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Iceland: The famous Laugavegur trek (with video)

Iceland: The famous Laugavegur trek (with video)


Postby Karl Brobakk » Wed Oct 24, 2018 8:20 am

Date walked: 02/08/2017

Time taken: 6 days

Distance: 100 km

Ascent: 2500m

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Is the Laugavegur trek difficult?

The Laugavegur trek is the most famous trek in Iceland, and it is not hard to see why so many people want to do this trek. We decided to do the trek without an organized group, which was not a problem. We added in one more day at the start of the big trek, and one more at the end. Very few people did the first and the last day of the trek.

In order to make this post fairly short I will sum up what we did each day:

1) Left the capital and traveled to Landmannahellir. Hiked to Landmannalaugar. No crowds. At Landmannalaugar there are hot springs, and many people. We camped there. Did not book in advance.
2) From Landmannalaugar we crossed the mountain and did wild camping a few kilometeres before we got to Alftavatn. This is a long day where conditions on the mountain can be rough. The best part of the hike.
3) Hiked on and did one more night of wild camping next to a river. Mostly flat, still nice though.
4) Hiked on and did wild camping again after crossing a big river. You have many rivers to cross, but hardy a problem. Did a side trip in the middle of the hike to check out the big canyon. This is a must as it is an awesome area.
5) Hiked for a couple of hours and got to the Basar hut. Most people end their hike in this area. We stayed in the hut for the night. Did not book in advance. Some hikes in the area to be done.
6) Hiked over the mountain. Just like day 2, this one is tough. Few people though, until you get closer to Skogar where people hike in to see the many waterfalls. There are two huts at the top of the mountain, but they were fully booked. From Skogar we jumped on a bus back to the capital again.

So, is the trek difficult?
If you are only doing the stretch from Landmannalaugar to Thorsmork then you are looking at 54 km. This is usually done in 3-4 days. The trek will be a long one either way, but if you stay at Hrafntinnusker at the top of the mountain instead of hiking all the way to Alftavatn then you break up each day to make it quite doable. Then you are looking at 4 days of trekking I guess. There are even more huts out there if you want to break it up even more.

Feel free to check out my video from the trek.

Karl Brobakk
 
Posts: 58
Joined: Oct 7, 2018

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