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Before setting off
on the Highland routes, check the road conditions and remember that
there are unbridged rivers to be forded!
Click the map for further information
This part of the interior, the so-called Sprengisandur route, is the longest stretch
between the South and the North and is passable by 4wd vehicles during summer. It is
mostly very desolate and barren. Only where there is water, sparse vegetation can be
found. In earlier times, when people were more superstitious than they are nowadays and
believed in ghosts, giants, elves and outlaws, the few who dared use this route rode as
fast as possible through and sometimes exhausted their horses. The word for to exhaust in
Icelandic is "sprengja", hence the name of the area. The present route lies
further east than the original one and the distance between the last farm in the South and
the first one in the North is approximately 250 km.
The greatest obstacles enroute are the
unbridged rivers, which have to be forded. They swell when it is warm and the glacial
melting increases and when it rains much they can become very dangerous for those who
have no experience. On a fine day this route is simply unforgettable
because of the scenic beauty all around. During summer
scheduled buses
drive daily both ways
across the interior between Landmannalaugar and lake Myvatn
and from Reykjavik through Sprengisand.
Please check at nearest information centres before enter the highland
Route!!!
Local maps
Sprengisandur Route
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THE SPRENGISANDUR ROUTE
This route is only
passable by robust 4wd vehicles! |
Reykjavik
Hveragerdi
Selfoss
Hrauneyjar
Hagongur
Nyidalur |
Vonarskard
Fjordungsalda
Kidagil
Isholsvatn
Aldeyjarfoss |
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GAESAVOTN
ROUTE
4 x4 car only
( South
Route F-910 )
This route is one of the most interesting and
adventurous for 4wd vehicles in
the country, where experience with the
vehicles and river crossings is
totally necessary. It takes you along the northern edge
of the largest icecap of Europe and the terrain is so
rugged that the average speed hardly exceeds 10 km/hour.
It takes about nine hours to drive between the tourist
huts at Nyidalur on the Sprengisandur route and Drekagil
in the Askja region. To accomplish this you must take
the original route, the southern one, not the new one
across the lava fields closer to the shield volcano
Trolladyngja. Extreme care has to be taken when fording
glacial rivers and when the last one, just east of the
Urðarhals, is reached the vehicles must never halt in
the water during the crossing. If there is any
hesitation the vehicles will immediately bog down in the
moving sand. You have to select
the first low gear and keep going until you reach dry
land on the other side. Only that way, and without
losing your nerve, you will get through. The best time
of day to get through is early in the morning before the
melting starts. This route is very barren an desolate
and there are not many people around, sometimes you are
alone. The surroundings and the scenery on a fine day
simply cannot be described with words -
you have to see to believe. It is
almost as if you are alone in the world.
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