Four days in Hornstrandir with perfect visibility, no rain, and almost no wind - almost unheard off!

Hornstrandir is one of the few places in Iceland with no roads, no airstrip, and no permanent residents, you arrive by boat or not at all. The nature reserve was abandoned by its last farmers in the 1950s, and since then the land has been quietly returning to itself. Arctic foxes have never been hunted here, which is part of why they behave the way they do: at the Hofn camping area, a whole family lives just below the main tent structure and will walk up to you without much hesitation. Don't leave food accessible, they're opportunists, but they won't tear into your pack.

Here is our 4-day, 3-night trek in Hornstrandir (July 1–4, 2026).

Route

We were two 40-year-old hikers only been to Hronstrandir once before, with reasonable fitness but limited by a knee issue, which slowed our pace. Due to a ferry mishap, we ran our planned route in reverse, disembarking at Hesteyri instead of Veiðileysufjörður. We emailed the operator (Borea) via a rare cell signal, and they changed our return tickets instantly. The reversal helped, providing gentler descents for our knees.

• Day 1 (Hesteyri to Hlöðuvík): 14.5 km | 9 hrs. Mid-mountain rocky terrain guided by cairns, a steep pass, and a soft-sand beach descent.
• Day 2 (Hlöðuvík to Höfn): 10.5 km | 8.5 hrs. Two ridge climbs and a coastal cliff-side walk.
• Day 3 (Höfn Circular Loop): 18 km | 8 hrs. Left heavy gear at camp. Steep climb to the Hornbjarg cliffs, then a south-east descent.
• Day 4 (Höfn to Veiðileysufjörður): 10.5 km | 7 hrs. Steep boulder-field ascent, followed by a rocky descent to the ferry pickup.

Technical & Environmental Data

• Weather & Visibility: Flawless. Zero rain, low wind, and perfect visibility.
• Navigation: Very few marked trails. We relied on tall stone cairns and the Mappy app offline. A navigation app is mandatory here.
• Terrain Challenges: Daily elevation averaged 500 meters. We used fixed ropes twice: descending the Day 3 saddle and navigating the Day 2 shoreline. Day 3 features narrow, slippery single-person paths next to sheer drops.
• River Crossing: One major crossing on Day 3. We chose the wide, 200-meter section over flat sand. Water remained below knee height with a weak current, passable barefoot or in Crocs at any tide.
• Infrastructure: Designated campgrounds have dry toilets (no toilet paper allowed in nature). Veiðileysufjörður is uneven and rocky; Höfn and Hlöðuvík are grassy.
• Connectivity: No signal except at three specific mountain passes.

Trail markings are sparse by design. Navigation runs mostly on cairns, visible footpaths worn into the earth, and terrain logic, the landscape itself tends to tell you where to go, as long as visibility holds. The group used Mappy offline, which worked well and cost nothing. In poor weather the calculus changes entirely, and a waterproof phone case becomes less optional.

The one river crossing on the circular day hike out of Hofn has two options: a shorter route near the sea that requires timing with low tide, or a wider crossing — around 200 meters, sandy underfoot, passable any time — that adds a couple of kilometers but asks nothing of you beyond wet feet. The ranger at Hofn knows the tide schedule.

Hornstrandir tends to attract people who've already done a fair amount of Iceland and want something with more silence to it. If you've been, what was the moment where it actually hit you that you were somewhere genuinely different

UPDATE: road is opened again!

Road F35 is closed to traffic due to a bus that got stuck in the middle of the road and is blocking it. It's possible to reach Kerlingarfjoll from the south, but it's not possible to continue north.

It's still unknown when the road will be cleared — I'll update in this post.
Photo by Arnar Hlynur Ómarsson

Want to know about road closures, weather changes, and local festivals?

Reply and I'll send you a link to join the WhatsApp group for real-time updates in the first comment/reply!

Did Vífilsfell yesterday, about 25 min drive from Reykjavík and it was way more fun than I remembered it being!

Parked at the little lot near the quarry off Route 1 and followed the quarry road until the trail markers kicked in. I decided to take the northern route up instead of the standard path, and honestly it kicks your ass a bit more than I was ready for. It's quite steep right from the start, less obviously marked in places too. My calves were screaming by the halfway point.

Once you get up onto the ridge it mellows out for a bit, nice and open, and you can already see most of Reykjavík behind you which is a good excuse to stop and "take photos" (catch your breath). Then the final push to the summit is where it gets properly spicy — there's a section of exposed tuff rock where you're basically scrambling, and there are fixed ropes bolted in at a couple of spots to help you up. Not technical climbing by any means but enough that you want both hands free and decent boots.

Summit's got the viewing dial up there and on a clear day you can pick out Esja, Hengill, even Skjaldbreiður in the distance. Windy as hell though, didn't linger long.

For the way down I skipped the normal descent and dropped through the boulder field instead, just to mix it up. Would not recommend if it's wet or you're tired — the rocks shift more than you'd like and there were a couple of "oh that's not stable" moments. But it's a fun scramble and way more interesting than just retracing your steps.

Round trip took me about 3 hours with stops. Great half day hike, properly recommend the northern side if you want a bit more of a workout out of it.

Did Laugavegur for the third time last summer and wanted to share the training approach that got me through it comfortably - no gym membership needed, just a stairwell.

Why stairs: Trekking effort really breaks down into two things, sustained monotonous walking, and climbing. Didn't matter how strong my bench press was, it wasn't going to help on a long uphill grind. Legs and aerobic base were what mattered.

The plan I followed (roughly 5 weeks, every other day):

• Started by climbing 85 floors of stairs (up + down), no pack. If your stairwell is continuous, ~16 steps per floor.
• Once I could do that in under 30 minutes, I added a pack with ~7kg.
• Once I could do that under 30 min too, I switched to taking stairs two at a time, closer to the rougher, boulder-y terrain you actually hit on trail.

For anyone curious about the math: 85 floors ≈ 260m of elevation gain. I started calling every ~260m an "Eiffel Tower," just to estimate climbs in my head. That mattered a lot for day 1 specifically - the climb from Landmannalaugar to Hrafntinnusker is one of the toughest sections on the whole trail, with roughly 650-680m of ascent up to the highest point around 1,050m. That's basically 2.5 "Eiffels" right out of the gate, and it's widely considered the steepest day on the route. Having trained for that number specifically made a huge difference mentally when I hit it.

The other spot that gets talked about a lot is the climb up Brennisteinsalda, between Hrafntinnusker and Álftavatn, the main trail there is steep, rocky, and narrow, definitely a "two-steps-at-a-time" kind of stretch. And even though most of days 2-3 are flatter, don't sleep on Mælifellssandur, the black sand stretch before Emstrur, it can seriously slow you down just from the terrain, even without much elevation involved, so the walking-endurance side of training matters just as much there.

For the walking side (simpler):

• Stair-training days: at least 4,500 steps.
• Rest days: 8,500+ steps, ideally 13,000+.
• Last two weeks before leaving: pushed to 18,000–22,000 steps at least once, on uneven/dirt terrain where possible, not just pavement — simulating a full trekking day.

Pack weight only really seemed to matter on the stair/climbing days for me, didn't notice it doing much on flat walking days. Ankle weights, though, actually made a noticeable difference.

Consistency (every other day, ~5 weeks out) mattered way more than intensity in the end. Worked well enough that I'd do it again for a fourth.

Anyone else have any useful tips on how to get in shape for longer hikes?

Hey everyone, made a little tool that might be useful if you're planning an Iceland trip and want a sanity check on your itinerary.

Basically, I've spent over a decade traveling and guiding around Iceland, and I tried to bake a bunch of that experience into a checker that looks at your day-by-day plan and flags stuff that might trip you up — like F-roads that are seasonally closed, or days that are just way too packed to actually enjoy.

Not trying to sell anything, just figured it might save some people a headache.

Happy to answer questions or give advice if anyone's planning a trip:

Feel free to try it out: https://plan.iceland-trip.com/itinerary-check

Road F225 is officially open for the summer. Like all F-roads, this route stays closed all winter until the snow finally melts and the ground dries out enough to safely drive on.

So what is waiting for you out there? First, the drive itself offers incredible volcanic tundra style views that make you feel like you are exploring another planet. Along the route, you absolutely have to stop at Rauðaskál Crater, a massive and striking red volcanic crater that dominates the barren landscape. You also cannot miss Rauðufossar Waterfall, a unique and breathtaking cascade that flows vividly over deep red rock formations.

One quick driving heads-up: F225 does feature a small water crossing. Make sure you are in a capable 4x4 and take it slow when passing through.

Trying to figure out which other roads are actually open right now?

We built a bot for exactly this. Ask it anything about F-road conditions, any road, any day. It checks Safetravel, Vegagerðin, and Vedur weather data in real-time to give you the exact conditions.

Worth a try:https://plan.iceland-trip.com/effie

Just a quick note for anyone road-tripping through North Iceland over the next few months: the landowners have officially closed off Fosslaug to the public, so you won’t be able to bathe there for a while. Usually, this happens to let the environment recover, so definitely respect the signs!

If you still look for a soak in the Skagafjörður area, just head 45 minutes north to Grettislaug instead.

It’s actually a pretty epic backup plan. According to the old Icelandic Sagas, a legendary outlaw/giant named Grettir the Strong swam 7km across the freezing ocean from Drangey Island and used this exact hot spring to warm up and not die of hypothermia.

Unlike Fosslaug, this one has built-in stone walls, beautiful ocean views, and small changing huts. There's a small fee to get in, but it goes toward upkeep.

Let me start,"A day off from work because the sun is out: After months of dark winter, blizzards, and struggling to even get out of bed, a day suddenly arrives where the temperature reaches 20°C and there are blue skies without a breath of wind. In Iceland, this is almost considered a national emergency, but in a good way!

Managers simply send everyone home in the middle of the day, or announce in advance that there's no work today, just so people can go outside, soak up some vitamin D, and come back to life. The work can wait; the sun won't.

After a long winter with the road completely snowed in, the route to Askja caldera is officially open again. Posting this because it's one of those places a lot of people have on their list but aren't sure how to actually get to.

Getting there: You need a big 4WD, not a small SUV, an actual large 4x4. The standard route is 901 → F905 → F910 with a few river crossings. Before you go, check with your rental company that your insurance covers F-roads and water crossings, because not all of them do. You can also come in via F88. Either way, stop at the ranger hut before continuing to F894 (still closed right now) and Víti to ask about current conditions. If you're not confident driving off-road, there are super jeep tours from the Mývatn area that take you there.

What to do there: The hike from Dreki huts to the Víti crater rim is around 5.5 km there and back, maybe an hour and a half to two hours. It's rocky but not hard. If the rangers say it's okay, you can get in the water inside Víti — it's geothermal, sits around 22°C. One of those things that's hard to describe until you're actually standing there.

A bit of context on why this place is special: Askja is a huge volcanic caldera in the central highlands. The terrain is so moon-like, reddish volcanic soil, literally no grass, no insects, nothing, that NASA brought Apollo astronauts here in the 60s to train before the lunar missions. Lake Öskjuvatn inside the caldera formed after the 1875 eruption and is 217m deep, the deepest lake in Iceland. Víti sits right next to it.

The road usually stays open late June through mid-September, so the window isn't huge. Happy to answer questions if anyone's planning a trip out there.

Trying to figure out which roads are actually open?

We built a bot for exactly this. Ask it anything about F-road conditions, any road, any day. It checks Safetravel and Vegagerðin (the road administration) directly, cross-references that with the weather data from Vedur.is, and pulls from a database we put together ourselves on the specific quirks of different F-roads.

Worth a try: https://plan.iceland-trip.com/effie

There's a trail inside the largest volcanic canyon on Earth that I've walked and have almost never seen another person on it.

Eldgjá was formed by the biggest eruption on this planet in the last thousand years. The canyon stretches 40 kilometers and drops 150 meters deep in places. Most people who make it out here walk to the bottom, stand in front of Ófærufoss, which is genuinely stunning, worth saying plainly, and then drive on toward Landmannalaugar or south toward Vík. That's the whole visit for most of them.

The Gjátindur trail loops 15 kilometers around the canyon's rim and takes around five to six hours. There's one climb up a slope of loose volcanic ash that your legs will remember for a few days. It earns its place. Because when you reach the eastern ridge, the entire canyon opens beneath you, 360 degrees of the central highlands, and on a clear day, the Lakagígar craters are visible in the distance. You also see Ófærufoss from directly above, which almost no tourist ever does.

A few things worth knowing before you go: the access roads are F-roads, so a 4x4 is non-negotiable. Stick to the eastern trail, the western side isn't maintained. The descent back into the canyon is steep and genuinely slippery in rain. The roads into this area open in early July and close around mid-September.

If you've made it out to Eldgjá, did you stay on the valley floor or did you go up? e

If photos had a smell, this one would clear the room. What you're looking at is where one of Iceland's oldest survival foods begins its transformation from fresh cod to something Vikings literally could not have lived without.

Iceland was never meant to feed people. The soil was too volcanic, the growing season too short, and the winters too brutal for wheat or barley to take hold. No grain meant no bread — so for over a thousand years, harðfiskur was the closest thing Icelanders had to a daily staple. It wasn't a snack. It was how you survived February.

What makes the production remarkable is that it relies entirely on Iceland doing what Iceland does naturally. Fish are cleaned, filleted, and hung on open wooden drying frames called hjallar — you'll spot them scattered along roadsides in the Westfjords and the north, rows of pale fish turning slowly in the wind. The hanging happens in autumn and winter, which sounds counterintuitive until you realize that's exactly when Iceland offers the perfect conditions: hard frost that stops bacterial growth, constant ocean wind that pulls moisture out fast, and zero insects because everything that bites is frozen solid.

After weeks on the rack, the fish becomes rigid as driftwood. The final step is beating it with a wooden mallet — breaking down the fibers until it's actually chewable. Then comes the part locals will insist on: you never eat harðfiskur plain. You tear a piece and spread a thick, unhurried layer of Icelandic butter across it. The salt of the fish against the fat of the smjör is the whole point.

I had visited a place dry fishing in Reykjanes, but was wondering if anyone knows of other places around the island?

Landmannalaugar just opened up for the season again, so I figured I’d post a quick report from a hike I did yesterday while everything’s still fresh.

Roads only recently opened which means conditions are still a bit “early season”, some muddy sections, and fewer people than peak July… for now.

I did the Bláhnjúkur, which is on of the most popular hikes in the area, and for good reason.

Getting to Landmannalaugar:

If you’re not used to F-roads, this is where people get into trouble every year. The easiest is to drive from the northern part of F208, mostly dry but still a bit of snowmelt

At Landmannalaugar:

Even just after opening, it’s already waking up, campsite filling up, wardens on site, facilities running. Still quiet, which is honestly the best time to go if you can catch it.

Yes, it smells like sulfur. You’ll survive.

The hot spring is open as usual and still the best way to end a hike here.

The hike (Bláhnjúkur loop):

• Distance: ~6–7 km
• Elevation gain: ~300–400 m
• Time: 2–3 hours depending on pace
• Difficulty: moderate (short but steep + slippery sections)

You start right near the campground and head toward Bláhnjúkur (the blue peak). The colors this time of year are not as intense as july-august because everything is still a bit damp.

Most people go up the steeper eastern side and loop back via Brennisteinsalda. That’s what I did, basically doing it counterclockwise. Honestly, I’d recommend that direction. The steeper climb is just easier to handle going up than down, and the views open up in front of you the whole way, so you end up stopping a lot more for photos on the ascent instead of rushing through it on the way down.

Later in the ike, there’s a small stream crossing without a bridge, and right now (early season) it’s a bit higher than mid-summer. Don’t expect to keep your boots perfectly dry.

The climb itself is short but straight to the point. Some loose gravel, some steeper sections, nothing technical. Just steady uphill.

At the top, you get a full 360° view, lava fields below, colorful mountains all around. On a clear day it’s one of the best “effort vs reward” hikes in Iceland.

Weather still does its usual thing. It was mild at the base and properly cold and windy at the summit. That hasn’t changed.

Descent:

This is the part people underestimate.

Coming down toward Brennisteinsalda is steep and can be slippery, especially now with moisture still in the ground. Every year there are minor accidents here. Just take it slow.

After that, the trail becomes much easier and honestly more scenic in a different way — geothermal areas, colorful hills, and then the lava field section on the way back.

A few quick notes if you’re heading here early in the season:

• Trails can be muddy and a bit slick
• Fewer crowds (for now), but that changes fast
• Check vedur.is, highland weather is still unpredictable
• Poles are actually useful here, especially on descent

And yeah — hot spring after the hike is still mandatory.

Overall, still one of the best short hikes in the country. Even living here, I keep coming back to this one every summer.

If anyone’s heading up in the next couple of weeks and has questions about conditions, feel free to ask.

There's a road in Iceland we drives sometimes just for the pleasure of driving it, no destination, no agenda, just the lava field pulling us in again

Most visitors pass through on Road 54 without knowing that Road 558 exists, a 10-kilometer unpaved track that cuts straight through the heart of the field, between the craters, past the ancient Viking path carved into the rock. That's where the place actually happens.

Berserkjahraun lava field on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula sits between Stykkishólmur and Grundarfjörður, and what most people don't realize is that this landscape erupted not once but across four separate craters in a short, violent sequence roughly 4,000 years ago. You can still see all four craters scattered across the terrain as you move through it, each one a different color, a different shape, like the earth couldn't make up its mind.

The largest is Rauðkúla, "the red crater," stretching 379 meters wide and staining the skyline in deep rust and ochre. Right beside it sits Grákúla, "the grey crater", which despite its name is today almost entirely soft and green, blanketed in thick Icelandic moss that softens every sharp edge. That same eruption also formed the quiet lake Selvallavatn nearby, which feels like an afterthought until you actually see it.

If you've made it onto Road 558, you know how different it feels from the main road, slower, quieter, like the landscape is finally at the right scale. Did you find it by accident or did someone point you there?

Iceland diehards have a few dates circled every year. Today was one of them. Officially.

The gate to Landmannalaugar just opened.

Road F208 from the north is open to traffic. These F-roads stay closed all winter. They only open once the snow melts and the ground dries out enough to drive on safely. After that, it usually stays open for the rest of the summer. That's the whole reason this date matters so much.

So what's worth seeing out there?

Landmannalaugar

This is the big one. A geothermal area with rhyolite mountains in pink, orange, and green. There are tons of hiking trails, and a hot spring at the end where you can finally sit down after hours of driving.

Sigöldugljúfur Canyon

People call it the Valley of Tears. It's one of the most photographed spots in Iceland, but somehow still not that crowded. A deep canyon with dozens of small white waterfalls running down the walls into a turquoise river.

Bláhylur Crater

A volcanic crater filled with deep blue water. It's right next to the road on the northern part of F208. Worth stopping for, just to see the color of that water.

One thing to know: the northern section doesn't have river crossings. But near the end, on F224, there are a few puddles before the parking area. Better to park before them and walk the last 300 meters.

Trying to figure out which roads are actually open?

We built a bot for exactly this. Ask it anything about F-road conditions, any road, any day. It checks Safetravel and Vegagerðin (the road administration) directly, cross-references that with the weather data from Vedur.is, and pulls from a database we put together ourselves on the specific quirks of different F-roads.

Worth a try: https://plan.iceland-trip.com/effie

If you’re planning to visit Thingvellir National Park tomorrow (Saturday, June 20), heads up that it’s going to be packed because of a massive music festival called BERGMÁL, which is expected to bring around 20,000 people to the park. The main highway passing above the park (Road 36) will stay fully open in both directions until 15:00 when only concert ticket holders will be allowed. The good news is that the main upper parking lot by the visitor center (P1 / Haki) is still open and available for regular tourists, so you can still park there and walk down into the main canyon.

The real issues start inside the park valley itself, where the lower loop road (Road 361) will be completely shut down from 3:00 PM until midnight, and all the lower parking lots (P2, P3, and P5) are closed to the public and reserved for festival-goers. While you can still walk down into the main Almannagjá gorge from the P1 lot to see the law stone area, the northern section of the path leading up to Öxarárfoss waterfall will be blocked off for the concert. Because of the heavy traffic and closures, your best bet is either to get there early in the morning or just push your Golden Circle trip to Sunday if you want to avoid the chaos.

Is Iceland insanely expensive? It really doesn't have to be!

Everyone assumes that a trip to Iceland requires a massive budget, and that is partly true, if you don’t know how to plan. But with a few simple, smart tricks, you can easily slash your total trip costs by 30%.

Here are the 3 best ways to save thousands on your dream trip (and the most important tip is definitely the last one!):

1.⁠ ⁠Fly off-season

September and October offer the absolute perfect timing for budget-conscious travelers. During these months, prices plummet, hiking trails remain fully open, and as a massive bonus, you stand an excellent chance of catching the Northern Lights! Granted, it is colder, but the experience is completely worth it.

2.⁠ ⁠Don't fall into tourist traps

Don't choose your destinations solely based on massive public relations hype. The famous Blue Lagoon is easily the most well-known hot spring, but there are alternative options that are just as stunning.

Reykjadalur: A gorgeous natural alternative that is completely free!

Laugaras Lagoon: If you prefer an organized facility with proper changing rooms and showers, check out this recently opened spot. It is absolutely beautiful and about 50% cheaper than the main lagoon.

3.⁠ ⁠Eat out less in restaurants

Dining out for every single meal will drain your wallet fast. Instead, do your grocery shopping at the Bonus supermarket chain. They are cheap, offer great value for your money, and stock excellent ready-made meals and fresh salads at half the price of a restaurant.

And our absolute most important tip? Never guess your budget.

To ensure you don't face any surprises on your trip, we built a highly accurate, detailed Iceland budget calculator that will organize your expenses in seconds.

Check it out here:
https://plan.iceland-trip.com/tools/budgeting

If you’ve been following the news out of Iceland in recent months, you probably know all about the crazy drama at Reynisfjara earlier this year. I actually happened to be there right when it happened back in January, and I just went back to see how it’s holding up.

Seeing the before-and-after in person is wild. Over the winter, a brutal mix of storm surges and weird easterly winds basically acted like a giant vacuum, stripping the beach of its famous black sand.

Here is a quick look at what went down:

• The Missing Sand: The beach dropped by over 2 meters in some spots! The sand vanished so fast it exposed jagged bedrock and massive hidden boulders that haven't seen the light of day in decades.
• Collapsing Roads: Punishing waves and heavy rains actually triggered a massive landslide on Mt. Reynisfjall. The erosion ate a bit inland that it completely undermined the infrastructure, tearing away parts of the parking lot asphalt, fencing, and the lower viewing platform.
• The Recovery: The cool thing about this is that the beach is a living system. Once the wind patterns flipped back to normal, the ocean slowly started redepositing the sand. Most of the flat beach has finally "healed" and come back, but some of it is permanently changed by those new landslide rocks.

A Quick Warning: Because the beach profile changed and the erosion banks are steeper now, the famous basalt columns and cave sit much closer to the dangerous surf zone during high tide. There is way less room to run if a sneaker wave hits, and scrambling up a steep, loose sandbank is almost impossible.

Definitely respect the new safety boundaries if you visit soon.

Hiked down to Háifoss yesterday, couldn't have asked for better conditions, around 15°C and full sun. About 2km in, 2km out, 4km total.

After just 3 minutes of walking you're already at the top viewing platform with both Háifoss and its twin falls Granni in full view. Genuinely one of those "wow, already?" moments.

From there it's a steep, narrow descent into the gorge. My phone clocked the climb back out at 50 floors of elevation gain — nothing technical, just watch your footing on the loose, narrow bits.

Down at the bottom you get misted by the falls. Not Seljalandsfoss-soaked, but enough that you'll feel it on your face and jacket.

We started at 10:00 and there were only 2 cars in the parking lot — quiet, peaceful, basically had the whole place to ourselves.

PSA: wear sunscreen and actually rub it into the back of your neck. I didn't, and paid for it. Sunny days here are precious — don't waste one on a sunburn.

10/10 short hike.

Honestly, I could not have asked for a better day to explore Þórsmörk. The weather was absolute perfection, clear blue skies, sunshine from dawn to dusk, and a surprisingly warm 13°C that felt amazing while moving around. To top it all off, the water levels in the streams were incredibly low today, making the usually stressful water crossings smooth and completely stress-free. It truly felt like the valley was rolling out the red carpet for our adventure.

Chasing Glaciers and Canyons

My first stops of the day were Merkurker and Gígjökull. Standing out there, looking at the dramatic landscape shaped by the ice and volcanoes, was humbling to say the least. From there, I headed over to the Stakkholtsgjá canyon hike. Walking between the tall canyon cliffs felt like stepping straight into a fantasy novel. Because the stream was so low, navigating the rocky floor all the way to the hidden waterfall at the very back was an absolute breeze and just stunningly peaceful.

Wandering Through the Woods

Afterward, I slowed things down a bit and took a picnic stop with the ham & cheese I bought in Kronan earlier, after getting my strength back, I set out to wander through thegreen birch tree forest. It is such a unique, magical sight to see a thriving woodland tucked away in the middle of Iceland’s rugged highlands, and the air smelled incredibly fresh and earthy. I wrapped up the day by doing the Bólfell 2km loop. It was the perfect distance to stretch my legs one last time, offering gorgeous views of the braided riverbeds below and the mountain peaks framing the valley. Today was one of those rare, flawless days where everything just aligns perfectly, and I am still buzzing from it.

Just wanted to share this nice view of Eldvorp craters while landing in Keflavik, I usually try to sit looking north from the window seat because I like seeing Grindavik and the lava fields on approach, but today I got a southern sit, so had to settle for Eldvorp craters, luckily the weather was just great so had a really nice and clear view!