NordicVisitor

Central Highlands of Iceland

If you really want to get away from it all, the interior of Iceland is like nothing you have ever experienced. The mountainous centre of the island, with its rocky deserts, jagged peaks, ice caps, volcanoes, hidden valleys and hot springs, is an awe-inspiring and untouched wilderness. In other words, it is the "no man's land" of the island!

In the geothermal area of Landmannalaugar, the rhyolite mountains glow in yellows, greens and reds interspersed with shiny black obsidian, and weary travellers can bathe in rivers heated by hot springs. The green, sheltered inland valley of Þórsmörk is another favourite of active travellers, who use it as a base camp for hiking into the surrounding mountains. At Kverkfjöll, steam rising at the edge of the glacier has melted a series of bizarre ice caves. In the Dyngjufjöll range you can find Lake Öskjuvatn in a large caldera and the  crater lake of Víti, both created after a large eruption in 1875.

For centuries the interior was all but inaccessible. Outlaws hid there for years at a time, rustling sheep and keeping away from the law. Fortunately, access is a lot easier today. The interior is traversed by two mountain roads, via Kjölur and Sprengisandur, which only open in the summer months, after the spring thaw. Today there are other highland routes, but many involve crossing unbridged rivers, which should not be attempted without a proper vehicle, and preferably in a convoy with other vehicles. Please note that if you rent a car, you cannot take it on a mountain road (classified as F) unless it is a four-wheel-drive vehicle. Even then, these roads are best attempted by experienced drivers only.

But the wonders of the highlands can also be seen via organised tours, which run regularly across the interior on the Kjölur and Sprengisandur roads, as well as to such destinations as Þórsmörk, Landmannalaugar, Mt. Askja and Kverkfjöll. For the real wilderness experience, guided hiking tours and horseback rides are available in many of the most popular locations in the interior, far from civilization.

source: http://www.visiticeland.com/