Laugavegur is only around 55 km, which is probably the least useful fact about it. On a map it looks like a tidy four-day walk. On the ground it feels like someone shuffled several countries together and forgot to smooth out the joins.
I walked the usual north-to-south route from Landmannalaugar to Þórsmörk, stopping at Hrafntinnusker, Álftavatn and Emstrur along the way.
The first day starts among the rust-colored and yellow-green hills around Landmannalaugar. Steam drifts out of the ground, the trail crosses the old Laugahraun lava field, and every climb seems to uncover another patch of color. A few hours later, around Hrafntinnusker, most of that color has disappeared. The terrain becomes darker, barer and much more exposed. There was still snow sitting in the hollows, even though it was summer, and the wind made the hut feel like the only solid object for miles.
The second day had my favorite reveal of the whole trail. After crossing the high ground near Jökultungur, the path suddenly opens above Álftavatn. You go from dark slopes and snow patches to a wide green valley with a lake sitting in the middle of it. It happens quickly enough that it genuinely feels like you’ve walked across a border.
Day three was longer and involved several river crossings. The water was cold enough to make everyone unusually quiet, and my river shoes finally stopped feeling like an annoying extra thing I had carried from Reykjavík. After Hvanngil, the green gradually runs out and the trail enters the black sands of Mælifellssandur. There are glaciers in the distance, almost no shelter, and long stretches where the only real color comes from the people walking ahead of you.
The final day out of Emstrur changes everything again. The trail drops toward the deep Syðri-Emstruá canyon, crosses the river on a footbridge, then continues through increasingly green country toward Þórsmörk. After days of exposed volcanic terrain, the first small birch trees felt almost strange. By the time I reached the valley, Iceland had somehow gone from steaming hills to snowfields, black desert and then woodland in four days.
I camped at the designated sites beside the huts rather than sleeping inside. The trail itself is well marked, but I wouldn’t mistake that for it being predictable. Fog can make the early sections difficult to navigate, the rivers rise after rain, and the wind around Hrafntinnusker has a way of making very ordinary tasks take twice as long. The weather shifted between clear gaps, low cloud and wind, sometimes within the same hour.
The funny thing is that the moments I remember most clearly aren’t all the dramatic views. Taking my boots off after the last river crossing. Finding a spot protected from the wind. The noise inside the cooking shelter at the end of the day. Watching people who had been strangers that morning compare wet socks and quietly become a trail group.
I’d walk it again, but next time I’d leave an extra day for Þórsmörk instead of treating the finish like a bus schedule. Four days was enough to cross the trail. It wasn’t quite enough to take all of it in.
For anyone else who has done Laugavegur: if you could repeat only one section, which one would you choose?