Hiking in the Icelandic Highlands

The Icelandic interior is a hiker's other planet: steaming rhyolite mountains streaked orange and green, black obsidian, snowfields and hot springs, all far from any road.

The showpiece day walk is Fimmvörðuháls, the high pass that threads between the Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull ice caps and past the raw new craters of the 2010 eruption before dropping into the green oasis of Þórsmörk.

Around Landmannalaugar, shorter climbs like Brennisteinsalda — the 'sulphur wave' — and Bláhnúkur, the blue peak, deliver the same surreal colour and steam for a fraction of the effort.

It is landscape so strange it feels invented, and walking through it, with the ground literally warm underfoot in places, is unforgettable.

Rugged day hiking on unmarked-to-lightly-marked mountain paths through volcanic desert, over passes, snowfields and river crossings, with big weather swings even in summer.

Fimmvörðuháls is a serious full day — around 25 km and over 1,000 m of ascent between two glaciers, often with lingering snow at the top — while the Landmannalaugar peaks are half-day climbs on loose, steep rhyolite.

There are almost no facilities out here: no shops, patchy shelter, and cloud that can drop visibility to nothing. Reasonable fitness and self-reliance are essential, and you carry your own food, water and warm layers. The reward is colour, steam and emptiness on a scale nowhere in Europe can match.

Hike from June to September, once the highland routes and mountain roads are open; outside that the interior is a full winter expedition.

Base at the Landmannalaugar hut area (reached by highland bus or a 4x4 that can ford rivers) for the shorter peaks, or hike Fimmvörðuháls as a through-route between Skógar and Þórsmörk. Book hut bunks ahead in peak weeks or carry a tent.

Bring proper boots, waterproofs, warm layers, food, and a map and compass — cloud and cold are the real hazards, not the terrain's difficulty. Check the mountain forecast and river levels, start early, and be ready to turn back.

No guide is needed for fit, prepared walkers, but never underestimate highland weather.