Laugavegur & Fimmvörðuháls Trails

iceland’s highlands

– Southbound from Landmannalaugar to Skógar –

Distance (KM)

Days

Mountain Huts

About this trek

Iceland is home to many trails, but the most famous long-distance hikes are on the country’s southern coast. The Laugavegur Trail is a 55-km trek that begins in Landmannalaugar and ends in Þórsmörk (Thorsmork). Once hikers reach this southern trailhead, they can connect to the 25-km Fimmhorðuváls Trail, which continues south toward the ocean.

This combined 80-km backcountry route takes hikers through lush green forests, past rhyolite mountains and black volcanic windswept landscapes, into geothermal valleys, and between two massive glaciers. Hikers ford several glacier-fed rivers, and the weather can be highly unpredictable, even in summer. One major perk of doing both trails is finishing in Skógar, near the iconic Skógafoss waterfall.

I’ve always wanted to experience Iceland’s natural beauty. So I made plans to hike the Laugavegur and Fimmvörðuháls Trails during a late-summer trip to Iceland with my college-age son. Things didn’t go as planned, though. Read my trail journal to find out what this adventure was really like.