The highlands are the Iceland you don’t see from the Ring Road. No towns, no petrol stations, no mobile signal in most of it — just black sand deserts, glacier-fed rivers you have to drive through, neon-green moss on lava fields, and mountains in colours you’ll struggle to describe when you get home. For a lot of travellers, a day or two up here ends up being the part of the trip they remember most.
This section covers the places worth the effort: Landmannalaugar with its rhyolite peaks and hot river, Þórsmörk tucked between three glaciers, the Askja caldera in the remote interior, Kerlingarfjöll’s geothermal valleys, and the Kjölur and Sprengisandur routes that cross the country through the middle. Each guide tells you what’s actually there, how long you’ll want, and whether it’s a day trip or somewhere to stay overnight in a hut or campsite.
The highlands also come with rules the lowlands don’t. The F-roads only open in late June or July and close again with the first proper snow. You need a proper 4×4 — not a small SUV — and the river crossings catch out a surprising number of visitors every summer. My guides are clear about what each route demands, when it’s realistic to drive yourself, and when you’re better off joining a guided tour or super-jeep trip with someone who knows the rivers.
Several of the operators running highland tours, huts, and transfers partner with me, and my newsletter subscribers get exclusive discount codes for many of them.
Browse the guides below and you’ll know which corner of the highlands suits your trip — and how to get there safely.
Kjolur Hiking Trail in Iceland – The Haunted Highway
