Landmannalaugar
The highlands of Iceland have been the source of awe and wonder for many, locals and tourists alike.
There have been many discussions regarding the accessibility to the highlands, accommodations and such.
In this blog, I will share more about Landmannalaugar, one of the gems of the Icelandic highlands.
Landmannalaugar
Accessibility
Getting to Landmannalaugar can range from a piece of cake to a nightmare. Nobody should go to the highlands unprepared. Understanding the weather and road conditions before heading into the highlands is necessary.
Access to Landmannalaugar is usually from late June to sometime in September, depending on when the snow starts and when the roads close.
There are several roads to go into Landmannalaugar. From the north, there is F208. This is probably the smoothest road to get to Landmannalaugar. It has the longest asphalt portion compared to the rest. Most of the big buses don’t use this road due to the steep slope so my number one choice.
I do not recommend any vehicle smaller than Dacia Duster. Of course, the bigger the better. Most part of the road are gravel road and some parts can be quite rough.
F208 also take you to Sigöldugljúfur – the valley of tears.
At the junction of F208 & F225, you will find a side road that will take you to Ljótipollur, a beautiful crater lake. In this area, you will find several rivers that can be rather artsy at times.
If you keep driving along F208, you will come to the viewpoint of Frostastaðavatn. From here, you will also see Stútur crater across the lake.
Keep driving along F208 will bring you past many other beautiful landscapes with several small river crossings. F208 ends at Road 1 between Vik and Kirkjubæjarklaustur. This road is probably the easiest road to drive through the highlands.
Accommodation
Accommodations in the highland is scarce. At Landmannalaugar, there are 2 options for accommodation – Mountain hut or camping.
The Iceland Travel Association runs a cabin in Landmannalaugar that sleeps 78 people. You will just need to bring your own sleeping bag. There is a shared kitchen facility, shower, bathroom and dining area. Pre-booking is mandatory due to overwhelming demand. You can find more information here.
The other option is to bring your own tent (or campervan) and camp. The campsite at Landmannalaugar is huge. Might not be the softest camping ground and putting the pegs down might be a little challenging, but if you can find some rocks, that will work too.
Activities
Hiking
Landmannalaugar is the hikers’ paradise. There are so many hiking trails everywhere. Easy trails, medium trails, difficult trails, short trails, long trails, the entire spectrum. It will take at least one week to hike all the trails in this immediate area. You can find this information at the information centre at Landmannalaugar.
The easiest trail that most people take at Landmannalaugar is the Laugahraun trail. It is 4.3km taking about 2 hours. It does around the lava field behind the campsite.
Of course, there is also the Laugavegur Trail that goes from Landmannalaugar to Þórsmörk, taking about 5 days. I have not done this trail myself so I will write about it next time when I have done it.
Photography
On top of hiking, photography is probably the next best thing to do at Landmannalaugar. The landscape is so surreal. Every bend can bring you a view of a totally different world. The perspective from the ground and that from above can be so totally different, it is simply just wow, wow and wow. You can never spend too many days in Landmannalaugar, it is always not enough. Every different weather brings different colours and moods to the landscape.
For more information on photography tours to Landmannalaugar, email hello@marinatravel.is.
