The new Holuhraun lava field is expected to be a popular tourist destination this summer. To get there, however, is quite a challenge.
The eruption site is in the central highlands, almost as far as you can get from inhabited areas in Iceland. While the thick cover of snow lasts it’s possible to get there by modified 4wd trucks or snowmobiles (helicopters are of course an option throughout the year).
The gravel and mud roads in the highlands remain closed until late June or early July due to the amount of snow and then the thawing out that turns the roads into muddy quagmires for a while.
After the roads are opened you will need big 4wd jeeps to navigate the glacial rivers that cut through the mountain roads on the way to Holuhraun.
The huge new lava field, covering 85 square km (32.8 square miles), engulfed the old mountain road that connected the area to Iceland’s road grid. A new road has been planned and will be laid this summer.
Park rangers from Vatnajökull National Park are patrolling the area and have marked easily accessible viewpoints outside the perimeter of the eruption site. They plan to set out a marked hiking path through the vast, new lava field, which we believe will instantly become one of the most exciting trails in the country.
Background
The volcanic eruption in Holuhraun in central Iceland made international headlines when it began in late August last year. For 181 days, the fissure continued to spew out great amounts of lava that now cover an area 85 square kilometres (32.8 square miles).
The craters and the new lava field remained off-limits to the public from the start of the eruption. Travel restrictions to areas north of the eruption site were revoked shortly after the eruption ended.
Current restrictions bar access to an area that stretches 20 metres (66 feet) from the northern edge of the new lava field towards Dyngjujökull glacier to the south, along the course of the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum to the east, and the river’s westernmost branches to the west .
The new Holuhraun lava field is expected to be a popular tourist destination this summer. To get there, however, is quite a challenge.
The eruption site is in the central highlands, almost as far as you can get from inhabited areas in Iceland. While the thick cover of snow lasts it’s possible to get there by modified 4wd trucks or snowmobiles (helicopters are of course an option throughout the year).
The gravel and mud roads in the highlands remain closed until late June or early July due to the amount of snow and then the thawing out that turns the roads into muddy quagmires for a while.
After the roads are opened you will need big 4wd jeeps to navigate the glacial rivers that cut through the mountain roads on the way to Holuhraun.
The huge new lava field, covering 85 square km (32.8 square miles), engulfed the old mountain road that connected the area to Iceland’s road grid. A new road has been planned and will be laid this summer.
Park rangers from Vatnajökull National Park are patrolling the area and have marked easily accessible viewpoints outside the perimeter of the eruption site. They plan to set out a marked hiking path through the vast, new lava field, which we believe will instantly become one of the most exciting trails in the country.
Background
The volcanic eruption in Holuhraun in central Iceland made international headlines when it began in late August last year. For 181 days, the fissure continued to spew out great amounts of lava that now cover an area 85 square kilometres (32.8 square miles).
The craters and the new lava field remained off-limits to the public from the start of the eruption. Travel restrictions to areas north of the eruption site were revoked shortly after the eruption ended.
Current restrictions bar access to an area that stretches 20 metres (66 feet) from the northern edge of the new lava field towards Dyngjujökull glacier to the south, along the course of the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum to the east, and the river’s westernmost branches to the west .
