Description
Summary
Description
Travel by super jeep to Landmannalaugar in the Icelandic Highlands on this summer tour from Reykjavik, with a hike through the colorful rhyolite mountains, a soak in a natural hot spring, and stops at waterfalls and crater lakes along the way.
You're picked up in the morning and head toward the Highlands. The first stop is Thjorsardalur Valley, known as "the green valley." The Thjorsa River, the longest river in Iceland, runs through it, and the valley has birch woods, sandy lava fields, rock formations, and waterfalls, with Hekla Volcano in the background. Repeated eruptions of Hekla Volcano covered the valley in pumice, and the area is now a national forest.
Next, you visit Hjalparfoss Waterfall, which splits into two flumes that join in a large plunge pool. Its name roughly means "help," as travelers crossing the Sprengisandur Highland Road once found water and grazing for their horses here. An easy path with long steps leads down to viewing platforms near the pool, and basalt and lava formations from Hekla Volcano frame the falls.
The tour continues to two lakes. Hnausapollur Crater Lake, also called Blahylur or "the Blue Pool," formed in an explosive eruption about 1,130 years ago and has deep blue water. Frostastadavatn Lake is surrounded by colorful mountains, with lava flows running straight into its water.
Then you reach Landmannalaugar, where rhyolite mountains, lava flows, and geothermal features create a range of contrasting colors. You spend several hours on an easy hike through the mountains to Brennisteinsfjoll Mountain, known as "Sulfur Mountain," which is probably the most colorful mountain in Iceland.
After the walk, you can bathe in the natural hot spring at the foot of the Laugahraun Lava Field, where hot and cold water mix to a temperature of about 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).
Before leaving the area, you stop at Ljotipollur Crater Lake, which formed in an explosion in 1477 and is surrounded by dark-red crater walls. Its name means "ugly pool."
On the way back to Reykjavik, the last stop is Haifoss Waterfall, one of the tallest waterfalls in Iceland at 400 feet (122 meters). Just east of it is Granni Waterfall, whose name means "neighbor," which is only slightly smaller.
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