6 Best Sights in Kjölur Route, The Highlands

This historic oasis at the halfway point of the Kjölur route is also one of Iceland's best-known geothermal areas, featuring the luminous Bláhver hot spring and a silica-encrusted fumarole called Öskuhólshver (Screaming Spring). A highlight of the Kjölur route, Hveravellir has mountain cabins with modern private rooms, sleeping-bag accommodations, and a service center with a restaurant, plus access to a geothermal pool for bathing. Trails in the area lead to some unexpected treasures, such as the Þjófadalir hidden valley. Stay on the boardwalks while exploring the hot springs.

The star attraction of the Kjölur route, the Kerlingarfjöll mountain range features steaming hot springs and a span of beautiful rhyolite mountain slopes topped with several dramatic glacier-speckled peaks, the highest rising to 1,477 meters (4,846 feet). The area is popular with hikers and has great trails of varying lengths and difficulty, with steps and trails climbing the slopes to give access to dramatic, other-worldly panoramas. To reach the mountain cluster, turn off Route 35 onto Route F347 and drive for 10 km (6 miles), where you'll reach the Kerlingarfjöll Mountain Resort. You can hike along a canyon from here to reach the mountains, or continue on a rough gravel road for 5 km (3 miles) to reach a parking lot in an area known as Hveradalir.

There are many chilling stories of unfortunate folks who perished in the Highlands; one tale tells of brothers named Bjarni and Einar Halldórsson, who were caught in a snowstorm northeast of Kjalfell mountain and tragically died along with their horses and sheep. Their bones were found years later in a place since dubbed Beinahóll (Bone Hill) and found around 21 km (13 miles) south of Hveravellir, off Route F35. The Wilderness Centre in East Iceland features an exhibition on this legendary event.

As the old Icelandic saying goes, distance makes the mountains blue. Rising on the horizon as you drive north, Bláfell is a magnificent 1,204-meter (3,950-foot) mountain steeped in myth, legend, and tales of hidden treasure. A trail off the main road leads to the Fremastaver mountain hut, which makes an excellent base for those planning to climb the mountain—it's a long but rewarding hike.

North of Hveravellir and the Kjalhraun lava field is the expansive, milky-green Blöndulón lagoon—a man-made lake formed when the Blanda river was dammed together with the source of the river Kolkukvísl for the Blanda hydroelectric power plant, which came online in 1991. The lagoon forms the third-largest lake in Iceland.