Due to its infamous volcanic activity, Iceland is a beautiful country with many unique and interesting landscapes, which makes it a gem for hikers of all kinds whether they prefer the toughest hills or more recreational trails around the country. Whether you come to Iceland for a quick stop-over or several weeks, be sure to hit the trails at least once! In the year we lived in Iceland, we conducted various hikes and here you will find nine of them. For each hike, we have made a detailed description of the trail and attached GPS routes for your convenience. The majority of the trails are in the vicinity of the capital Reykjavik, but you will also find trails around natural attractions such as the Glymur waterfall and Hveragerdi hot spring river as well as a multi-day hike in the vast Icelandic highlands, going from Hvitarnes to Hveravellir.
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Hiking Trails in Iceland
As you might already know I’ve been on my “Hiking Iceland” tour for the last seven months. From September onwards the conditions for hiking have become relatively difficult; short day length, low temperatures and regular snow showers. As these conditions require additional equipment, including crampons and an ice axe (which I didn’t bring to Iceland), I’ve had…
The Burfell Crater is an old volcano near Reykjavik, around 170 meters high. As you might already know I started my “Hiking Iceland” tour in May 2015 by climbing small mountains as I didn’t have sufficient equipment (crampons and an ice axe) to ascend the more significant ones. In summer the snow had more or less…
The Hveragerdi hot spring river trail is one of the most visited hiking trails in Iceland. The trail leads from the town of Hveragerdi to a geothermal river where you can bathe in warm water while admiring the astonishing Icelandic landscape. Hveragerdi is relatively close to Reykjavik and…
In August I decided to spend a weekend in Grindavik and of course I also checked for mountains to climb nearby. I came across Thorbjorn which is placed between Grindavik and Blue Lagoon – a well known Icelandic spa. The mountain is only 200 meters high but after checking the map I figured out that it offers…
Glymur waterfall is the second highest waterfall in Iceland and therefore very popular among tourists. It is, however, a bit further away from nicely paved roads than the waterfalls at Seljalandsfoss or Skogafoss for example, but on the other hand this seems to weed out some of the tourist crowd. From the nearest parking…
In late July me and my girlfriend decided to go on a longer and more difficult hiking trip in Iceland. We checked the options and ended up choosing the Kjolur Trail. The Kjolur trail is less famous than the notorious Laugavegur trail which is every summer filled with hikers coming from all around the world to execute this demanding hike. You will have…
The Mount Esja trail is probably the best known and most visited hiking trail in Iceland. The trail leads to a volcanic mountain range called Esjan which is often referred to as Mount Esja. Mount Esja is easy to reach from Reykjavik (and thus on our list of the 5 Best Hiking…
Helgafell is an around 350 meters high mountain near Hafnarfjordur in Iceland. I have started my “Hiking Iceland” season with small mountains because summits of bigger mountains are still covered with snow. I didn’t bring crampons to Iceland because I believed that snow would not be an issue in June. However, I was wrong…
Ulfarsfell is a small mountain near Reykjavik. I found it by coincidence while I was searching for short hikes with beautiful viewpoints in the nearness of Reykjavik. I actually couldn’t find much information about it on the internet but from the map I saw it’s around 300 meters high and that a decent path…
