Highlands · Iceland
Highland Base Kerlingarfjöll
The only real hotel in Iceland's interior, among rhyolite mountains and steam vents
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Kerlingarfjöll is a range of rhyolite peaks in the centre of Iceland, streaked orange and red and vented with steam, reached by a highland track about three and a half hours from Reykjavík. Highland Base opened here to give the interior something it had never really had: proper accommodation.
The hotel rooms and lodges are contemporary and warm, with a restaurant, a bar and geothermal baths and saunas built to take the cold out of a day's hiking. Simpler cabins, a hostel and a campsite sit alongside for other budgets.
The surrounding hiking is exceptional, through the Hveradalir geothermal valley and up onto the ridges, and in winter the site becomes a base for snowcat trips and cross-country skiing under skies with no light pollution whatsoever.
At a glance
What to expect
- Geothermal baths and saunas
- Restaurant and bar
- Guided highland hiking
- Snowcat and winter tours
- Remote dark sky location
- Cross-country skiing
- Hot tub
- Hveradalir geothermal valley on the doorstep
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