Hiking the stunning Kerlingarfjöll in the Icelandic Highlands

Hiking in Kerlingarfjöll is a phenomenal experience. If you are planning to do some hiking in the Icelandic Highlands, put Kerlingarfjöll on your bucket list. 

Kerlingarfjöll is a mountain area in the Icelandic highlands. Located between Langjökull Glacier and Hofsjökull Glacier. People used to ski there in the summer months but that hasn’t been possible for years due to lack of snow. Nowadays hiking is a more common activity in the area in summer. 

How to get to there?

To get to Kerlingafjöll you need to take route F35 which is a so-called F-road. F-roads are roads that access the Icelandic Highlands. They are no ordinary roads. They aren’t paved and are often challenging to drive on. Their condition varies but you can expect a lot of loose gravel and holes in all forms and sizes. Often you even need to cross some rivers where there are no bridges. As you can read from this description, the F-roads aren’t for inexperienced drivers. They also require you to be driving a 4×4 vehicle. Sometimes even a raised 4×4 vehicle. For the drive to Kerlingarfjöll the latter isn’t necessary though. And you will not need to cross any rivers on your way to Kerlingarfjöll. Not without bridges anyway.

It’s important to note that the F-roads aren’t open year round. When they open depends on the weather and the roads’ condition each year. That means the opening date can vary from one year to the next. It also varies from one F-road to another. Usually they open sometime in June and close again sometime in September.

You can read more about Icelandic F-roads here

If you think driving on a F-road is a bit much for you and your driving skills, you should consider to take the bus to Kerlingarfjöll.

You can buy a ticket here

Where to Hike in Kerlingarfjöll?

I have only once been to Kerlingarfjöll and it was a wonderful day trip in good company with my husband and my parents. I’m so lucky to have two healthy and physical fit parents who also love to hike. It was also my parents’ first time in Kerlingarfjöll, but it had been on their bucket list for many years.

We went hiking in the most famous area in Kerlingarfjöll, called Hveradalir. Hveradalir means the valley of the hot springs. As you can see from some of the pictures I took there, that’s an appropriate name for this beautiful geothermal area.

I have discovered that I love geothermal areas. There is something special about them. This particular one (at least what I saw of it) isn’t quite as colourful as many other geothermal areas I have been to but I loved the light brown coloured hills and mountains. These are rhyolite mountains and look totally different from the typical Icelandic mountains. If there even is such a thing as a typical Icelandic mountain. 

We were there in mid June and found out there still was a bit of snow in the area. The plan was to drive up to the parking by Hveradalir and walk down to the valley from there. When we arrived, we discovered we needed to change that plan a little bit. The reason being all the snow there was on the road so we couldn’t drive all the way to the parking. So instead we parked a bit further down the road and started our hike by walking on snow. This added about 2 km to our hike which was quite alright.

When hiking in Hveradalir you walk up and down some pretty steep hills but there are some stairs all over the place that make it easy or at least easier. This time around we just walked around this relatively small area you have a view over from the parking lot (where the plan was to park our car!). Climbed some stairs, then down again and up again ect. The view was awesome in all directions and the snow that still was there added a lovely contrast to the light brown and golden hills.

When to go to Kerlingarfjöll?

There are many marked trails in the area and we just barely scratched the surface on this trip. I would love to go there again next summer and explore some more. Go on a longer hike.

Next time I’ll choose a slightly different timing for my visit. To ensure there won’t be any snow (or at least very little) when you visit, July or even August seem to be the optimal time to visit. Then you will be able to drive all the way up to the parking lot and the trails will most likely also be free of snow.

On my visit in mid June there was also a bit of snow on the trails in the hiking area itself which made it difficult to get some places. Not impossible though if you had the right equipment with you. We didn’t have any crampons or anything with us. As I had my 67 years old parents with me the plan was never to do anything out of the ordinary. There were plenty of trails without snow which we used and enjoyed every minute of. 

A day trip or stay the night?

On this particular trip, we drove up there in the morning, took a good hike, ate our pre packed lunch and then drove back home. It was a great first visit. Great to see the area and explore a bit but next time I am going to spend more time there for sure. 

At Kerlingarfjöll Highland Base you can stay the night. They offer different kinds of accommodations. Everything from a campsite and small chalets with sleeping bag accommodation to a brand new luxury hotel. You don’t have to spend the night as it takes about three and a half hours to drive there from downtown Reykjavík. That is without any stops on the way. You might wanna stop by Thingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss or other interesting places on the way so please take that in account when planning your trip.

You can read more about Kerlingarfjöll Highland Base here

As I mentioned before, there are many different marked trails to choose from when hiking in Kerlingarfjöll. At the Kerlingarfjöll Highland Base you can buy a map and get some assistance from the staff to choose the right trail or trails for you. You can also spend the night there to get the most out of your visit. I might do that next time, at least I will leave Reykjavík earlier than I did this time around and use the whole day for hiking. It would also be extremely nice to end a long day of hiking in the hot spring that is located close to the Highland Base. A perfect end to a perfect day.

Is Hiking in Kerlingarfjöll on Your Bucket List?

Is Kerlingarfjöll on your bucket list? Or have you maybe already been there? If you have, where did you hike? Did you stay the night or just spend the day like I did this time around? Would love to hear about your experience and even see your favourite picture you took there.

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Until next time!

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