How to Hike Hornstrandir, Laugavegur Trail, and Fimmvörðuháls Trail (Iceland)

In July of 2023 Carolyn and I traveled to Iceland and backpacked the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve as well as the Laugavegur and Fimmvörðuháls Trails. This post will dive into the logistics of our trip and provide insights into the planning process, maps, resources, and gear choices.

Click here to read the blog of our experience, which gives an overview of these areas and what to expect (with lots of pictures).

If you are considering backpacking in Iceland on your own without a guide, it is likely safe to assume that you have the basics already dialed in on how to backpack. Iceland is really not the place to learn fundamental skills, especially if you are traveling to Hornstrandir. Iceland can have extreme weather in any month with cold and wet weather presenting a multitude of challenges. If you are new to backpacking or believe your skills may be lacking, consider going on a guided trip or establishing good wet and cold weather skills before traveling.

 

 

 

Part 1: Getting to Iceland

The capital of Iceland is called Reykjavik and for most everyone traveling to Iceland, this will be the logical starting point.

If flying international into Iceland, you will be flying into the Kefvlavik Airport (KEF). Kefvlavik is about 40 miles OUTSIDE of Reykjavik, so you will need to reserve transportation into the city center. We used Reykjavik Excursions, which offer an airport transfer into the city. This is the most economical option as private taxis are very expensive. We purchased tickets ahead of time online (along with a return ticket) and the buses are staged just outside of where you exit the airport. You get in line, wait to get on a bus, and then it is a 45 minutes ride to get to the city center. The airport transfer first takes you to the central bus station in Reykjavik, and from there smaller buses will take you closer to where you have reserved your accommodations. The cost was 133 USD for two tickets round trip.

We flew Icelandair and it was a smooth experience. Our flights were roughly 1,100 USD each flying from Detroit, Michigan.

 

Part 2: Getting to Hornstrandir via Isafjordur

The domestic airport, which is confusingly called the Reykjavik Airport, is very close to the central bus station and the core “downtown” area of Reykjavik. It is entirely possible to walk from the central bus station to the domestic airport, as well as into downtown (about 2.5 KM). The domestic airport has flights all over Iceland on regional airplanes. For travel to Hornstrandir, you could either drive 6 hours north to the town of Isafjordur in a rental car, or take a regional airplane to Isafjordur (40 minute flight). We took the domestic flight and a round trip ticket (Reykjavik to Isafjordur and back) was about 260 USD.

Flying domestically in Iceland is an interesting and laid-back experience. The airports are very small, there is no pesky security to go through, and the planes are neat. Icelandair operates a fleet of De Havilland Canada DHC-8-200’s, which are 34 seat twin blade aircraft designed to be able to take off on short runways and sustain significant cross winds. Flying above Iceland with aerial views of the landscape was a cool experience in and of itself.

Isafjordur is a small town in an area of Iceland called the Northfjords. The airport is about 5 KM away and there is a shuttle bus that will take you into town for 15 USD.

The only way to get to the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve is by taking a ferry. We used West Tours to travel to Heysteri, which is on the south portion of the Reserve and a 3-hr boat ride from the dock in Isafjordur. The cost was around 80 USD each to be dropped off at Heysteri. We got picked up in a separate area of the Reserve, so the ride back was a little more, about 90 USD.

 

Part 3: Hotel Accommodations, Logistics & General Costs

Iceland is generally an expensive country to visit. I’d say prices are similar to what you’d expect to pay if you visit New York City or Tokyo. The domestic currency is the Icelandic Krona, and 1,000 Krona is equal to roughly 7.50 USD. A quick conversion trick we used to convert Krona to USD was to move the decimal two places to the left and then reduce by 25%. Example: 1,000 Krona –> 10.00 * 75% = 7.50 USD.

During our two weeks in the country we stayed in hotels 5 of the 14 nights we were there. Average hotel prices were around 250 USD. Staying at a few hotels also came with the benefit of being able to store some luggage while we were off hiking. For example, in Isafjordur, we stayed at the same hotel the night before the hike and the day we came back. The hotel had no problem letting us keep a bag in storage during this time. We deployed the same strategy in Reykjavik for our hike on the Laugavegur and Fimmvörðuháls Trails.

Our general trip itinerary is presented below as a point of reference.

• July 1st – Depart Detroit, MI
• July 2nd – Arrive Keflavik Airport. Take airport bus shuttle to Reykjavik. Take domestic flight to Isafjordur. Stay at Hotel Isafjordur (250 USD).
• July 3rd – Ferry ride to Heysteri in Hornstrandir.
• July 8th – Ferry back to Isafjordur from Veiðileysufjörður. Stay at Hotel Isafjordur (250 USD)
• July 9th – Take domestic flight back to Reykjavik. Stay at Hotel Fron in Reykjavik (215 USD).
• July 10th – Bus ride to Landmannalauger (start of the Laugavegur).
• July 13th – Finish the Fimmvörðuháls Trail. Stay at Hotel Skogafoss in Skogar (350 USD)
• July 14th – Bus back to Reykjavik from Skogar. Stay at Hotel Fron in Reykjavik (215 USD).
• July 15th – Depart Reykjavik. Arrive back in Detroit, MI.

 

Part 4: Backpacking Hornstrandir

Hornstrandir Nature Reserve is a 220 square mile wilderness area that is a premier backpacking destination in Iceland. Due to its remote location, it is not as popular as the Laugavegur and sees many less visitors. Hornstrandir is located in the very Northwest corner of Iceland, about 5 KM south of the arctic circle. There are a variety of trails that connect the landscape leaving it open for you to plan a multitude of routes.

 

Maps, Guidebooks & Itinerary

There were few available maps I could find online of the area, but probably the best for a general planning perspective was the map that was posted when you first landed on the Reserve. I took a picture of it, which is displayed below. The red lines here are the main routes. Other maps show additional routes, but I cannot attest to how well established they are. I believe that the map below shows the “major” routes which are well defined and easy to follow.

 

 

For official topographic map of the area, this is the Serkort 9 Map which is published by Mál og Manning. The detail is 1:100 000 and 1:55 000 so it’s not ideal for navigation, but it is a nice map. I brought this along to have, but I did not use it much. The book Walking and Trekking Iceland by Cicero is a decent resource with a description of Hornstrandir and the West Fjords.

For planning my route, I did this all in Cap Topo. This will take you to a link of my route. We didn’t end up doing exactly this route (due to weather), but it highlights the start and end locations. Cal Topo has good overlays of the main routes, so I would recommend building your map there to get a sense of how long you want to stay and which campsites you want to visit. The route we envisioned would provide an excellent trip and overview of many areas. (One caveat: the route from Saebol to Latrar is not well established and is dependent on the tide. Apparently it is doable but we had a difficult time finding a way through, probably because we arrived at high tide).

Like with many of my trips, I print maps form CalTopo at 1:25 000 to use as a navigation aid. I seldom need these, but they are good to have as a backup.

The actual route we did is below. Unfortunately we did not get to hike around the Horn, a highlight of Hornstrandir, due to some bad weather messing up our schedule.

• Day 1 – Ferry to Heysteri. Heysteri to Saebol (8.5 miles)
• Day 2 – Saebol back to Heysteri (8.5 miles)
• Day 3 – Heysteri to Hofn (15 miles)
• Day 4 – Hofn to Veiðileysufjörður (6.5 miles)
• Day 5 – Ferry back to Isafjordor

Everywhere is incredibly scenic, so you really can’t go wrong in what you chose!

 

Camping & Cost

Camping is free within the Reserve and you do not need to reserve spots in advance. Camping is only allowed at the designated campsites and is forbidden in all other areas. At some of these locations they have emergency shelters and these are identified on the map I shared above. Hopefully nobody needs them, but due to the unpredictable weather it is nice to know where they are located.

There is a bed and breakfast/café in Heysteri called The Old Doctor’s House.  It’s a nice place for a cinnamon roll and some tea.

 

Part 5: Backpacking Laugavegur and Fimmvörðuháls Trail

The Laugavegur is the most popular backpacking route in Iceland – so expect some crowds as it can get very busy. If you can get passed having to share the trail with so many others, it is one of the most scenic backpacking routes in the world and certainly one to do at least once if you are an avid backpacker.

The trail starts in Landmannalauger and extends 33 miles to Þórsmörk. Along the way there are 6 main Huts that are managed by Ferðafélag Islands (FI). Each hut location also offers paid camping which you DO NOT need to reserve in advance. Keep in mind that camping on the Laugavegur is only permitted at the campgrounds and is prohibited everywhere else.

I did not look too much into the Huts, but my understanding is that they fill up rather fast and can be sometimes difficult to book.

For rates on Huts and Camping click here. For more information on the Laugavegur from FI click here.

 

Getting There (and back)

There are a variety of bus companies that will take you out to Landmannalauger to start the hike. We used Trex and got picked up in Reykjavik city center in the AM and arrived at Landmannalauger in the early afternoon (I recall it took about 5 or 6 hours to get out there). The out and back trip was roughly 280 USD for both of us . Trex was fine – the ride out is on unimproved roads with some river crossings so it is quite the adventure. Trex will also pick you back up at the end in Þórsmörk. If you decide to hike further on the Fimmvörðuháls Trail (which is what we did), they partner with Reyjekiv Excursions for the return bus that picks up in Skogar (the end location of that trail).

 

Maps, Guidebook & Itinerary

FI has a rather simple guidebook that you can purchase from their store. It was a good resource for background information on the area and was decent for planning out our trek. We also purchased this 1:100 000 scale topo map of the area.

This link will take you to the CalTOPO map of the route we chose. There are a lot of different options to do the trail, but below are the hut campgrounds we stayed at:

• Day 1 – Landmannalauger to Hrafntinnusker (6.5 miles)
• Day 2 – Hrafntinnusker to Botnar (16.5 miles)
• Day 3 – Botnar to Þórsmörk (Basar Campground) (10 miles) – End of Laugavegur
• Day 4 – Basar to Skogar (14 miles) – Fimmvörðuháls Trail

Hrafntinnusker is in a really exposed location near a pass and Botnar is kind of in a valley-like spot. Both were acceptable. I advise to get to camp a little earlier as it was really challenging finding a spot to camp in Botnar once we arrived due to the high number of people camping there. Aflavatn would be another good choice for camping. We didn’t stay there but there is quite a lot more space to camp at that location than some of the other campgrounds. Camping at the FI campground is roughly 15 USD a person (per day).

Once we finished the trail in Þórsmörk we hiked a little further and stayed at a private campground off the Laugavegur called Basar. This was a really nice spot that had quite a bit of tree cover to protect from the wind. It was very quiet there since it was off the main trail, which was a pleasant change.

We extended our hike on the Fimmvörðuháls trail the following day which was probably the best day of hiking we had all trip. The trail goes up and between the two glacier capped volcanoes you have been seeing from a distance while hiking the Laugavegur. On the other side is a series of really impressive and stunning waterfalls. I’d recommend planning an extra day and doing this trail – it is breathtaking. WARNING: there is a very exposed section of trail on your way up to the pass. The trail skirts an exposed cliff edge for about 150 feet and has ropes for support to hold on to. Falling would be deadly. It was pretty intimidating for us, but we both don’t do well with heights and exposure. Others will likely find this not such a big deal. Some other sections are quite steep and also exposed.

The Fimmvörðuháls trail ends in Skogar, which boasts a massive waterfall. It’s a tourist destination on the ring road, so expect a lot of tourists and Instagram influencers. There is a campground there as well as a hotel and restaurant. We splurged on the hotel even though it was ridiculously priced (hey – we were on vacation!). We took the bus back to Reykjavik the following morning and it picked us up right near the campground.

 

Part 5: Weather and Time to Go

The main visiting window is mid-June through end of August. Average lows and highs during this time are 43/50 Fahrenheit. During our visit to Hornstrandir in the first week of July we had lows down to 35 and a high of 60 one of the days. Hornstrandir weather is notably unpredictable, with rain being a common occurrence as well as wind. There are no trees on Hornstrandir (or really in Iceland for that matter), so the landscape is very exposed, and you will be in the wind a lot. While we were there, we had sustained winds in the 30-40 mph range one day, and it was quite an experience.

The Laugavegur was noticeably warmer. I’m not sure if on average it is warmer than Hornstrandir, but I assume it can get pretty cold there as well. We got much luckier with weather on the Laugavegur and had really good weather with clear sky most of the days.

The best source for a weather forecast is the Iceland Weather Met. Weather forecast is probably only ever accurate a day or two out. Anything further, take with a hefty grain of salt. The have different models for wind, rain and temperature. All are important to consider. For us US folks, wind speed is measured in meters per second (m/s), rain in millimeters, and temperature in Celsius. I downloaded a simple unit converter app on my phone which made it easier to convert metric to US.

Generally, wind speeds over 10 m/s will be very windy (>20  mph), and 15 m/s will be very strong winds (>30 mph). The Iceland Weather Met uses a color system. Anything nearing dark blue is going to be windy, and anything forecast in the purple range is going to be very unpleasant and challenging (and dangerous). If you are looking at a forecast like the one below, this should cause you a bit of concern. I’m not trying to fear monger, but the Icelandic backcountry can be a very harsh environment, so check the weather and be prepared for the conditions.

 

 

Part 5: Gear Thoughts

There were a few key pieces of gear that I changed up from our traditional 3-season, US based backpacking trips. Each is explained below.

 

Tent

As I knew wind, rain and cold could be a real issue, I wanted to invest in a proper 4-season tent. Our normal 3-season tent is the Big Agnes Copper Sur UL2 which is a traditional free standing tent and one we use on the majority of our backpacking trips. It is a great tent, but I wasn’t sure how well it would hold up in a major wind and rain event in a totally exposed landscape, so I wanted something that would provide a little more protection.

You could probably get away with a normal free standing tent like our Big Agnes (a lot of people were carrying these), or even a non-freestanding ultralight tent like a Zpacks (we saw one of those too), but those could be an uncomfortable (or bad time) if the winds are really blowing and the rain is coming in sideways.  If you do decide on these, really make sure you know how to set them up in truly nasty conditions or you could find yourself in a bad situation.

After some research online I settled on a Hilleberg Nammatj 2. Hilleberg is a well-known tent maker in Europe and they make true 4-season, highly regarded tents. This particular model was one that had a lot of good reviews so I took a chance on it.

Weighing in at about 5 pounds it is a VERY heavy tent, nearly twice the weight of our Big Agnes.  But what you get in return is a a truly storm-worthy tent that is easy to pitch in the wind and will perform very well in adverse conditions. One thing I really liked about this tent is that you can pitch the outside rain fly on its own, letting you keep the inside of the tent completely dry when you set it up after. Carolyn carried the stakes, poles and Tyvek ground cloth (2 pounds), and I carried both parts of the tent (3 pounds). While it was a bit heavier than we were used to,  it wasn’t ridiculous either.

The tent was an excellent choice for us. We found ourselves in a really bad wind/ rain storm one day in Hornstrandir and it performed really well. It was super easy to set up in 30+ MPH winds and it was rock solid all night, leading to a great night’s sleep. The tent also added quite a bit of warmth and did a really great job of blocking out horizontal rain.

I would consider bringing a 4-season tent if you go to Iceland. I know that it is an additional expense that may not be in the budget for everyone, but I was really glad I had this with me as it made my camping experience more pleasurable in bad weather.

 

Shoes

I was pretty nervous about my shoe selection on this trip. I had a hard time determining if my normal Altra Lone Peaks would be acceptable or if a more traditional hiking boot with more waterproof characteristics and support would be a better choice. Ultimately we decided on the Altra Lone Peak all weather hiking boot, which is kind of a hybrid trail runner/ hiking shoe. It has ankle support and boasts some water repellency. We were happy we had these on Hornstrandir and they were a good choice. You walk through a lot of wet lowlands, and having that extra water protection was nice. If you are just hiking Laugavegur you will be fine in trail runners. The trail is wide and well trodden, unlike Hornstrandir, which can be a bit more wild with taller grasses.

 

Rain Gear

Invest in a nice rain racket and good, solid rain pants. These are critical items. Leave the poncho at home, it will do nothing for you in the wind. Make sure you have a good strategy dialed in on how to keep the gear inside your pack dry. We like to line our backpacks with trash compactor bags, which has worked wonderfully over the years. If you have a pair of rain mittens these would be a nice addition to your kit as well.

 

Warmth

We decided to add another upper warmth layer to our arsenal. We brought along both a fairly beefy fleece pullover as well as our down jackets. Normally we would just bring one or the other depending on conditions, but I was happy to have both on Hornstrandir when it was really cold. This was probably overkill for Laugavegur.

 

Food

As is our style most of the time, we did not bring a stove and ate cold food for both trips. If you do bring a stove, there is isobutane canister fuel at the N1 in Isafjordor and also many places in Reykjavik carry them.

We travelled with all our food and we both checked a bag for our flight. It was heavy to lug around but it was well worth the effort. Resupplying in Iceland would be expensive, but it is possible.

 

Other Gear

Everything else was fairly standard fair. Overall our packs were a little heavier than they normally would be, but I would deploy this same strategy again to ensure that I was comfortable and warm – Iceland can be a really cold place!

 

Part 6: Closing Comments

I am glad I went to Iceland and had the chance to experience these two really amazing trails. Hopefully my notes here can provide you some direction on how to plan this trip for yourself with some cost considerations. It was a pretty expensive trip but we also weren’t trying to do it the cheapest way possible, either. If you have any questions or you find any of the information presented here is not accurate, please don’t hesitate to drop me an e-mail!

Have fun, be safe, and happy trails!

Domonick