Iceland Highlands Laugavegur Extension

Highlands, Iceland · Iceland

Challenging7 daysEurope~£1,300 est.

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Overview

The Laugavegur between Landmannalaugar and Þórsmörk is Iceland's most famous trail for good reason — but the crowds thin the moment you extend beyond it into the wider Fjallabak highlands. The classic days deliver the postcard: steaming rhyolite hills above Landmannalaugar in mustard, rust and green; obsidian fields and fumaroles at Hrafntinnusker; the black-sand desert of Emstrur with the Markarfljót canyon cut through it; then the birch woods of Þórsmörk between two ice caps. The extension strikes east towards Eldgjá — the largest volcanic fissure on Earth, a 40-kilometre gash whose 939 AD eruption dimmed skies across Europe, with the Ófærufoss falls tucked inside the canyon. River crossings are the honest hazard: several fords run thigh-deep with glacial melt, coldest truth first — cross early in the day, unclip your hip belt, use poles. Weather is the other: July and August are the only reliable window, and even then gales and whiteouts sweep through with an hour's notice. Huts on the classic section book out by winter; the extensions need a tent and full self-sufficiency, supported by the highland 4x4 buses from Reykjavík. About £1,300 covers a week including buses, huts and food carried from home — Icelandic resupply prices are their own hazard.