Hiking in Iceland

Heading to Iceland in September for a couple of weeks and looking for some ideas for walking/hiking. On the surface, there’s lots of options, but when I say hiking, I mean a day out, not 5km round the local woods. Based for a bit in Reykjavik, Akureyri (north) and Stykkisholmur (west). We’re familiar with walking Munros but just struggling a bit to find day routes in Iceland. So, any ideas? And what’s the deal with maps? Is there an OS equivalent? Is there a Walk Highlands equivalent website (haven’t found one so far)? Any info and ideas welcome.

Can’t help you with maps. Are their OSM ones?

Maybe try and find walking holidays. People like Exodus, KE Adventures and so on. Then just copy the places that they go as they will be the most popular walks.

Komoot was another option I used recently. Trying to do a similar thing for Majorca.

You won’t be walking around the local woods as there are hardly any trees 🙂

We used their OS map equivalents but can’t just put my hands on them (think bought in the UK before we went).

The area around Hveragerdi near Reykjavik has easily accessible hikes that also take in the hot river plus some bubbling mud and steam vents out in the hills.

One thing we didn’t expect was how difficult some of the terrain was. It is very “new” country in geological terms where a lot of loose stuff hasn’t yet eroded, so innocent looking steep descents marked on the map could be slow and a bit treacherous where it was soft and crumbly underneath. Nothing to avoid, but maybe just allow a bit more time or slightly reduce the distance compared to Scotland.

Alltrails is the go-to for hiking routes, globally.

You’re welcome

Ps: I find the website on a computer most easy to navigate, and the app when actually on the ground. The app of course has all the functionality (you can find and select all the trails exactly the same way, but it’s just much easier to do all that on the big screen and save them to faves, and just pick them up on your phone!).

Icelandic joke: what do you do when you’re lost in an Icelandic forest?  Stand up!

The Thorsmork Landmannalaugur walk is good but it’s a few days, not one. But you did say you were there for a while. There are huts or you can camp (we did the latter)

Spelling is guessed from memory but a google will get it.

Mind you it was more than 20 years ago we did it so things might have changed. Probably for the busier!

Yes they have OS maps of sort but they’re a bit shit. Well at least they were when we were there 10 years ago. The main problem, apart from the content, was they were printed in pamphlet type paper and disintegrated after 4 minutes outdoor exposure in Iceland.

Iceland: Mal og Menning Touring and Hiking Maps | Stanfords

Even 10 years ago their mobile phone network and general embrace of technology was far ahead of us and a lot of folk seemed to rely heavily on waymarked long distance routes and GPS.

Btw September is probably the best time to go. 12hours daylight, 12 hours dark. Enough to explore, yet enough, clouds permitting, to have a good chance of seeing the Aurora

From the reports of people who have gone hiking in Iceland, it can be a very ethereal experience, what with the volcanic landscape and all.