The Highlands of Iceland

For any­one who has vis­it­ed Ice­land it is appar­ent from the moment you arrive that it is a unique­ly beau­ti­ful place and offers a lifetime’s work for the land­scape pho­tog­ra­ph­er. Aspect2i have been vis­it­ing Ice­land for many years run­ning tours along the dra­mat­ic south coast and also in the north begin­ning at Akureyri and vis­it­ing amaz­ing vol­canic fea­tures like Myvatn Lake. Many of the places we have enjoyed in the past, and are still enjoy­ing very much to this day, are main­ly acces­si­ble from the one main road that cir­cum­nav­i­gates Ice­land; Route 1.

Whilst these places will nev­er fail to amaze, there is a vast area of Ice­land that can only be accessed in the sum­mer months, the High­lands of Ice­land. As the win­ter arrives the access roads are com­plete­ly snowed in and are total­ly impass­able. Even in the sum­mer months when these dirt tracks, or ​‘F’ roads, are open, they are only allowed to be trav­elled by 4×4 vehi­cles. The rea­son for this is quite appar­ent when you make your first expe­di­tion into these remote lands. The place is wild!

If you have vis­it­ed and con­sid­ered oth­er parts of Ice­land as diverse, then this high­land land­scape is like nowhere else in Ice­land, in fact, nowhere else in the world! We will be based in The High­lands Hotel, the last hotel where the roads change from tar­mac to grav­el, and we head into the moun­tains and high plateaus from there. We will be using spe­cial­ly adapt­ed 4×4 vehi­cles for the entire trip to access some of the many areas we have dis­cov­ered there. 

You will be tak­en to vast areas of black lava fields close to the Hel­ka Vol­cano, have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to stand on the banks of the mighty crater lakes of Vei­div­otn, and walk the length of the Sigal­da Canyon won­der­ful­ly known as the Val­ley of Tears. Oth­er-world­ly fea­tures we will also expe­ri­ence are the vol­canic crater cones that have filled with water and have become huge lakes like Ljotipol­lur Lake and Hnausapol­lur Lake which can be seen from a high viewpoint.

As well as the Luna-like land­scapes in which some of the more recent vol­canic erup­tions have tak­en place, we will dri­ve into the won­der­ful green, lush and colour­ful land­scape of Land­man­nalau­gar. This has to be seen to be believed, and at this time of year the snows of last win­ter nes­tle on the moun­tain flanks mak­ing the land­scape appear as though it was a water­colour paint­ing. There are too many places to men­tion here but you will expe­ri­ence an Ice­land that you have nev­er seen before on a scale that is unimag­in­able. This will be an adven­ture far away from the nor­mal­i­ties of life dur­ing the day, and one which will see you leave roads behind, cross rivers in 4×4 vehi­cles, and pho­to­graph a land­scape with a raw beau­ty that will leave you in awe.