerlingarfjöll.

Both are located in the Highlands and are predominantly hiking areas, but the commonalities end here. The comparison doesn’t make much sense to us, but if you insist, here is the one:

LANDMANNALAUGAR:

Rainbow mountains, more colorful, green and blue are present
Bigger campsite, more visitors
More difficult and also more beautiful access roads
Various hikes of various difficulties
Typically a pretty crowded free hot spring

Views over Landmannalaugar

KERLINGARFJÖLL:

Orange mountains with hot springs and fumaroles
Less packed campsite and fewer visitors
Easy access roads
Various hikes of various difficulties
Typically an empty remote hot spring

So what if you can visit only one of these places? It’s best if you decide based on where’s better weather. If the weather is the same, I would then go for Landmannalaugar because it’s slightly more impressive and diverse for a first-time visitor and also closer to the ring road.

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Oct

2020

How to visit Askja in 2024 – Roads + Maps + Hiking trails

Askja Volcano is one of the most amazing places in the Icelandic Highlands you can possibly visit.

Askja is an otherwordly moon-like area with several volcanic craters and calderas. The biggest one, Lake Askja, is filled with ice-cold water. On the other hand, the smallest one, Lake Víti, is a geothermal hot spring!

Askja is not easy to get to, but its surreal landscapes are totally worth the difficult drive! We have been to Askja several times, and it is still one of our favorite spots in the Highlands of Iceland.

*2024 UPDATE: Askja is still an active volcano and, although not imminent, the eruption may happen any time. We highly recommend you consult rangers in Dreki huts before your visit!*

Askja Map

The map below displays all roads leading to Askja caldera, river crossings, campsites, and all the interesting places around Askja. If you are looking for the main Askja hiking trails, scroll below.

How to get to Askja

You can get to Askja by various combinations of rough and long highland F-roads:

from the East via roads F905, F910, and F894 (difficult terrain, medium river crossings)
from the North via F88, F910, and F894 (easier terrain, sometimes difficult river crossing)
from the West via F910, and F894 (very difficult terrain, difficult river crossings)

You may drive to Askja yourself, take a guided bus tour, or a guided super jeep tour. Round trip to Askja takes around 5 to 7 hours of driving on 300km (185 mi) of roads.

Road F905 to Askja on an exceptionally beautiful sunny summer day

By Car

We have driven all of Askja roads several times. Unfortunately, many “bloggers” out there will tell you many misleading facts about these roads, which they just copied from somewhere else. We won’t 🙂

There are river crossings on the way to Askja. Please study how to cross rivers in Iceland in advance or don’t go on your own!

The Easiest way

The easiest way to reach Askja depends on road conditions:

If water levels are higher, roads F905 and F910 from the east are the easiest way. In this case, the river Lindaá on F88 may become bigger and dangerous. F905 and F910 to Askja are much bumpier, though.
If there’s little water in the rivers, then F88 from the north is the easiest road to get to Askja. On dry days, the terrain on F88 is much much easier to drive compared to the combination of F905 and F910 from the east.

One of the common misconceptions about roads to Askja is that the most treacherous one is always F88 from the north. Many “bloggers” just write this without further explanation because they have never actually driven F88.

The truth is, it’s all about the Lindaá river crossing on F88. If there’s a lot of water in this river, then yes, this one spot is difficult, and you need a large 4×4 car to pass safely. In the opposite case of low water levels, F88 is in reality easier due to flatter and less bumpy terrain.

Our Tip: If you are a first time visitor, better take the combination of the roads F905 and F910. If you already know how to cross rivers in Iceland, then F88 will be quicker and easier for you.

The Most Beautiful way

The most beautiful roads leading to Askja are undoubtedly roads F905 and F910 from the east. The surrounding landscapes are stunningly versatile.

You will be driving on gravel, through black ash fields, yellow sands, and even on huge volcanic boulders.

F88 from the north is, on the other hand, a bit monotonous with harsh and simple surroundings. The main attraction along F88 is a legendary Herðubreið volcano with a flat top.

What Car do You need

To safely get to Askja, you need to drive at least a medium-sized 4wd car. Roads to Askja are rough highland roads with several obstacles like sand, stone boulders, and river crossings.

We offer our readers exclusive Discount codes on best car rental companies in Iceland

Cars with higher ground clearance are necessary for Askja. Some examples of minimum capable vehicles include Suzuki Jimny, Dacia Duster, Jeep, or Land Rover.

By Bus

You can take a guided bus tour to Askja from Mývatn.

The main advantage of the Askja bus tour is that it’s the cheapest option out there. The main disadvantage is a bigger number of co-visitors and likely nausea from driving.

By Super Jeep

Askja super jeep tour by Star Travel

The easiest and most comfortable way to reach Askja is by taking a super jeep tour from Akureyri.

Don’t want to go on your own? Take an epic Askja jeep tour! 10% discount code: EPICICELAND

By Private Jeep Tour

Did you know you can even take a private tour to Askja? This is a bit unconventional way of visiting Askja but definitely a memorable one. And fully flexible and tailored to your needs!

And also with a 10% discount code: EPICICELAND 🙂

When to Go

Our visit to Askja volcano area

You can visit Askja only in the summer, typically from July until September.

Askja opens to visitors once all the snow on the roads has melted and the roads are safe to drive. This usually happens between mid-June and early July.

The area then becomes inaccessible again sometime between mid-September and early October.

Askja is an active volcano area. Better check with the Askja ranger in Dreki before every visit.

Askja Volcano area

A useful map of the Askja volcano area

The main highlights of your visit to Askja will surely be the huge Lake Askja, or Öskjuvatn in Icelandic, and the smaller geothermal lake Víti.

A short glossary may be useful at this place:

Askja = name of the entire area; Askja is a volcano on the southern side of the big lake.
Lake Víti = volcanic crater you are probably aiming for, with blue picturesque geothermal water working as a hot spring.
Lake Askja (Öskjuvatn) = a big lake just next to Víti, with no geothermal water.

Askja hiking trails

There are three main hiking trails in Askja:

Lake Víti trail – 30 minutes of easy walking from Vikraborgir car park at the end of the road F894; the most popular and rewarding trail
Drekagil Gorge trail – 2 hours of more difficult hiking from Dreki huts to Lake Askja; an adventurous ravine trek with beautiful views over Askja
Dyngjufell trail – 3-4 hours to Dyngjufell hut; this is part of the long central highlands trail

Lake Víti

Hiking trail down to Lake Víti, sometimes called Askja crater

From the Vikraborgir car park, it takes some 20-40 minutes of walking the well-marked path with yellow sticks to reach the place everybody admires in the pictures – i.e. Víti crater. This was the highlight of our trip. From this spot, you may either:

Just admire the beauty of Víti crater and the massive Öskjuvatn lake next to it, or
Hike around the area, or
Hike down the Víti crater and swim in the green/blue geothermal water, as we chose

Lake Askja

Lake Askja, or Öskjuvatn, next to the famous Víti crater

Öskjuvatn, or just Lake Askja, sits just a stone’s throw from the stunning Víti caldera. It is a fantastic photo spot on a nice day. We especially loved shooting both lakes in one picture.

Things to Do around Askja

Tourists normally head only to the main highlight, the Víti crater. But there’s more to see around Askja.

Volcanos, lava fields, hot springs, and canyons are just a glimpse of the Eastern Highlands of Iceland.

Herðubreið volcano

Herðubreið volcano next to the road F88

Herðubreið volcano is the main highlight of the highland F-road F88 leading to Askja from the north.

Fun fact: Herðubreið is a legendary flat-top mountain which has even won the award "Best Icelandic Volcano".

You can drive up to Herðubreið by a very rough dirt track suitable only for super jeeps as a detour from F88. You can also hike to the top of Herðubreið, but it’s a challenging hike.

Drekagil Gorge

Drekagil canyon. Picture by Nige, CC2 license

Drekagil Canyon, or Drekagil Gorge, is a picturesque ravine connecting Dreki huts with Lake Askja. You can hike all the way through the canyon when the hiking trails are open.

Always ask about trail conditions at Dreki Huts before going. There’s a range during summer.

Holuhraun Lava field and F910

Holuhraun lava field on western F910

When, instead of taking F894 to Askja, you decide to drive F910 further toward the southwest, you will reach the Holuhraun lava field.

Holuhraun lava field was formed during a huge and famous eruption in 2014 which lasted for 6 months and had been the biggest in over 300 years.

Laugavallalug Hot Spring

Laugavallalaug hot waterfall spring in the eastern Icelandic Highlands

Laugavallalaug or Laugarvellir is one of the most spectacular hot springs in Iceland. It is actually a hot waterfall!

We wrote in detail about how to get to Laugavallalaug in our Icelandic hot springs article.

Long story short, Laugavallalaug happens to be located quite close to Askja, on the southernmost end of the road F910.

Hafrahvammagljúfur Canyon

Hafrahvammagljúfur, although hard to pronounce, easily belongs to one of the hidden gems in Iceland.

Hafrahvammagljúfur is a huge canyon in the Eastern Icelandic Highlands, south of Askja. Almost nobody visits this place, yet it is pretty accessible by road 910 from the south.

You can also get to Hafrahvammagljúfur from Askja by various combinations of F-roads. A medium-sized 4wd car is necessary from this direction.

Stuðlagil Canyon

Stuðlagil Canyon, view from the western side

You’ve probably already heard about Stuðlagil, or at least seen it in the photos. Stuðlagil Canyon has become one of the two most popular canyons in Iceland.

Stuðlagil can easily be visited on a day trip to Askja because it’s located next to the road F907 south of Askja. We wrote in detail about getting to Stuðlagil.

Although suffering from over-tourism a bit, Stuðlagil Canyon is still a beautiful spot to visit, especially when the water is clear and not polluted by the Karahnjúkar dam.

Our Askja Experience

Crossroads between Möðrudalsleið gravel road and F905 leading to Askja

We visited Askja for the first time at the end of August on a beautiful sunny day. Having heard stories about terrible weather full of fog and rain holding at Askja for most of the time, this really seemed like a blessing.

You can read in detail about our experience of visiting Askja for the first time.

Driving Möðrudalsleið

Möðrudalsleið road, the first gravel road you’re gonna encounter when coming from Egilsstaðir direction

On our first visit, we arrived from Egilsstaðir on the ring road and then turned left for the road without any number on Google Maps with a fancy name Möðrudalsleið. I guess the more the road’s name resembles some killing machine, the rougher the actual road is, but that’s just what we’d observed. Nevertheless, Möðrudalsleið is a quite good gravel road compared to many other F-roads.

Before you go: study the F-roads and choose the high quality insurance!

Driving F905 and F910

F910, or Austurleið, continuation of road F905 towards Askja

After driving some two-thirds of the road, we turned left to F905, where a real adventure began. By “a real adventure,” I mean nothing dangerous, just endless out-of-this-world landscapes as if you were on another planet.

Different types of surface alternate between each other, each more beautiful than the one before. Gravel, clay, rocks, sand, sulfur – anything you can imagine, surrounded by unforgettable views of the volcanic hills.

There are two medium-sized rivers on F905. When we reached the first river, there was already a 4×4 car waiting in front of the river, I think Toyota Landcruiser. It seemed like a driver wanted to see someone else cross first. I stepped out of the car and inspected the river. This one was not very wide, and I could observe where the best part to cross it was, even by visual inspection. The river’s depth was some 40-60cm at the deepest point, so you ought to have an appropriate 4×4 car for medium-sized rivers and follow river crossing rules not to sink your car.

You can read in detail about our Askja river crossing experience in our first-time Askja experience article.

Gated bridge at F905 road towards Askja. Just open the gate when crossing the bridge and close it afterward.

After spending some time on F905, the road turns into F910, which is very similar in its character to F905, just, once again, a bit different. There are a few parts of the road where you’re going to drive on huge volcanic rocks, and you have to drive carefully not to damage your car – this is where a good 4×4 with high ground clearance is useful.

Driving F88

F88 – Öskjuleið to Askja from north

On our second and third trips, we always drove the road F88. It is quicker, less bumpy, and generally easier to drive than F905 and F910. It saved us a lot of time.

The are two caveats to F88, though:

The first one is the Lindaá river crossing, which is typically even smaller than rivers on F905. But sometimes it may become bigger when there’s too much water in Lindaá. In other words, rivers on F905 are more stable in size.

The second one is the landscapes around F88 and the driving terrain. Both of these are, simply said, more boring compared to the surroundings of F905.

Driving F894

Vikraborgir car park, the closest point available on your route towards Askja/Víti crater

Once you arrive at Dreki huts, you may leave your car here and go for an 8km hike towards Viti and Öskjuvatn, and you will enjoy the beautiful mountain area even more. What we did, was to drive as close to the actual geothermal Víti Lake as possible and spend most of our time there.

To do that, you must take the F894 road, i.e., a slight turn right coming from the F910 direction, standing in the Dreki huts spot. The road is rough and rocky, with volcanic stones and rocks everywhere. At the end of the road, you will reach the car park with another toilet booth called the Vikraborgir car park. This is where you have to leave your car.

Hiking to Askja and Víti

Easy walking path from Vikraborgir car park towards Víti and Öskjuvatn will take you 20-40 minutes one way.

Hike to Askja from the car park turned out to be an easy walk on the flat surface. The hike is well-marked with yellow sticks.

However, I can easily imagine this leisurely trek may become strenuous when the weather changes to wind, rain, or fog. Or the combination of all three.

Bathing in Askja hot spring

Me swimming in 25°C sulphuric water of Víti crater in Askja

When we reached the Askja caldera, we decided (or better said, my wife decided) to hike down the Víti crater.

This was one of the few moments of our journey when I was a bit scared. The descent was steep, and the ground was covered with slippery clay, which means you cannot control your fall in case it happens.

Nevertheless, it’s a short descent and not too dangerous, so in good weather, you should be able to make it. Once down in the caldera, you may enjoy swimming in the water with a temperature around 25°C, which is not a hot spring but warmer than air (at the time of our visit, around 10-15°C). Once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Driving to Studlagil and Laugavallalaug

F910 towards Askja

If you want to reach the Stuðlagil canyon and/or the gorgeous Lagauvallalaug hot spring, you need to traverse south via the combinations of the road F910, F905 and possibly roads 907, 923 or F923.

Always check the correct Icelandic road map and current road conditions and closures when driving Icelandic F-roads.

Road 907 and 923 are just rough gravel roads without any sizeable river crossings. The conditions on the southernmost F910 and F923 are very similar to the rest of F910 and F905 – expect at maximum medium-sized river crossings.

Driving F910 from F26

Map of F910 west – Dyngjufjallaleið – leading from Nyidalur to Dreki

On our fourth trip, we dared to drive F910, Dyngjufjallaleið, across central Highlands. This is one of the harshest and most remote Icelandic F-roads.

It took us 6 hours to drive the central F910 from Nyidalur next to F26 all the way to Dreki huts in Askja.

You need to be well prepared to take this drive with enough fuel and, ideally, a super jeep or at least a large 4wd car.

A drive through F910 from Nyidalur to Askja

Our Askja Tips

This is an active volcanic area. Eruptions cannot be ruled out. Always check the conditions in advance, ideally with a ranger at Dreki huts.
Askja crater is not easy to reach. Watch for any safety alerts and take special care about up-to-date road conditions.
Come on a clear day. Check the weather forecast and read Icelandic weather correctly. If you have too much fog, you may not see a thing and may lose a full day.
Get up early. And plan for a long day. It will most likely be one of the longest drives you will take in Iceland.
Bring hiking poles. If you plan to hike down the Askja crater or do any longer hikes. They are pretty slippery.

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Oct

2020

Landmannalaugar Full Hiking Guide

What is the best hike in Landmannalaugar? When to visit it and how to get there? These are the question we asked when visiting Landmannalaugar for the first time. Below we describe what we think are the most beautiful hikes in Landmannalaugar.

We have visited Landmannalaugar many times and explored all the hikes. That’s why we decided to create the most detailed guide for first-time visitors you can possibly find. Let us know in the comments if we were successful!

Contents

How to get to Landmannalaugar?
Parking in Landmannalaugar in 2024
When to go to Landmannalaugar?
- Landmannalaugar in summer
- Landmannalaugar in winter
10 best hikes in Landmannalaugar
Hiking the Brennisteinsalda Bláhnúkur loop
Landmannalaugar hot spring
Landmannalaugar campsite
Weather, Roads, and Trail conditions
FAQ
Landmannalaugar Videos

How to get to Landmannalaugar?

Landmannalaugar is located in the Fjallabak Nature Reserve, in the southern Highlands of Iceland.

You can get to Landmannalaugar by car, by bus, or by a super jeep tour. Buses run (10% discount code: EPIC-ICELAND-HB) only during the main season, typically from mid-June until mid-September. Outside of the main summer season, it’s highly recommended to take the super jeep tour instead. The roads leading to Landmannalaugar are often full of snow and impassable at that time.

Landmannalaugar by car

Amazingly beautiful roads around Landmannalaugar

How to get to Landmannalaugar by car? You have 3 options on how to reach Landmannalaugar. You can either take the southern route (the most beautiful and difficult), the western route (something in between), or the northern route (easiest).

Firstly, you can drive to Landmannalaugar only when the roads leading there are open. Roads to Landmannalaugar typically open in June and usually close in September. This can vary depending on the toughness of the past and the upcoming winter. Secondly, you need to rent a 4wd car to reach Landmannalaugar.

1. From the south (Road F208)

The southern road to Landmannalaugar is the most difficult and also the most beautiful one. The route leads via an F-road called Fjallabaksleið Nyrðri, or southern F208. This is one of the most beautiful F-roads in Iceland. There are several small and medium-sized river crossings along the way. Dacia Duster or a medium-sized 4wd car is a minimum for this road.

F208 south is our favorite road to and from Landmannalaugar. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience to drive it. There are also multiple wonderful detours along the road like Eldgjá or F235 towards lake Langisjór. Take a proper car, study the proper river crossing techniques, and go for it! If you don’t feel like doing these things then take an easier road or a guided tour.

2. From the west (Road F225)

The western route to Landmannalaugar is a good compromise between the beauty of the surroundings and the difficulty of the road. To get to Landmannalaugar from the west, you have to take the paved road 26 and then turn east to an F-road called Landmannaleið or just F225. This is one of the easiest F-roads with one small-to-medium river crossing. This river crossing is great for practice because it’s quite easy to pass.

The road F225 is also the quickest option to drive to Landmannalaugar. The road is shortest by distance and the quality of the road is alright, with no major obstacles. Even Icelandic buses use F225 to drive to Landmannalaugar! The surroundings of Landmannaleið are picturesque and much nicer compared to northern road 208.

3. From the north (Road 208)

The northern road to Landmannalaugar is the easiest and the most boring one. There are no river crossings on this route, just the one final river crossing right before the Landmannalaugar campsite. Officially, you don’t even need a 4wd car for the majority of the route, only for the last part – road F224.

This route consists of driving via road 26, road 208, and road F224. Road 26 is paved and road 208 is a bumpy gravel road with pretty monotonous surroundings. We recommend taking this route only if you are really afraid about driving to Landmannalaugar.

4. Road F224

The last part of the road to Landmannalaugar is a short F-road Landmannalaugavegur or F224. It’s very bumpy and full of potholes, and there is one medium river crossing right at the end of the road, before the campsite. There’s also a car park before the crossing, so you may leave your car there and continue by footbridge to the campsite.

Landmannalaugar by bus

You can get to Landmannalaugar by bus from Reykjavik, Selfoss, or Hella. Buses run only during the main summer season, typically from 15th June until 15th September. See Landmannalaugar bus schedules below. Two main Landmannalaugar bus companies are running the so-called Highlands buses:

Reykjavik Excursions – Landmannalaugar bus schedule, 10% discount code: EPIC-ICELAND-HB
Travel Experiences – Landmannalaugar bus schedule

The main disadvantage of the buses is that they typically arrive at Landmannalaugar at lunch and leave around 4 pm or 6 pm at the latest. This means you will have only around 4 to 6 hours to explore the area if you want to come back the same day.

Don’t want to go on your own? Take an epic Landmannalaugar super jeep tour! 10% discount code: EPICICELAND10

Landmannalaugar by guided tour

Landmannalaugar super jeep tour by Midgard Adventure, 10% discount code: EPICICELAND10

There are 3 types of guided tours going to Landmannalaugar:

Minibus tour – cheapest, more people; two best ones:
a) Landmannalaugar Hiking Tour (10% discount code: EPICICELAND24),
b) Landmannalaugar and Valley of Tears Tour (10% discount code: EPICICELAND)
Super Jeep tour – mid-range, less people; by far the best is Midgard Adventure (10% discount code: EPICICELAND10)
Private Super Jeep tour – expensive, you will be alone, fully tailored to you; interested? We can take you on our Epic Private tour, just write us at [email protected]

So which one is our personal choice number one? The most authentic way to reach Landmannalaugar is to take a super jeep tour. The experienced local driver will take care of everything and you can just sit and take pictures on the seat of a huge super jeep with a snorkel.

There are many Landmannalaugar super jeep tours, but if we have to recommend just one, it would be a super jeep Landmannalaugar tour by Midgard Adventures. They are a small, local, family company, with 5* reviews only. Their guides are funny, personal, and knowledgeable and their jeeps are majestic. Our readers can also enjoy a 10% discount on all tours by Midgard Adventure with the discount code: EPICICELAND10

There are also many stunning places in the Highlands that are lesser-known than Landmannalaugar.

Parking in Landmannalaugar in 2024

Beginning June 20th, 2024 there’s a new parking reservation system in place in Landmannalaugar. You have to reserve your parking spot in advance when arriving at Landmannalaugar between June 20th and September 15th, 2024, between 8AM and 3PM. Otherwise you may be denied parking.

You have to reserve your parking spot in Landmannalaugar between 8AM and 3PM.

You can reserve your Landmannalaugar parking space here.

The reservation is compulsory for any type of a private or rental car. It’s not necessary for guides and bus tours.

This system is a pilot program and has been introduced only very recently (spring 2024) due to parking chaos that ocurred during the summer season of 2023 in Landmannalaugar.

When to go to Landmannalaugar?

The best time to visit Landmannalaugar is during summer. More specifically, from mid-June until mid-September. This is when roads and hiking trails are typically open. If winter is too strong, roads can sometimes open as late as the beginning of July. On the other hand, if the winter is really mild, roads can open as soon as the end of May. Then they typically close anytime between the beginning of September and mid-October.

Sunny summer view over Landmannalaugar from the peak of Bláhnúkur

Landmannalaugar in summer

Summer is the only time when you can drive to Landmannalaugar on your own or catch a bus to Landmannalaugar. It’s also a time when you can safely hike in Landmannalaugar because the hiking trails are snow-free. Last but not least, the colors of Landmannalaugar are most beautiful exactly in summer, or on the edge of spring/summer or summer/autumn.

Summer weather in Iceland is usually the most merciful. There’s much more to say about Icelandic weather though. In very short words – never underestimate the harsh Icelandic weather and overestimate your physical condition.

Landmannalaugar in winter

Private super jeep tour to Landmannalaugar in winter

It’s possible to visit Landmannalaugar also in winter, but only by a super jeep tour. Winter conditions in Icelandic highlands are very harsh and often life-threatening. This is where you simply need a super jeep and the experience of the local driver. Even they may decide not to go if the weather and road conditions are unfavorable.

That being said, visiting Landmannalaugar in winter is a very unique experience and you will 100% be alone there only with your tour guide. We can highly recommend the winter Landmannalaugar super jeep tour by Glaciers and Waterfalls, for which you can enjoy a 10% discount with the discount code: EPICICELAND

10 best hikes in Landmannalaugar

There are many beautiful hiking trails in Landmannalaugar. If you are really into hiking then Landmannalaugar is a place where you should spend more than just a few hours. Hiking trails in Landmannalaugar range from as short as 30 minutes to as long as 3-4 days. Below are summarized the 10 most popular hikes in Landmannalaugar.

Note: In this article, we list only the best 10 Landmannalaugar hikes in the main area around the Landmannalaugar campsite. There are many other hikes in a wider area called Fjallabak nature reserve and also around Hekla volcano! Be sure to read our articles on these too!

Landmannalaugar hiking map

The most important slice of the Landmannalaugar map for your 1-day trip

Above is the map of the most popular hikes in Landmannalaugar – Blahnukur, Brennisteinsalda, and Laugahraun. These are the hikes accessible right from the Landmannalaugar campsite. This Landmannalaugar map helped us a lot with orientation. I wonder why it’s so hard to find this map online, but this map is basically all you need to know.

1. Brennisteinsalda

Pointing at Brennisteinsalda from the Bláhnúkur hiking trail

Distance from the car park: 5/10 minutes (to the start of the trail, from camping/car park in front of the camping)
Hiking time: 1 hour to the top (one-way)
Worth visiting in bad weather: depends
Difficulty: moderate
Hiking trail: Brennisteinsalda hiking trail

There are two main, most beautiful, one-day hikes you can do from the Brennisteinsalda campsite. And it can be a bit confusing to understand the difference between them and how to get to each trail. At least for us, it was in the beginning. So let’s get to the point.

The first of the hikes, the easier and quicker one, is the hike ending at the top of the Brennisteinsalda volcano, or “orange mountain”. It takes about an hour to reach the top and some 30 minutes to come back. The ascent is of normal difficulty and everyone should be able to make it.

2. Bláhnúkur

View from the top of Brennisteinsalda towards Bláhnjúkur

Distance from the car park: 15 or 40 minutes (if you want to go only for Blahnukur or if you first want to go for Laugahraun lava field)
Hiking time: 1 hour to the top by the eastern trail, 2 hours by the western trail (both one-way)
Worth visiting in bad weather: no
Difficulty: moderate
Hiking trail: Bláhnúkur hiking trail

The second hike, for me even more beautiful, is the hike to the Bláhnúkur peak or “Blue peak”. It’s a bit longer hike, it took us 1,5 hours to get to the top and some 1 hour to get back to the campsite and you should be in good physical condition to make it, at least compared to other places in Iceland where you just step out of your car and make a 5-minute walk. But it’s definitely doable for everybody and more than just worth it as it’s one of the most beautiful views in entire Iceland. Just be prepared for a mountain hike.

If you are in good physical condition and the weather is good, I definitely do recommend you to go for both peaks – Brennisteinsalda and Bláhnúkur as well. It’s a beautiful loop trail, so you don’t go twice via the same trail and all the views around it are breathtaking. On halfway to Brennisteinsalda, you’re going to cross a lava field called Laugahraun which is interesting as well, although compared to the other peaks it’s not that special.

3. Brennisteinsalda Bláhnúkur loop

View from Bláhnúkur over Landmannalaugar

Distance from the car park: 5/15 minutes (to the start of the trail, from camping/car park in front of the camping)
Hiking time: 4-6 hours round-trip depending on your pace
Worth visiting in bad weather: usually no
Difficulty: moderate to difficult
Hiking trail: Brennisteinsalda Blahnukur loop hiking trail

If we had only 1 day in Landmannalaugar, and if we had to choose just 1 hike, then the single best hike in Landmannalaugar is undoubtedly the Brennisteinsalda Bláhnúkur loop hike. Why? Because you can see the majority of the most beautiful parts of Landmannalaugar from the peaks of Brennisteinsalda and Bláhnúkur and the hike is nicely doable in just one day.

Bláhnúkur Brennisteinsalda loop, or the “orange mountain – blue mountain” loop, is not for the elderly or small children, but you can surely do it if you are at least in average shape. Reserve a whole day for this hike and don’t go if it rains considerably or if the wind is too strong. Some parts of the hike are rather steep. We wrote a step-by-step guide to hiking Brennisteinsalda Bláhnúkur loop below.

4. Grænihryggur

Epic Grænihryggur hike almost nobody knows about

Distance from the car park: 5 minutes (to the start of the trail, from the roadside car park)
Hiking time: 6-8 hours round-trip depending on your pace and how far you go
Worth visiting in bad weather: usually no
Difficulty: moderate to difficult
Hiking trail: Grænihryggur hiking trail

Our personal favorite in Landmannalaugar is the Grænihryggur hike. This is a true hidden gem almost nobody knows about. Yet, it offers some of the most beautiful views in Landmannalaugar with almost no co-hikers! The hiking trail is official and is no secret, and despite this fact, typically only locals hike Grænihryggur, the green ridge.

To hike Grænihryggur you need a full day and preferably no rain and no strong wind. Some parts of the Grænihryggur hiking trail are a bit steep and slippery. It is a one-way there and same-way back hike. Nevertheless, the surrounding landscapes are more than just worth being seen twice! We recently wrote a brand new detailed guide to the Grænihryggur hike. Hope it helps you plan your trip!

5. Laugahraun

View from the top of Brennisteinsalda towards Laugahraun

Distance from the car park: 5/10 minutes (to the start of the trail, from camping/car park in front of the camping)
Hiking time: 15-20 minutes (one-way)
Worth visiting in bad weather: yes
Difficulty: easy

Laugahraun is a lava field with interesting rock formations formed from volcanic lava eruptions. It takes some 30-40 minutes to hike it from the campsite and it stands halfway to Brennisteinsalda mountain. It’s a nice place to see but it was not that amazing for us compared to other sights like the peaks of Bláhnúkur or Brennisteinsalda.

6. Ljótipollur

Ljótipollur

Distance from the car park: right next to it
Hiking time: 10 minutes (one-way)
Worth visiting in bad weather: yes
Difficulty: easy

Ljótipollur is a red crater lake with amazingly colored water situated in the moon-like highlands of Landmannalaugar. It’s a nice and short stop close to the campsite. Unfortunately, the place has become pretty popular recently, because it’s very easily accessible and doesn’t require a huge jeep or a long hike to reach. We wrote in detail about our visit to Ljótipollur.

There’s a short F-road leading to Ljótipollur, suitable for almost any 4wd car. At the end of the road, there’s a little black-ash car park. From the car park, it takes just about 5-10 minutes of uphill walking to reach some of the best viewpoints of Ljótipollur. It’s possible to hike even further around the area, but most of the visitors turn back after seeing the crater from above.

7. Hnausapollur

Hnausapollur, or Bláhylur volcano lake in Landmannalaugar

Distance from the car park: right next to it
Hiking time: 1 minute
Worth visiting in bad weather: yes
Difficulty: easy

Hnausapollur, or Bláhylur, is another crater lake that looks like from another planet. It is located right next to road 208 north of Landmannalaugar. It’s possible to drive and park your car right at the edge of the Hnausapollur crater lake. You can then either admire the lake from the viewpoint next to the car park, or the more adventurous souls may take a long walk around the crater. It is almost guaranteed you will be alone throughout your walk. This can’t be said about the main car park, though, where even tour buses stop.

8. Stútur

Stútur volcano hike to the left

Distance from the car park: right next to it
Hiking time: 10 minutes (one-way)
Worth visiting in bad weather: yes
Difficulty: easy to moderate

What about hiking a little volcano in 10 minutes? Well, go and hike Stútur then! Stútur is a little old volcano covered by moss, located just a short drive north of Landmannalaugar. There’s a tiny car park with a place for 2-3 cars and a little sign indicating a hiking area. All-in-all, the Stútur hike is nicely hidden from the crowds. Even we didn’t spot it when we visited Landmannalaugar for the first time.

It takes just a short uphill hike to reach the top of the Stútur volcano. Once at the top, you can admire both the 360° views of the area around and also the inner part of the volcano. This is an easy hike that even a family should be able to do. The same can be said about the harsher weather – Stútur can be typically visited even if the weather isn’t ideal.

9. Hrafntinnusker

Hrafntinnusker hut in the heart of the highlands

Distance from the car park: 5-10 minutes from the campsite/car park
Hiking time: 4 hours (one-way)
Worth visiting in bad weather: no
Difficulty: moderate to difficult
Hiking trail: Hrafntinnusker hiking trail

Hrafntinnusker is a geothermal area close to Landmannalaugar with an ice cave, a mountain hut, and a lot of hiking trails everywhere around. The only catch is, Hrafntinnusker is a very hard-to-access place. One of the options is to grab a super jeep and drive there. Yes, you need a super jeep to reach Hrafntinnusker even in summer. Don’t even think about winter! Impossible!

The other option is to get to Hrafntinnusker by hiking. Hrafntinnusker is actually a part of the famous Laugavegur trek (see below). The shortest hiking trail to Hrafntinnusker starts at Landmannalaugar campsite and takes about 4 hours (one way) to complete. Once there, you will be rewarded with one of the most remote and highest-altitude corners of Iceland.

10. Laugavegur trek

By far the best Laugavegur hike guided tour by Icelandic Mountain Guides, 5% discount code: EPICICELAND24

Distance from the car park: 5-10 minutes from the campsite/car park
Hiking time: 3-7 days (one-way, depends if you include also connecting Fimmvorduhals hike)
Worth visiting in bad weather: no
Difficulty: difficult
Hiking trail: Laugavegur hiking trail

The most epic hike in Iceland is the Laugavegur hike, many would say. The Laugavegur trail typically takes about 4 days to complete. Hikers spend their nights at the mountain huts or at the campsites located right next to the huts. The hike is difficult mainly due to the length and unpredictable weather, but the trail is doable for anyone who is fit and used to hiking.

Laugavegur hike is the most legendary hike in Iceland and even many Icelanders are still taking it every year over and over. During the 4 days of hiking Laugavegur, you will be guaranteed to see the best Iceland has to offer. Little volcanoes, out-of-this-world canyons, magnificent valleys, adventurous river crossings, snow spots even in summer, waterfalls, and hot springs. This is just a very short glimpse of all the spectacular things you will see along the Laugavegur trek.

Hiking the Brennisteinsalda Bláhnúkur loop

We had only 1 day in Landmannalaugar, so we decided to go for the best 1-day hike in Landmannalaugar, the Brennisteinsalda-Laugahraun-Bláhnúkur loop. We first climbed the orange mountain, or Brennisteinsalda, coming from the campsite. Then we turned back towards Bláhnúkur and traversed across the Laugahraun lava field to the blue peak of Bláhnúkur.

Brennisteinsalda hike

This is how the start of the hiking trail toward Brennisteinsalda looks like

Hike for Brennisteinsalda volcano is quite easy and takes around 1,5 hours round trip. If you either don’t have much time or weather is worsening or you simply aren’t into hiking that much, you can definitely make Brennisteinsalda hike. The trail to the top and the view from the top itself is definitely worth it. We experienced it in slightly foggy weather and it was still beautiful.

You start at the main building of Landmannalaugar/Brennisteinsalda campsite where there are red signs pointing to two opposite directions. When coming from the river crossings facing the campsite, the one pointing left is the one for Bláhnjúkur and the one pointing right is the one for Laugahraun lava field and Brennisteinsalda.

Views from the Brennisteinsalda hike

The other way how to orientate yourself is simply to go in the direction of the mountain (you can see it throughout almost the entire trail) and use common sense. Although the trail is well marked, the signs are not very helpful because they contain just the name of the entire trail and they don’t point specifically to Brennisteinsalda. It’s important to stick to the marked trail to not destroy Icelandic untouched nature and not get yourself fined heavily.

Your first checkpoint would be crossroads with the Laugahraun lava field where you will continue to the upper right, i.e. above the field. Then you will eventually arrive at another crossroad just below Brennisteinsalda where you should turn right, to face the only little steeper part of the hike right towards the peak. Once you reach the peak, you can enjoy 360° views of surrounding landscapes, Laugahraun field from a bird-eye view, and also majestic Bláhnjúkur peak nearby.

View from the top of Brennisteinsalda on a slightly foggy day. Still very windy at the top, despite a calm day.

There was no wind below Brennisteinsalda at the time of our visit, but at the peak, the wind was blowing like crazy. So be prepared for this. After Brennisteinsalda you may either come back to the campsite or continue for the Bláhnúkur peak – as we did. If you have enough energy and the weather is alright I definitely do recommend going for Bláhnúkur as well because the views surrounding that route are even more amazing.

Laugahraun hike

Easy Laugahraun hiking trail

We didn’t go particularly for the Laugahraun hike, but we stumbled upon it on our way back from Brennisteinsalda peak and on our path further towards Bláhnúkur mountain. Laugahraun is a nice and easy family walk through the old black lava field. Coming from Brennisteinsalda, if you leave the Laugahraun field at its top-right part, you will find yourself at the beginning of the trail for Bláhnúkur, the Blue peak.

Bláhnúkur hike

Slippery clay slope at the start of the hike to Bláhnjúkur or Blue peak

For us hike to the Bláhnúkur, or the Blue peak was the most beautiful, the most rewarding, and the most difficult part of our one-day visit to Landmannalaugar. We had to find the beginning of the trail, we had to ford the small river, we had to climb the steep muddy hill and then we had to cope with a strong cold wind at the top.

All of these were definitely worth the experience. Views encompassing the route are amazing if you are lucky with the good weather and the view from the peak is even more breathtaking. So how do you reach Bláhnjúkur?

You have three options on how to reach the top (including the circular round trip we did, starting with Brennisteinsalda and continuing to Bláhnúkur or vice versa). Arriving from river crossings before Landmannalaugar you may either:

turn left and go directly for Bláhnúkur or
you may turn right, reach the Laugahraun lava field first and then continue for the Bláhnúkur hike or
of course, you may choose the order we chose, i.e. after reaching Laugahraun continuing for Brennisteinsalda peak, then coming back to Laugahraun, and then going for Bláhnjúkur.

I recommend the way we did it, i.e. the circular route so that you can see everything.

Spectacular views right from the beginning of the hike on Bláhnjúkur and even on the slightly foggy day

After you leave the upper right part of Laugahraun field (coming from Brennisteinsalda trail), you will arrive at the small river. Despite the river being small, there’s no bridge or designated place where the river should be crossed. We spent almost 30 minutes searching for a spot where to cross the river to not get our feet wet in this cold weather. And up to this day, I don’t know where was the “official” spot meant for this Landmannalaugar river to be crossed.

What we finally did was go almost 10 minutes to the right along the bank of the river coming to the place where the river was shallow enough with enough pebbles to jump on and pass. Then we had to come these 10 minutes on the other side of the river back again to reach the yellow marks marking the trail towards Bláhnjúkur. So, after 30 minutes of struggle, we managed to ford the river without getting wet, although I’m not sure whether this was the way meant for crossing. Probably no.

Bláhnjúkur hike near the top

Afterward, for us, the most dangerous part followed. The trail is well-marked with yellow sticks so you shouldn’t get lost. You will shortly arrive at the steep clay slope going up closer to Bláhnúkur. The ascent is not hard or anything, but it’s quite steep and you don’t have a good grip on the ground because of the clay. So with each step, you feel like slipping on the smooth clay. I was equipped with high-quality La Sportiva hiking shoes and those didn’t help either.

There are neither stairs nor chains so you can only help yourself by going slowly zig-zag to the top. Fortunately, this part is not too long and takes some 10 minutes to complete. What follows next is just a typical gravel hiking trail and you shouldn’t have any problems continuing up the trail. Magnificent views will shortly emerge and will accompany you all the way to the top.

One of the views from the peak of Bláhnjúkur towards Landmannalaugar and 2nd (steeper) hiking trail

We had a semi-clear sky with partially sunny, partially cloudy weather, and light fog. This is still supposed to be good weather so we enjoyed every moment of it. Visibility (although not perfect) was fine and the views were, as I already mentioned, breathtaking. We met just a single-digit number of visitors at the peak, so at the time of our visit, the peak being crowdy wasn’t an issue.

It was really windy and the temperature felt like 5°C even on a sunny summer day like ours, so be prepared for that. Once reaching the top, you will be rewarded with the best views over the area.

Another view from the peak of Bláhnjúkur towards Landmannalaugar camp, Laugahraun, and 2nd (steeper) hiking trail

The way back

We started our descent from the other side of the mountain (the one where you may access Bláhnjúkur right from the campsite), which was supposed to be much steeper, according to guides I’ve read. That definitely wasn’t true and compared to the steep clay part we had to overcome before, this was a piece of cake. I wonder what’s worse – to ascent the clay part or descent? I guess descent would be worse. The path continued without any obstacles until we reached the point where we could see the small river we’d forded before from above.

At this point we’d also seen the campsite from above already, so we continued pursuing that direction. The entire descent wasn’t hard and it took us some 1 hour at maximum to reach our campsite again. We went for a hot chocolate at the nearby snack bar, ate a little, and it was still only before 3 pm so we had enough time to continue with our journey.

Landmannalaugar hot spring

The hot spring in Landmannalaugar is one of the most popular wild hot springs in Iceland. Landmannalaugar hot spring is located next to the Landmannalaugar campsite and it takes about 5 minutes of walking to reach it. The hot spring is quite big and it forms sort of a hot river.

There are two little caveats, though. The first one is, the Landmannalaugar hot spring is quite shallow, just around 50cm / 1.5 feet. The second catch is, the temperature varies considerably around the hot spring. There are parts, where the water is actually cold (close to the clothes-changing deck), and parts where it’s very warm (next to the spring itself). This means all the people try to come as close to the little spring as possible.

There’s a wooden clothes-changing deck, where you may leave your clothes. It is uncovered, hence, if it rains, be sure to use a rain cover for your clothes. Landmannalaugar hot spring is free of charge and it’s a great way to relax after a long day full of hiking. It is not our favorite hot spring, we think there are many other, much greater hot springs. Anyway, it’s definitely nice, unique, and worth trying.

Landmannalaugar campsite

Landmannalaugar Brennisteinsalda campsite on a summer evening

Landmannalaugar campsite is one of the most beautiful campsites in Iceland. It sits right in the middle of the colorful rhyolite rainbow mountains of Landmannalaugar. On a nice day, even the pictures of the tents at the campsite are lovely. The camping costs 2500 ISK per person (as of summer 2023).

Many come to the Landmannalaugar unprepared for the weather. The campsite is located in the heart of the Icelandic highlands and especially the night temperatures even in summer may reach freezing. Not to mention, if a strong wind and/or rain arrives, the fun begins (hint: irony; the campsite is very uncomfortable in bad weather). Keep track of the weather forecast closely!

There are also mountain huts at the Landmannalaugar campsite, where you may spend the night under the shelter. It is highly recommended to book them in advance due to the huge demand in summer. They are of course much more expensive (11 000 ISK per person as of summer 2023).

Weather, Roads, and Trail conditions

Below are the useful links for Icelandic weather forecast, road conditions, trail conditions and many more:

www.umferdin.is – road conditions, also read our guide on Icelandic road system
en.vedur.is – weather conditions, also read our guide on how to read Icelandic weather forecast
www.safetravel.is – general safety info in Iceland
www.fi.is – mountain huts in Iceland
www.tjalda.is – campsites in Iceland

Road F208, or Fjallabaksleið Nyrðri, the southern F-road to Landmannalaugar

FAQ

Below are the most frequently asked questions about Landmannalaugar with the current, up-to-date answers for all of them.

Do you need a 4X4 car to get to Landmannalaugar?

Yes, you need a 4wd car to get to Landmannalaugar. You can get to Landmannalaugar on 3 different roads:

Northern route (26, 208, F224) – 4wd is compulsory for the last 2km (F224), and road 208 is very bumpy anyway
Western route (26, F225, F224) – 4wd is compulsory
Southern route (F208, F224) – 4wd is compulsory, and better take at least a medium-sized vehicle

Do you have to cross the river to get to Landmannalaugar?

Yes, you need to cross the river right before the Landmannalaugar campsite. However, you don’t have to cross the river in your car. You can leave your car at the car park before the river crossing and use the footbridge to walk the last 10 minutes to reach the campsite. To cross the river, it is recommended to drive at least a medium-sized 4wd car.

Below is a video of how NOT to cross the Landmannalaugar river in your car:

What is the easiest road to Landmannalaugar?

The easiest road to Landmannalaugar is the northern route. First, you have to drive the paved road 26, then the unpaved road 208, and finally the gravel road F224. There are no river crossings on this route, but it’s bumpy and rather boring. The only river crossing is located right before the Landmannalaugar campsite and you may leave your car in front of it.

What is the most beautiful road to Landmannalaugar?

The most beautiful road to Landmannalaugar is called Fjallabaksleið Nyrðri. It is an F-road leading to Landmannalaugar from the south. The other name of the road is F208. The landscapes around the road are amazingly beautiful and unique. Southern road F208 is also the most difficult way to reach Landmannalaugar. There are several medium-sized rivers that need to be crossed. You need to drive a medium-sized 4wd car or bigger to safely pass this road.

What are the best hiking trails in Landmannalaugar?

The best hiking trails in Landmannalaugar are:

This list is of course highly subjective, but the hikes above are otherworldly beautiful and there is no doubt they belong to the most beautiful hikes in Iceland.

Grænihryggur hike

What is the easiest hike in Landmannalaugar?

The easiest hike in Landmannalaugar is the short walk around the Laugahraun lava field. It takes only around 30-40 minutes to complete it. One of the easiest and also the most beautiful hikes in Landmannalaugar is the Brennisteinsalda hike. Brennisteinsalda is the orange mountain and the views from the top of it are picturesque. It takes about 1-hour (one way) to complete the hike.

Besides the two hikes mentioned above, there are also many easy and short hiking stops around Landmannalaugar. They involve almost no hiking because you just get out of your car and walk anywhere between 1 minute to 10 minutes to reach your destinations. These include the Stútur volcano, the Ljótipollur crater lake, and the Hnausapollur crater lake.

I arrive by bus, will I have enough time?

You will have around 4 to 6 hours to explore the area if you want to come back the same day. This is enough time to complete only one hike of your choice, like Bláhnúkur or Brennisteinsalda, but no more. If you want to come and leave by bus on the same day, you will definitely be in the rush. It is advised to spend a night and come back by bus the next day.

How much time do you need for Landmannalaugar?

If you want to fully enjoy Landmannalaugar you need to spend there at least one full day. Avid hikers will not make a mistake by devoting 2 or more days to Landmannalaugar. There are enough beautiful hiking trails to fill your schedule. But to have a good overview of Landmannalaugar, one day with nice weather is usually enough.

Landmannalaugar Videos

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