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Home / Iceland / Icelandic Highlands

Volcanic interior · Iceland

Icelandic Highlands

Iceland's raw volcanic heart — rhyolite mountains, lava deserts and geothermal valleys, open only in summer.

Getting there

By 4x4 on mountain F-roads, open only in summer

Best for

Landmannalaugar's rhyolite peaks, Kerlingarfjöll, lava deserts, hiking, photography

The land

A vast, uninhabited volcanic interior of coloured mountains and lava fields

Good to know

The Highlands are accessible only in summer (roughly late June to September), by 4x4

What it is

The Icelandic Highlands are the island's raw interior — a roadless wilderness of rainbow rhyolite mountains, black lava deserts and steaming valleys.

Uninhabited and otherworldly, the Highlands open for just a few summer months. Landmannalaugar's multicoloured rhyolite peaks and hot springs, the geothermal mountains of Kerlingarfjöll, the green oasis of Þórsmörk and the vast lava deserts make this Iceland's greatest hiking and photography country — reached only by 4x4 over rough mountain roads.

PhotoIcelandic Highlands — volcanic interior.

The reason to come

The volcanic interior

The Highlands are Iceland's wild heart, for summer hikers and photographers willing to go off the grid.

Landmannalaugar

Rainbow rhyolite mountains, lava and natural hot springs.

Kerlingarfjöll

Steaming geothermal valleys among coloured peaks.

Lava deserts

Vast, empty volcanic plains and glacial rivers.

Worth knowing

Iceland's wild interior

The Highlands are the island's most otherworldly landscape — and the hardest-won, open for only a few summer weeks.

PhotoRhyolite mountains at Landmannalaugar in the Highlands.

When to come — honestly

A summer-only wilderness.

July – September

Best

The short summer window when the F-roads open and the Highlands are reachable.

Late June

Good

Early summer, as the roads begin to open after the snow.

October – June

Closed

The Highlands are closed and inaccessible outside summer.

The Highlands are open only in summer; the mountain F-roads require 4x4 and river crossings, and weather can change fast. This is not a winter destination.

Context

The summer interior

The Highlands are a summer-only wilderness — the most dramatic hiking and photography country on the island.

They appear on summer photography and expedition itineraries, not winter ones.

We build the Highlands into summer journeys, with the right 4x4 vehicles and timing.

Beyond the obvious

More to Icelandic Highlands.

PhotoLandmannalaugar

Landmannalaugar

Rhyolite peaks and hot springs.

PhotoKerlingarfjöll

Kerlingarfjöll

Geothermal mountains.

PhotoLava deserts

Lava deserts

The volcanic interior by 4x4.

Why Wild Voyager

We chase the clear skies, not the crowds.

Aurora is about timing and flexibility. We build buffer nights, watch the forecasts and move you toward the clearest skies — and dodge the day-tour crush at the famous sights.