Location: Southern Highlands, Iceland
Duration: 7 days / 6 nights / 6 riding days
Accommodation: Shared rooms in the guesthouse + 2 nights in mountain huts
Dates: Set dates
Riding Level: Intermediate-Advanced
Group Size: 12 riders
On this tour, we will take you along the powerful Thjorsá river and the lava fields of Hekla into Iceland's Southern Highlands and on some of Iceland's wonderful hidden bridle paths to Landmannalaugar. We take you through ash and sand dunes, rivers and into the highlands. We ride through multi-colored landscapes with its yellow, reddish and greenish rhyolite mountains, the towering glaciers and extensive lava fields give the area a magical touch. We will ride to the fascinating area of Landmannalaugar where we will enjoy a refreshing bath in its natural hot springs.
Trip Extension Option: 2-day Black Sand Beach ride
The Icelandic horse is a symbol of national pride and cultural heritage. They are known for their surefootedness and gentle nature, and they are famous for the Tölt, a gait unique to the breed, which makes them incredibly comfortable over great distances and rugged terrain.
Riders will be accompanied by a loose herd, which adds a unique and exciting dynamic to the ride! Riders will change horses 1-2 times per day, giving them the opportunity to get to know a variety of horses over the course of the week.
Riding Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Riders should be capable of spending long hours in the saddle, tacking and untacking their own horse, and controlling the horse at all paces, even though rides will mainly consist of the walk and tölt.
Speed: walk and tölt, occasional canter
Distance: 10-25 miles/15-35 km per day
Ride Time: 5-7 hours/day
Tack: Horses will be in saddles developed specifically for the Icelandic horse, closely resembling Dressage saddles. Saddle bags will be provided.
Terrain: This tour encompasses remote areas only accessible on foot or by horseback, riding on mainly soft riding tracks, ideal for riding the tölt. The ride will travel through farmland, across rivers, winding through hills and mountains to alpine lakes, and across black sand deserts.
Riders are accommodated in shared rooms (2-4 people per room) in a cozy farmhouse.
Two nights will be spent in a remote mountain hut in a shared bunkroom with sleeping bags.
Breakfasts and dinners are served family-style at the guesthouse. Home-cooked meals consist heavily of lamb and fish. Traditional Icelandic breakfasts include porridge, toast, cold cuts, and cheese. Riders make their own sandwiches in the morning to pack on the trail each day.
Bus transfer to/from Reykjavik
Single or shared rooms in the Saltvik guesthouse
All meals from dinner on the first day to breakfast on the last day
Available in the guesthouse
Pick-up and drop-off in Reykjavik
Horses, tack, equipment, guides, saddle bags, water bottles
Flights to/from Iceland
Welcome to bring your own
Compulsory for all guests
Can be arranged by request
Additional activities not included in the itinerary, such as whale watching
Early afternoon pick up in Reykjavik
1.5 hour drive up to the former farm Minnivellir where we settle in. Catch our horses from the field next to the house, get acquainted with the gear and ready for the first ride. This ride takes us through lush fields – fertilized through the ash from the eruptions of the Hekla volcano – to the farm Hellar at Skarðsfjall mountain range. There we take a break and visit the biggest man-made cave in Iceland. We finish our visit with homemade snacks from the farmer and his family who have lived there for centuries before we head back to Minnivellir. We take a different route this time and ride alongside the shores of the mighty river Þjórsá.
Accommodation: Minnivellir
Today we ride towards the majestic Hekla volcano. The landscape changes from lush fields to ash and sand dunes with sharp lava rocks: Both testimonies of the power of Hekla's eruptions. We reach Rangá river and have our lunch break at a historical sheep round-up site. After lunch we cross the Rangá river and ride closer to Hekla until we reach Rjúpnavellir, where we leave our horses and drive back to Minnivellir for the night.
Accommodation: Minnivellir
Riding distance: 30 km
After a nice breakfast and a short drive we start our ride into the highlands. With a view of the Hekla volcano we climb up into the mountains, through black sand and past small lakes until we reach the remote valley Landmannahellir.
Accommodation: Landmannahellir
Riding distance: 35 km
Today we ride to the famous Landmannalaugar, with its natural hot spring, surrounded by colorful mountains and lava from 1480. You will have some time to enjoy the special scenery – either on a short hike or in the natural hot pools – before we continue on the scenic ride returning to Landmannahellir. The colors change from the blue-yellow-reddish of the rhyolite mountain ranges of Landmannalaugar to the greenish black lava fields and unreal blue dotted lakes all in between. We cross rivers and lakes and pass through an obsidian field before arriving back in Landmannahellir.
Accommodation: Landmannahellir
Riding distance: 40 km
We leave the scenic Landmannahellir area and ride north of Mt. Hekla volcano, down from the highlands. A desert of black ash and light pumice is a witness to numerous eruptions of this volcano, the most active one in Iceland and known as the Gateway to Hell. Rjúpnavellir cottages are our first step back into “civilization”. We leave the horses there and drive back to Minnivellir for a cozy evening.
Accommodation: Minnivellir
Riding distance: 35 km
Our last riding day leads us west of Mt. Hekla volcano and around the big lava field ‘Merkurhraun’, that is about 6000-8000 years old. We ride alongside the mighty river Þjórsá and past the beautiful waterfall Þjófafoss that shows another, rather positive side of Mt. Hekla’s eruptions: fertile farmland. We ride through lush green fields and cross the rivers Ytri-Rangá and Eystri-Rangá.
Riding distance: 35 km
Driving back to Reykjavik after the breakfast
