Kerlingarfjöll: Day-Trip Hiking Guide

Kerlingarfjöll is one of Iceland’s most stunning mountain areas. Red peaks, steaming hot springs, and summer snow make an otherwordly landscape. While the area is famous for multi-day treks in “a highland resort”, with the right planning, Kerlingarfjöll is a doable day trip.

This guide covers everything you need to know to hike Kerlingarfjöll as a 1-day trip. You’ll find clear info on how to get there, what to expect, best day trails, what to pack, and other tips.

Kerlingarfjöll: Location and Geology

Kerlingarfjöll is a mountain range in the heart of Iceland’s highlands. It’s almost exactly in the middle of the island, half way between Reykjavik and Akureyri.

The area sits right along the Kjölur route (F35), making it one of the more accessible highland destinations. You can drive up there in a small car although a 4×4 would feel safer.

Since 2020, the area has been protected as part of the Kerlingarfjöll Nature Reserve.

Geological Significance

Kerlingarfjöll mountains were formed some 300,000 years ago by volcanic activity under glaciers, which then fully covered the area. This created colorful rhyolite peaks with orange, red, and yellow.

The area is full of geothermal vents, mud pools, and colorful mineral deposits. Glaciers are still aren’t too far. Here, summer snowfields and steaming valleys often sit side by side, creating a landscape found almost nowhere else.

Historical Context

The name “Kerlingarfjöll” means “Mountains of the Old Woman,” inspired by local legends of an troll lady who turned into stone.

For decades, Kerlingarfjöll was known as a summer ski training spot. Then in 1990s it shifted focus to hiking and outdoor adventure. Today, the area is one of Iceland’s most unique and photogenic hiking destinations.

In 2022, the new Highland Base hotel opened and seriously upgraded the infrastructure in this remote ara.

Kerlingarfjöll Hiking Map

You can get the full Kerlingarfjoll hiking map from Iceland’s Environment Agency.

For the planning a day trip, you should focus on trail F, the Hveradalir Circle or Hveradalahringur in Icelandic. This trail covers the best of Kerlingarfjoll: the steaming mud pools, striging red peaks, glaciers, and summer snow.

The Best Day Hike: Hveradalir Circle Trail

• Trail length: 4 km
• Elevation gain: 240 meters
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Time: 1-2 hours
• Trailhead location: (parking lot)

The Hveradalir Circle (Hveradalahringur) trail starts from a parking lot in the mountains.

Here is how the trail looks on the map.

If you’re in a great hiking form, you can potentially start from the Highland Base, following the A trail, Neðri-Hveradalir. This will add another 4km each way. But if you’re doing it as a day trip, you’ll still need to drive. So that might be too much.

How to Get to Kerlingarfjöll

As of 2025, the only ways to get to Kerlingarfjoll are by car or an organized tour.

By Car

In summer, the road to Kerlingarfjall is accessible by regular cars, not neccessarily 4×4 / FWD. We’ve seen many small cars although they were all local (not rented cars).

The road from Reykjavik is 189 km and takes about 3.5 – 4 hours. Google might say it’s faster but part of the way is through unpaved moutain road. There is lots of photo opportunities on the way there.

The Golden Circle is en route to Kerlingarfjoll but it’s better to separate the two. Otherwise, it’s too much for one day. So after driving from Reykjavik and seeing Thingvellir, Gullfoss, and Geyiser, you can camp at Skjól campsite. Or you can splurge and treat yourself to Hotel Geysir (great food there!). Then next day you’ll have 85 km to drive, about 2 – 2.5 hours.

By Bus

There is currently no public Straeto bus to Kerlingarfjall. The so-called “highland bus” (which goes to Landmannalaugar and Thorsmork) also no longer runs to this area.

With a Tour

Without a car, the only way to get to Kerlingarfjoll is with an organized tour.

You can book a day tour at Highland Base. The bus leaves Reykjavik at 8:30 and returns at 20:30. Besides giving you time to hike in Kerlingarfjoll, the bus also stops at Gullfoss and Geysir.

Geothermal Bathing in Kerlingarfjoll

There are two opportunities to enjoy some geothermal bathing:

• Geothermal Baths at Highland Base
• Wild hot pool

Sadly, we didn’t have time to enjoy either of these. The day trip is too short as you’ll see.

Our Experience: Kerlingarfjöll in a Day

Here’s how our experience in summer 2025 looked like.

Gear and Preparation

We were going to Kerlingarfjoll as a day trip, so we didn’t take too much gear.

We packed the usual list for hiking in Iceland:

• Base layer of wool or synthetics
• Quick-drying hiking pants
• Fleece jacket
• Light windproof jacket (not a Gortex but it wouldn’t hurt)
• Buff, hat, gloves even in summer — these really helped!

We took own lunch for the day trip. Kerlingarfjoll has a beautiful restaurant but we didn’t have time to eat there.

The Drive

We started from Reykjavik at about 10am. We drove with only a few quick stops for gas, coffee, and photos.

Once we hit the unpaved part of the road, the landscape changed. We entered the highland desert and just had to make a few stops here and there for photos.

Oh and the radio stopped working and the internet was patchy. It’s best to take some offline music with you.

But you don’t really need the internet for navigation. The road is easy, well-marked, and there is a sign to the Highlands Base at the main turn.

We arrived at around 2pm and parked by the hotel. Parking is free and there is lot’s of space.

Coffee at the Highland Base

Somehow, the Highland Base has one of the best coffees in Iceland’s highlands. It’s espresso, not the regular Icelandic filtered kaffi from a thermos. After a long, bumpy ride, a coffee in the mountains hits different.

This was also our last opportunity to enjoy a nice bathroom before venturing into the wilderness.

The Hike

From the hotel, we drove to the parking lot next to the trail. Parking is free but it was quite busy.

The hike started with a long staircase descent. The paths in the beginning are well-marked and easy. Once we got into the geothermal valley, there are bridges to different parts. We first took a leisurly stroll with lots of photos.

However, trail F, the Hveradalir Circle, wasn’t very clear. In the beginning there are lots of turns and it’s unclear where to go. You should aim to ascend the hills that are on the right side of the trail from the parking lot.

The valley might look completely different when you’ll be there but you need to take these stairs up – there is only one way up on that side.

Once the stairs dissappear, the path went through lava. Then we reached a snow field with clear tracks. We didn’t have any crampons or spikes but it was ok as the path wasn’t exposed.

The hardest part was getting out of the snowfield. The tracks diverged and disappeared as snow melted and mixed with dirt. We scrambled up some lava and that was probably the wrong path. But eventually we found the track, which again became very obvious.

After enjoying the views, we crossed the valley and the path merged with another one, the A trail from the hotel. From here on, the path was clear. We took a lot more photos.

One last tricky part was near the end of the trail. The (cold) river was overflowing a footbridge and it was impossible to cross it without getting your feed wet.

It looked like that we part was changing with the season and the weather. So when you’ll be there you might be good.

The Drive Back

This was the hardest part. We were tired. And having already seen this scenery, the landscapes weren’t as captivating. The good part was that the drive felt much faster and easier. Maybe it was simply because we were driving faster!

Other Hiking Trails in Kerlingarfjöll

All in all, a day trip to Kerlingarfjoll is definitely worth it. But next time, we’ll go there for longer. There is simply too many trails to explore!

• C, Skuggafos, an easy hike to a waterfall – 15km
• G, Mountain route to the highest peaks of Kerlingarfjoll – 9km, 650m altitude increase
• H, Hringbrautin, a 3-day circle track – 47km

Accomodation in Kerlingarfjöll

If you decide that a day trip to Kerlingarfjoll is not enough (and that’s true!), you have several accomodation options, ranging from basic to the luxury.

• Campsite: You pitch your own tent and can access toilets, showers, and kitchen area. It can be windy.
• Cabins: They are quite basic and share the ammenities with the campsite. The main advantage is that you don’t need to pitch your tent in wind and rain.
• Highland Base hotel: it’s a quite a luxurious hotel and comes with a price. But in such a remote location it makes it worth it.