Iceland Laugavegur hiking trail and Fimmvorduhals with tent - August 2019

How to get there

Reykjavik is probably the only internal airport. Hence, you have to check how to flyin to Reykjavik. From this city, you have good connections to all the other destinations.

To reach the highlands, there are various campanies offering daily busses to Landmannalaugar, Langidalur, and Skogar. You can check the web page Generlal bus overview or Sterna Travel

Trip

Day 1 (Reykjavik - Hraftinnusker)

From Reykjavik by bus to Landmannalaugar and hiking to Hrafntinnusker (absolute elevation: ~1000m). Overnight in a tent. It was very cold (~0°C this night) and very windy. I almost thought, the tent will break down. Furtunately, nothing bad happens.

Day 2 (Hraftinnusker - Alftavatn)

From Hrafntinnusker to Alftavatn. Here, we stayed at the hut, since it was possible to book it ahead. In Alftavatn, there is also a small restaunrant, in case you are already running out of food. Just keep in mind: it is horrible expensive.

Day 3 (lftavatn - Emstrur)

From Alftavatn to Emstrur. Again, we stayed in the tent. If you arrive early enough, there are places to camp where it is not windy at all. Relly nice. There is also a tent where you can sit and cook.

Day 4 (Emstrur - Langidalur)

From Emstrur to Langidalur. We stayed here as well in the hut. However, the camping area is really nice (everything green) and there is enough space. There is also a small supermarket.

Day 5 (Langidalur - Skogar)

From Langidalur to Skogar. We did the Fimmvorduhals in one day. Originally, I wanted to stay overnight in one of the two huts on top, but it was not possible to book them. However, we did not regret to do this tour in one day, since there is almost nothing special to do at the huts (just too cold outside) and if you have good weather conditions, it is really easy to do this trip in one day. If you have nice weather, this is probably the most amazing part of the whole journey.

Recommendation

The best part is really if you continue Lagavegur with the Fimmvorduhals tail. In that case, the landscape is even more amazing and the way down to
Skogar is full of waterfalls you have never seen before.
You should really go from north to south, since the wind is usually north to south. If you wald the other direction, it will be much more exhaustive
and cold.
You can do Fimmvorduhals in one (long) day. Most people do it. Just start early and have enough food. The way down from the top huts is really easy to
walk, but still takes some time. In our case, we started at 8:30am at Langidalur and arrived at 7pm at the camping area
in Skogar - however, we were taking lots of pictures.

Food on the way

In the meantime, there is a restaurant at lftavatn. You can get breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is very small and very expensive. There is also a small supermarket in Langidalur (in case you continue the Laugevegur trail to Skogar (Fimmvorduhals Hiking Trail).

Water is usually not a problem. There is plenty of it on the way. I recommend to have at least one liter with you.

Packing list (extract)

Hiking

Trekking shoes to cross the rivers (4 of them) and to stay in the huts/tent. If you are very sentive to cold water, then neopren socks might help.

Food

For each day and for two person, we calculated: ~100g nuts, 40g dried meat, 100g Haferflocken, 100g Sesam snack, 125g nuddles. Sometimes, you can get
some Snickers/Chips in the huts in case you are running out of food. Be prepared to have enough food with you.

Sleeping

Tent (it shoudl be lightweight ~2kg but also robust to rain and wind). Do not underestimate the wind during the nights.
Sleeping back (in case you sleep in a tent, you need a sleeping back with comfort level ~0°C)
Earplugs (necessary to not get disturbed by the noise of the wind)