Landmannalaugar hike: the highland walk that ends in a hot river

Landmannalaugar is a valley in the Icelandic highlands, ringed by hills of rhyolite that carry streaks of ochre, rust, green and grey — the reason the operator calls them rainbow mountains. Steam leaks out of the ground in several places. A warm stream runs down one side of the valley floor, a cold one runs down the other, and where they meet the water lands in the range people are happy to sit in. That meeting point is the bathing spot, and reaching it on foot is what a Landmannalaugar hike is for.

The first thing to be clear about is that this is not a pool. There is no changing hall, no counter with towels, no drink in your hand at the edge. The whole proposition is the opposite of the lagoons on the rest of this site: you walk for part of a day through open country, and the warm water at the end is a river with a gravel bottom. People who come expecting a spa are disappointed, and people who come expecting a walk usually rate the day highly — which is roughly what the 4.7 across 765 reviews reflects.

The second thing is the ground itself. The valley floor is old lava, loose and sharp underfoot in places, and the slopes above it are volcanic ash and gravel. Guides pick the route on the morning, and that is why the listing sells a window of 5 to 14 hours instead of a promise. A Landmannalaugar hike in bright July with a dry track is a very different day from one in early June with snow still lying in the gullies, and the price is the same either way.

The third thing is that the highlands are seasonal. The tracks in are open for part of the year only. Outside that stretch the countryside days from the city run to the lowland pools instead — the Silver Circle at $240, the Golden Circle at $132 — and the highland valley waits. Any highland day you book is therefore a summer booking, and that is worth knowing before you build a week around it.

The single fact that shapes every Landmannalaugar hike is the road. The route in crosses highland track, and ordinary hire cars are not built for it — which is why the guided listing exists at all, and why the vehicle is as much of the ticket as the guide. A Landmannalaugar tour is sold as a full day for this reason: the driving is long before anybody laces a boot.

Pick-up is the next question. The listing on this site is a Landmannalaugar tour from Reykjavik, so the day starts in the city and comes back to it. If you are already staying out on the south side, you will also see a Landmannalaugar tour from Hella advertised locally, and a Landmannalaugar tour from Selfoss, both of which cut a good deal of road off the front and back of the day. Those are different departures run by different operators; what we book here is the city one, at $194.

A Landmannalaugar day tour is a long day by any measure, and the honest way to plan it is backwards from the drive. Assume the morning goes to getting there and the evening goes to getting back, and treat the walking as the middle of a sandwich. Booking a Landmannalaugar day tour from Reykjavik and then planning dinner at a fixed hour the same night is how people end up cancelling a table.

If you want the schedule to bend around you rather than the other way round, a Landmannalaugar private tour is the shape to look for: same road, same valley, but the pace and the turnaround time are yours. It costs more than a seat on a shared departure, which is the trade. On the shared day the guide sets the turnaround, and the group keeps to it.

The valley is a junction. Several routes leave from the same patch of ground, climb at different angles and come back by different sides, which is why guides can stretch or shorten the day without leaving the area. The hiking trails Landmannalaugar is known for range from an hour on the flat to a full climb up the slopes above the valley, and a guided group normally takes something in between.

A Landmannalaugar day hike in the guided sense usually means a loop: out across the lava, up on to a ridge for the view down into the valley, and back along the stream to the bathing spot. The day hikes Landmannalaugar guides favour are chosen on the morning for ground conditions, not printed on a card in advance, and that is the reason the listing gives a range of hours.

If the group includes people who would rather not climb, a Landmannalaugar short hike is normally available on the valley floor: less height, the same colours, the same water at the end. Nobody is left behind at the car. This flexibility is the main practical argument for going with a guide rather than working it out alone.

What nobody can sell you is the weather. The highlands make their own, it changes inside an hour, and the walk is in the open the whole way. Take the layers you would take for a cold day at home even in July, because a Landmannalaugar hike in wind and drizzle is still a fine day out if you are dressed for it and a miserable one if you are not.

At $194 the guided highland day sits in the middle of this site rather than at the top of it. The Silver Circle day with the Canyon Baths is $240 for 10 hours, the Golden Circle day that finishes in the Secret Lagoon is $132 for 10 hours, and the fjord pools at Hvammsvik with transport from the city are $164 for four and a half hours. Against those, a Landmannalaugar hike buys a great deal more driving and a great deal less pavement.

The cheapest way to stand in geothermal water at all is not a highland day: it is the entry ticket at the Secret Lagoon, $34, or the fjord-side pass at Hvammsvik, $83, both of which assume you have your own way of getting there. The highland listing is priced the way it is because the vehicle and the guide are doing work that a bus on a paved road does not.

At the other end, $545 buys a 50-60 minute flight over the geothermal country with a 15-minute landing out in the open, rated 4.9 across 294 reviews. It is the shortest way to see this landscape and the least like a walk. If the point of the trip is to be in the hills rather than above them, the money is better spent on the Landmannalaugar hike and the long drive that comes with it.

One more line worth reading before you compare anything: every listing on this site carries free cancellation. That matters more here than on a city ticket, because a highland day is the one most likely to be moved by the road.