Fimmvörðuháls hike: one day or two?
Most fit hikers do Skógar to Þórsmörk in one long day, guided from €440. Sleep in Þórsmörk after it, from €299, and the day gets much easier. Summer only.
The short version
- Fimmvörðuháls runs from Skógafoss over the pass between Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull down to Þórsmörk: about 25 km to Básar.
- Most people walk it in one day, 8 to 12 hours, with roughly 1,000 metres of climbing.
- It's a summer hike. Outside roughly late June to early September, snow on the pass makes it a mountaineering day.
- The guided day hike is from €440 (14 hours including transfers, with a barbecue).
- The two-day option is really one day's hiking plus a night in Þórsmörk: from €299 with bus, dinner and breakfast.
One day, if you’re a fit hiker and the forecast is good. That’s how most people do it: eight to twelve hours from Skógafoss to Þórsmörk, then a bus or pickup out. Sleeping in Þórsmörk at the end is the better version, because you’re not racing a bus timetable with sore legs. Splitting the hike itself over two days only makes sense if you’re walking with a group that’s booked the huts.
What the trail is
Fimmvörðuháls is the pass between two ice caps, Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull. The trail starts at Skógafoss, a few metres above sea level, and follows the Skógá river up past waterfall after waterfall. The first few hours are the bit everyone photographs.
Above the waterfalls it gets bare. You cross snowfields and gravel to the top of the pass, at roughly 1,000 metres, and then walk through the lava from the 2010 eruption. The two craters there, Móði and Magni, were formed that year. After that you drop steeply into Þórsmörk, including a narrow ridge section on the way down.
Length: about 25 km from Skógar to Básar, and another 6 km if you’re going on to the huts at Húsadalur. Most people take 8 to 12 hours.
Who can do it
It’s not technical in summer. It is long, with around 1,000 metres of climbing and a steep, loose descent at the end, which is where knees complain. If you’ve done a full day in hills at home and enjoyed it, you’ll be fine. If the longest walk you’ve done is three hours, it will be a hard day.
Weather is the real risk. It can be calm at Skógafoss and blowing sleet at the pass, in July. Fog on the top is common. Guided tours postpone or cancel when it’s unsafe; if you’re walking alone, take that decision seriously yourself and check the conditions before you set off.
When to go
Summer only. As a rough guide, the pass is clear enough for ordinary hikers from late June to early September. Earlier or later, there’s deep snow on top and the trail is hard to follow. Every tour we list is sold for summer. Check the snow reports close to the date either way.
Guided in one day
- Fimmvörðuháls Hike, Day Tour, from €440, fourteen hours, minimum age 13. It starts from the operator’s base near Hvolsvöllur, with transfers to Skógar and pickup in Þórsmörk, and ends with a hamburger barbecue. Pickup in the Hvolsvöllur area. It needs at least four people to run, and you get a full refund or an alternative if it doesn’t.
It’s the only guided one-day Fimmvörðuháls we list at the moment. The fourteen hours include the drives and the barbecue, not extra walking. Bring your own lunch and plenty of water.
Two days
What’s sold as “two days” is usually one day on the trail and a night in Þórsmörk.
- Fimmvörðuháls Volcano Trail Package, from €299, two days, minimum age 12. Mountain bus from Reykjavík to Skógar, you walk to the huts in Þórsmörk, dinner and a night in a private room there, breakfast, and the bus back to Reykjavík. No guide. It’s the cheapest sensible way to do the hike, if you’re confident navigating in fog.
- Fimmvörðuháls and Þórsmörk 3 days hike from Reykjavík, from €1,379. Guided, with mountain huts, meals, transfers and a sauna at the hut. The listing says four to seven hours of walking a day. It’s the one for people who want company, time in Þórsmörk and no navigation to think about.
Doing it on your own
The trail is waymarked and busy on good summer days. The part you need to plan is transport: you start and finish in different places, and you can’t drive into Þórsmörk in a hire car. The highland bus sells a hikers’ pass from Reykjavík to Skógar, from €109, and there are return buses out of Þórsmörk. Our Þórsmörk day trip guide explains the bus and why rental cars stop at the rivers.
Our honest take
If you’re fit and you’ve hiked in mountains before, take the €299 package: bus, trail, a night in Þórsmörk and a hot dinner at the end. The downside is that you’re on your own, and on a foggy day the top of the pass is no place to be learning to read a map.
If you want a guide for the day, the €440 hike with the barbecue is the one to book. It suits you best if you’re staying near Hvolsvöllur, and it needs four people to have booked.
Only go longer if you want Þórsmörk itself. The three-day trip is good, but you’re paying for the valley, not for an easier pass.
And if you’re not sure you can walk 25 km with 1,000 metres of climbing, don’t find out here. Walk the first hour up from Skógafoss, past the waterfalls, and turn round. That’s the best part for the least effort.
