Excursión de un día a las Tierras Altas | Salida desde Akureyri

Kerlingarfjoll is a beautiful and colourful mountain range in the Icelandic highlands that hosts the third largest geothermal area of the interior.

This is a young range of mountains, unusually created from rhyolite and both dark and bright tuff stone, about 10,000 years old. A few small glaciers grace a number of their tops. The mountains constantly change colours depending on the light, the sun and the time of day. Kerlingarfjoll are operated as a highland resort, providing food services and accommodation to guests in the area. 

Hveravellir is a geothermal area and nature reserve in the Icelandic highlands, between the glaciers Hofsjokull and Langjokull.

The area features colourful sinters and smoking fumaroles, hot springs and a geothermal hot pool. Hveravellir is renowned for its beauty and is a popular stop when traveling through the highland road of Kjolur.  

Kjölur is a mountain pass on the highland road of Kjalvegur, which is one of two roads that connect the north and south of the country.

Kjalvegur

Kjalvegur, or the F35, is one of longest roads in Iceland, taking five hours to traverse, and one of only two to cross Highlands, the other being Sprengisandur to the east. To reach the north from the south (or visa versa), you must either take one of these routes or the Ring Road around the country.

Kjalvegur has a long history, once being a vital horse trail, allowing trade routes through the land. It also allowed northerners to easily reach Þingvellir, where the National Assembly met annually from 930 AD to the 19th Century. This route is called the Ancient Kjalvegur, and is protected from motorised vehicles. 

Þingvellir, meanwhile, is now a National Park and site on the Golden Circle sightseeing route, along with Gullfoss waterfall and the geyser Strokkur. This route begins around Gullfoss waterfall's carpark.

Kjolur

Kjölur is a mountain pass with an elevation of approximately 700 metres. It has been mentioned as a passable Highland route since Iceland's was first settled in some of its earliest literature. In spite of this, knowledge of it disappeared for years until the end of the 19th Century, when it was rediscovered.

In this interim period, it is believed that it was the home of the infamous outlaw and bandit Fjalla-Eyvindur used Kjölur as his hideaway. Banishment from society was a common punishment by law, and it was perfectly legal to kill those who had been given such a sentence on sight. Such people had to thus escape to and survive in the wilderness.

Why Fjalla-Eyvindur chose Kjölur, other than its remoteness and proximity to vulnerable travellers, may be due to its closeness to the hot springs of Hveravellir, which provide a warm oasis. These springs can still be visited and bathed in, and are usually visited alongside Kerlingarfjöll, a volcanic mountain range north-east of the Kjölur road.

Notable mountains here are called Hrutfell and Kjalfell. They are renowned for being composed of rhyolite, which boasts an unusual spectrum of vivid colour.