Hikes

Hikes at Landmannalaugar allow you to get up close to the spectacular scenery of the region.

Hiking is one of the top things to do in Landmannalaugar and there are trails for all levels here. Day hikes in Landmannalaugar can take you across lava fields or up volcanic mountains for epic views.

While you can visit Landmannalaugar for the day and do a couple of the day hikes (or one longer trail or loop), avid hikers and nature lovers up for the challenge should look to spend a few nights here and enjoy the many trails over several days.

Many Landmannalaugar trails leave right from the Landmannalaugar Campsite (which is where you arrive).

Below we’ve described some of the top Landmannalaugar hikes from which to choose.

Best Landmannalaugar Hiking Trails

Laugahraun Lava Field

Length: 4 km (2.7 miles)
Difficulty: Easy
Time to hike: About 2 hours

A relatively easy hike, the Laugahraun lava field hike is doable for most visitors to Landmannalaugar. There’s some scrambling involved, though!

On this hike, you will walk a gravel trail through a lava field that was formed just about 600 years ago.

The trails winds its way over basalt and obsidian lava rock, and offers views of steam vents and mountains such as Bláhnúkur and Brennisteinsalda. It loops back along a river to the start point.

This is a popular trail, so expect to share it with lots of other hikers.

Bláhnúkur Mountain

Length: 6.1 km (3.8 miles)
Difficulty: Moderate to challenging
Time to hike: About 3-4 hours

If you want to scale a summit on a short visit to Landmannalaugar, Bláhnúkur Mountain makes the perfect choice.

Blahnukur translates to “Blue Mountain,” and the mountain is actually a very grayish blue.

While the trail is steep, and narrow in parts, it is relatively short, which means you could potentially do this trail as one of two hikes on a day trip to the region, or have time to relax in the hot spring afterwards.

The summit of Bláhnúkur offers spectacular views over the surrounding mountains and ridges, and the lava fields and geothermal features. You’ll get some memorable photos on a nice bright day!

Mount Brennisteinsalda

Length: 6.5 km (4 miles)
Difficulty: Moderate
Time to hike: About 2-3 hours

Mount Brennisteinsalda is the super colorful mountain you see in photos of Landmannalaugar. Climbing this multi-hued mountain is a bucket list item for many active visitors!

Hiking Mt. Brennisteinsalda allows you to get up close to the mineral deposits. The different colors of the deposits, from pink to blue, contrast with the bright green mossy vegetation for that perfect picture postcard. You may also see steam vents on the mountainside!

The climb is fairly steep but doable for most physically fit visitors to Landmannalaugar. The views from the top are sensational!

To get to the summit, start off on the Laugahraun Trail near the campsite, and take the spur to the summit of Mt. Brennisteinsalda.

Blahnúkúr-Brennisteinsalda Loop

Length: 9.7 km (6 miles)
Difficulty: Challenging
Time to hike: 4 to 6 hours

Many day hikers combine both Bláhnúkur and Mt. Brennisteinsalda for a longer hike that covers the two most popular summits at Landmannalaugar.

While you can do either mountain first, most hikers tackle the more difficult Bláhnúkur first. From the Landmannalaugar campsite, it’s about a 0.5-mile walk to the trailhead at the base of Bláhnúkur. The trail to the top is signed.

All along the hike, the views will wow you, and you will want to stop often for photos, so allow more time.

After you summit Blahnukur, get back down to the lava field, where you will walk toward the campsite until you come to a trail marker, where you will get onto the Laugavegur Trail. This trail leads you to the sign for Mt. Brennisteinsalda, where you can climb your second mountain of the day!

When you get back down, you will walk across the When you get back down, you will walk across the Laugahraun lava field back to the campsite.