Day 1: Landmannalaugar was the starting point of our four-day-long backpacking trip on the Laugavegur trail. I was surprised to find out that Laugavegur is a shortened name of “The Landmannalaugar Trail”. The usual four day trail ends in Þórsmörk, but one or two days can be added, trekking then all the way to Skógar nearly at the coast via Fimmvörðuháls between the two glaciers Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull.
Landmannalaugar is located in the Fjallabak Nature Reserve in the Highlands of Iceland. You are not allowed to use rented cars to get there as F roads are usually only intended for 4WD vehicles. It is at the edge of Laugahraun lava field and known for its natural geothermal hot springs and surrounding landscape as you can see at the end of the video. Landmannalaugar is the northern end of the Laugavegur hiking trail. The Iceland Touring Association operates a mountain hut with sleeping bag accommodation for 75 people and a public toilet with showers. During the tourist high season, there is also a small shop there that sells coffee and basic groceries, a horse tour agency.
There is also Icelandic horse riding in the area and you can ride on areas that are would be difficult to access on foot and not accessible by car as there are no official roads like the Jökulgil (Glacier Valley). Arctic char fishing takes place in Landmannalaugar and nearby lakes. From late June and through the summer, a shop called the Mountain Mall is operated inside a green American school bus from the 70s which stocks groceries and other things useful for camping. The buses are still operating and are driven there in June and taken back at the end of September when the season finishes. In the winter, the hut is used as a base for cross-country skiing