Landmannalaugar

Landmannalaugar is a geothermal area featuring rhyolite mountains with surfaces tinted red, orange, and green by mineral deposits. The landscape consists of overlapping lava flows of different ages that create rolling terrain beneath these unusually colored peaks.

The area served as a rest stop in the 18th century for travelers moving between highland farms along mountain routes. This function made it a recognized waypoint on the island's early highland passages.

Visitors bathe in natural hot springs here, continuing an Icelandic practice that blends daily life with the geothermal features of the highland landscape. This ritual shows how people have always lived alongside these thermal resources in the mountains.

Only four-wheel-drive vehicles can travel the F-roads to reach this area, and facilities operate only from June through September during the brief summer season. Visitors should prepare for rapidly changing weather conditions common in the highlands.

The mountains display colors created by the rare combination of lavas with different mineral compositions, a phenomenon rarely visible elsewhere in such clarity. This geological oddity results from millions of years of volcanic activity concentrated in this specific zone.