Hiking the Laugavegur Trail (Iceland)

This guide to hiking the Laugavegur Trail in Iceland will help you get familiar with the route and challenges of this highlands multi-day trek.

Iceland’s Laugavegur Trail is on multiple lists of the best hiking trails in the world (and the most epic trails), and it’s easy to see why!

The trail begins with rhyolite mountains (multicolored geothermal peaks), and continues through black lava fields, stunning green peaks, and views of multiple glaciers.

The trail is 55 kilometers long (32.4 miles), and is often combined with the Fimmvörðuhals Trail to make a 50-mile long epic hike through Iceland’s South Highlands.

If you're planning on a self-guided camping trip, see my posts on food and preparation ideas for Laugavegur. My guide on how to pack for backpacking when flying will likely also come in handy.

Now, let's get into some Laugavegur trail details.

How Difficult Is This Trail?

Hiking the Laugavegur Trail is difficult. Most sections are probably "moderately" difficult, but it does involve snow crossings, river crossings, and steep ascents and descents across loose, rocky paths.

The real difficulty comes from the weather. Iceland is prone to volatile, windy conditions, and this trail is no exception.

Before beginning your hike, check Veður (the Icelandic weather app) to make sure there are no yellow or red weather warnings. It’s good to check the weather for specific huts along the trail, not just for the trailheads.

Additionally, you can check with hut wardens to ensure that no last-minute weather issues have popped up.

Hiking the Laugavegur: Landmannalauger to Hrafntinnusker

Our bus arrived at Landmannalauger around lunchtime. We checked in with the hut warden to ask about weather warnings at the next hut, and then got onto the really important task: visiting the hot springs!

Landmannalauger has a natural hot spring that you can visit for free, so we made sure to take advantage for a few moments before hiking. (Much more low-key than the crowds at the beautiful Blue Lagoon!)

After a quick stop for a snack at the Mountain Mall, we started our hike.

Things got pretty really quickly! The multi-colored mountains were visible almost right away.

Things also got extremely windy right away, to the point that I felt like I was being pushed a bit off the trail. I was beginning to wonder if we’d made poor choices by deciding to hike, but the pretty views were hopefully going to make it all worth it.

At this point I also feel like I should mention that there were no weather or wind warnings this day, and I can’t imagine hiking here if the wind was bad enough for a warning. Make sure to talk to the hut wardens before hiking!

Happily, this trail did show off for us, despite poor weather.

There were so many gorgeous views, plus hot springs all over the place sending steam up. It felt a little like visiting Yellowstone National Park — with no safety boardwalks. Yellowstone unhinged, if you will.

The trail in this section goes up, up and up some more.

Eventually we reached a snow field. (It didn’t look much like late July!)

When we reached the hut at Hrafntinnusker, we checked to see if there were still stone camping rings available. Thankfully there were plenty.

Initially we thought about pushing on to the next hut campground, but the hike so far had been more exhausting than anticipated because of wind.

We’d also gotten fairly wet walking through dense fog. We realized too late that that the fog was making us just as wet as a rainstorm, and we hadn’t put on the rest of our rain gear.

My husband fought with our tent for a while and finally got it pitched, although the wind was definitely making the tent a little unhappy.

The rest of the evening, we huddled in the wooden (unheated) camping shelter and commiserated with other cold, wet hikers.

I made the painful decision to continue wearing my wet clothes for the moment, because I knew the best way to dry clothes is to wear them. Also I couldn’t bear the thought of walking through the wind to the tent.

We also cooked soup and some hot drinks.

After dinner, we crawled into our tent, changed into dry wool clothes, and attempted to sleep. My attempts to sleep were mostly unsuccessful, and around 4 a.m., we decided it was time to start moving again.

Happily, the trail (and weather!) would be nicer to us from here on out.

Hiking to Álftavatn on the Laugavegur

Day two started off looking a lot like day one — snowy and cold, but thankfully less wind. This time we bundled up better!

I admit that I was feeling a bit glum at this point, and cold. The steep pass pictured below (the thin lighter brown path going straight up the mountain) did not cheer me up.

And then suddenly, we exited a cloud of fog and saw a green oasis down below. This view got me smiling again!

It was a steep descent but incredibly exciting!

When we entered the green valley, we were close to camp! That was exciting for two reasons: One, it meant we were done for the day. And two, there’s a restaurant at this camp!

We had our first river crossing close to camp. This one was fairly easy and had a cable to hold onto.

When we arrived at Álftavatn, we stopped at the restaurant for the best bowl of cauliflower soup I’ve ever eaten and a cold beer.

We also set up camp in a really gorgeous spot close to a small creek, with views of the icy cold lake.

Hiking Past Hvanngil to Emstrur

The next morning, I again woke up with the sun at 3 a.m., and we decided to get an early start. When I crawled out of the tent, I was surprised to see that we were now surrounded by other tents, most of which arrived after I went to bed. (I counted 75 tents while I waited on my breakfast to cook.)

Back on the trail, we had some questionable bridges to cross and then another river crossing.

Before long, we passed Hvanngil, another hut and campground.

Next, another (larger, deeper) river crossing, where the hubs carried my pack and my hiking pants across (I opted for a rain skirt during these crossings).

Next was a longer easier stretch over black lava fields.

The views of the green mountains and glacier in the distance were beautiful.
I was pretty thrilled to see the next hut, Emstrur, in the distance.

We set up camp and relaxed, then headed to the camper tent for dinner (a Backpacker's Pantry Pad Thai meal).

One of the campers in the tent decided to make tonic water from scratch, and then shared gin and tonics with the group. It was both hilarious and amazing.

Hiking to Thórsmörk

The next morning we set off for our final day hiking on the Laugavegur Trail. Quite honestly I didn’t think anything could top the views we’d already had, but this day was phenomenal.

We walked on towards the glacier looming in the distance before turning away from it.

Next we arrived at another (bridged) river crossing with some phenomenal views into the canyon.

There’s a chain on this section, but it didn’t seem fully necessary. (Although if this day had the winds we had on day 1, I would’ve been grateful for a chain.)

We climbed up, up and up some more, then were rewarded with the view pictured below. (Photos really don’t it justice, this was breathtaking.)

The gorgeous views continued, and we even got to see quite a few sheep in this section!

Eventually we reached our final river crossing. This one was the biggest of all, and one of our hiker friends (who we’d been passing on and off all day) was waiting for us to make sure we crossed safely.

Once we crossed the river, it was easy hiking to our final stop on the Laugavegur Trail: Thórsmörk.

At Thórsmörk, we stayed at one of the Volcano Huts glamping tents (with a real bed!), and enjoyed some meals in their restaurant.

Most of the campers we’d been hiking with took the bus back to Reykjavik at this stop, and it is a great stopping point if you don’t want to carry on (or if the weather isn’t cooperating).

We said goodbye to our new hiking friends and then got ready to continue hiking — on the Fimmvörðuhals Trail — the next day!