How to Hike the Laugavegur Trail in Iceland - A Hiking Guide

I recently completed the Lagervega trail which is a 55 kilometers multi-day hike through the highlands of Iceland. It's Iceland's premier multi-day hike and is regarded by National Geographic as one of the top hiking trails in the world. From colorful mountains, icy snowy fields and luna-esque landscapes, the hike is one of the most beautiful and visually diverse trails you can find. If you're in the midst of planning to do this hike yourself and need a little help or just some inspiration, I'm going to share everything that I know about this hike which hopefully will help you embark on your very own hiking adventure in Iceland. Let's start with some facts. The Lagervega trail is around 55 kilometers or 34 miles in length. The trail's official starting point is Atlanmanloga located in the Icelandic highlands. You go through colorful mountains and ascend the snowy peak of Hrafnuska. From there you descend towards the beautiful lake of Altavatn and pass through desert fields near Irmström. Until finally the trail ends by leading you into the green valley of Forsmark. The Lagervega trail is only available during the summer months since the roads leading up to the trail are usually inaccessible during other times of the year. Generally the trail is open from late June to mid-September depending on the weather. As for accommodations, you can bring your own tent to stay at the campgrounds like I did. This is by far the most affordable option but you also have the option to stay at the several huts along the trail which will give you a nice and warm place to sleep and of course shelter from the various weather conditions you'll face on the trail. The hut prices are 9,500 Icelandic kroners per person. If you're bringing your own tent then it's 2,000 Icelandic kroners per person and there's also a shower fee of around 500 Icelandic kroners if you intend to use them. If you're planning to stay at huts then I highly recommend booking them months in advance as they tend to get booked up quite quickly. If you're bringing your own tent then no need for pre-booking just show up and pay the fee. For updated info and booking a hut visit the official website of the Iceland Touring Association. Since you'll need to go on Iceland's F-roads to get to the trail you need a 4x4 vehicle but most hikers will opt for a specialized Highland bus. There are two companies which offer bus services from and to the trail on a daily basis that's Reykjavik Excursions and Treks. I went with Reykjavik Excursions. You can purchase a hiking pass which includes both a to and return trip from the trail. The price of the hiking pass was 10,500 Icelandic kroners when I did the trip. For more info check www.re.is. Arguably the biggest challenge during the trail will be the weather. Even during summer you can't always count on the weather to play nice. Icelandic weather has the habit of changing in the blink of an eye. Worst case scenario you can get caught in whiteouts or endless days of heavy winds and rain. So you should come prepared and that starts with proper layering. You'll need an outer shell layer which is a windproof and waterproof jacket. I used the Patagonia free layer torrent shell and had no complaints with it during the trip but you can go with any other brands just make sure that it keeps you dry and protected from the wind. You'll also need a decent mid layer to keep you warm. I just used a Uniqlo down jacket but you can go with a more outdoorsy brand or even use a fleece jacket or something similar. And finally a base layer whether a synthetic one like the black diamond hoodie that I use or if you want a little more warmth a merino wool option would be better. You may also consider rain pants and waterproof gloves just in case heavy rain is forecasted during your trip. If you plan to stay in a tent like I did then you need at least a free season tent or even a four season option if you want to be really safe. It can get quite windy in the highlands and I've heard about numerous tents facing their end during this hike so the more robust your tent is the more likely it'll be able to handle the Icelandic weather. A tip is to use available rocks at the campsites to help provide stability and keep your tent locked down. You'll find plenty of water along the trail either from streams or at the campsites. I filled up a one liter water bladder which will last me for the entire day until I reach the next campsite. For navigation I use the AllTrails app. You can even use it in airplane mode since it uses your GPS location but you do however need to download the map of the trail you're looking to hike beforehand. Anything else gear related that I didn't mention I'll link in the description box below. After arriving in Landmanaloga I suggest paying the mountain mall a visit for any last minute supplies before you embark on the trail. The beginning of the trail is arguably the most scenic part of the entire Lagerveger trail. It's here that you'll get to witness these vibrant and colorful rhyolite mountains that the area is famous for. As you continue to ascend further you'll reach your first snowy patches which later becomes larger fields of snow and ice. This goes on for a while until you reach the first campsite, Hraftenusker hut. You can decide to stay here like the majority of hikers or you can continue to Althavaten like I did. This is recommended if conditions are not so good at Hraftenusker and you're not staying inside the huts. As you descend towards Althavaten you'll come across your first river cross. This is one of the smaller ones of the trail. The water is ice cold but it should not be difficult. Althavaten is perhaps the most scenic campsite of the entire trail. It's located next to the Althavaten lake where the campsite gets its name from. This campsite is also a bit exposed so if wind is a problem here you can go on to the next campsite which is about five kilometers away which offers a bit more protection from the wind. What's nice about besides the location is that it comes with a little restaurant where you can get a warm meal, the perfect start to a hike. During the second day of the hike there was an ultra marathon event where runners would complete the entire trail in about five hours I believe which is absolutely insane to me but very interesting and definitely piqued my interest in trail running in general. Something for me to look at perhaps but not far in the trail you reach the next campsite which is Hwangil. This is the place to stay if it's too windy at Althavaten. I just stayed here for a quick break. Once you cross over this bridge you'll face the very first major river crossing. I didn't change into sandals or anything I would just walk in with my shoes but I'll remove the insoles and my socks which helps dry up the shoes a lot quicker. From this point on you'll be faced with a long stretch of this luna-esque desert. Some people point out this was their least favorite part of the trail but funny enough I really enjoyed this part. This was where I was most alone during the entire trail so I would just listen to some music, talk to myself and yeah just enjoy the trail. After a while you reach Imstra which is a cute little campsite. There's a small stream that runs through the campground which was really nice and the campsite is naturally protected from the wind since it's located in a small valley. The last part of the trail leads you into the valley of Forsmark. Here you come across a siding of a glacier and cross over this canyon via this small little bridge. The trail slowly gets more vegetation along the route until you reach a full-on forest. The hike then officially ends at Husadolur. You'll find a restaurant there as well where you can celebrate completing the hike with a warm meal and a cold beer while waiting to get picked up by the highland bus which will take you back to Reykjavik. So that was my little hiking guide to this amazing trail. This was actually my first proper multi-day hike all solo and I must say I really enjoyed it. I couldn't have picked a better trail. I think it's a great trail for anyone starting to get into hiking now. Disclaimer, I did luck out on the weather. It was mostly sunny, a little bit overcast but quite windy during the first few days but I prefer a little wind over storms and rain any day. So yeah, your experience might be different depending on the weather. Now, filming this hike was interesting. I really had to learn to pick my shots more because literally every 100 meters or so there's something to shoot and if I had to shoot everything and stop and go back and pick up the camera, the trail would take forever. So that took a little time to get used to and just being more selective with my shots so I could still enjoy the hike and doing it in a okay pace. I felt the trail itself was fairly easy. The only real challenge is the ascent to Pratinnoska and the descent to Aftman. I could have really used some trekking poles to save my knees there but one of the poles that I did bring along broke on me so I ended up not using them at all. But I did use my tripod as a sort of a walking pole I guess and that kind of worked. But I would say the biggest plus of this hike is the variety of scenery you're going through. I haven't seen a trail quite like this one from like the colorful Rhyolite mountains to being on the moon. It's quite amazing. One last thing I do want to recommend is that if you do end up doing this hike and you're staying a night at Husa Dolor which is like the final campsite, I do recommend doing like a day hike before the bus arrives. There's several day hikes that you can do here but if you're short on time or just can't be bothered to do like a six hour hiking loop, then I recommend going up to the Valanukur mountain. It's a short two kilometer hike and it'll reward you with an amazing view over the valley of Torsmark. So consider that if you got the time and energy. So yeah that was all from me. I hope this video helps if you plan to do the hike and if you have any questions leave them down below.