The Highlands
Landmannalaugar
June 29, 2026
Today we took an all-day escorted tour by “superjeep” to the Icelandic Highlands. We were picked up at our hotel at 9 am and driven to the town of Hella (which we had driven through yesterday), where we picked up the other ten passengers for the tour at the bus stop. The superjeep is a specially designed vehicle with enormous wheels, perfect for driving on rough mountain roads and through river crossings. Here it is.
This is the map showing the route we will take today.
We drove about two hours into the highlands, the first part on a paved highway, and then on rough roads which had only opened a few days ago from the winter closures, where a 4 x 4 vehicle was required. The landscape started out gentle and grass-covered, but became rockier and more barren the higher we got. A few places looked like the surface of the moon. At one point, the driver attached hoses to the enormous tires on the vehicle so that he could control the amount of air in them, depending on the surface he was driving on.
Our first stop was another volcanic crater containing a lake, bigger than the one we saw yesterday, but not as perfectly round. We think it was called Hnausapollur.
Parts of the drive to Landmannalaugar had a lunar quality.
Below is the crater at which we made the first stop.
We then drove amongst many different colored and shaped volcanic craters until we reached Landmannalaugar at just under 2,000 feet in elevation. This is one of the easiest places in the “highlands” to reach by car and one of the most visited. Here we were given free time to explore the area. After eating our lunch in a covered picnic area (which protected us from the cold wind), we walked around for just over an hour.
The above photos were taken on the road just below Landmannalaugar.
We explored the boardwalks through the geothermal lagoon and admired the bright, multi-colored mountain side beyond. At one spot in the lagoon, people in bathing suits braved the cold air temperature and got in the warm water. We then walked in the other direction along the river, which took us amongst lava fields with huge obsidian boulders that shimmered violet/purple in the sunlight. Towering above were mountains of all hues of yellow, blue, green, red and black.
Our first views of the area after arriving.
These photos were taken from the boardwalk area. Note the bathers in the lower right photo.
Two more from end of the boardwalk.
These next photos were taken on the second part of our walk in the lava fields. The colors don’ t come out as vibrant as they did in real life. It really was purple.
Last photo of Landmannalaugar—see the people climbing the volcano?
After completing our visit to the area, we started our descent and made one more stop at a beautiful river gorge, with many waterfalls tumbling over the sharp cliffs to the beautifully colored river below. We are pretty sure the name of the gorge was Sigöldugljúfur.
On the way down.
And here is the canyon.
Upon returning to Hella, we were then driven back to our hotel, and when we got back after a long day, the sun was shining the brightest it had in the last two days. We hope that bodes well for tomorrow. We will be changing hotels, heading to the town of Vik.
