Cost: FREE
Time: 4-5 hours
Iceland is known for being a hiker’s dream. Full of beautiful mountains and landscape, the views are truly stunning at the top of peaks. I stayed in Reykjavik during my stay in Iceland and found a hiking center along the city bus routes called the Esjurætur Hiking Center. My friends and I began this hike in the morning and it roughly took four hours to complete. While in the summer time this jaunt is a bit more manageable, in the winter time it was quite challenging. The wind bit at any exposed skin and the ice along the steep trail was slippery. While I am in no means a hiker, I would like to note that I found this trail to be quite challenging do to the rocky, steep nature of the mountain. If you are going to embark on this trail, please make sure to be prepared with proper hiking gear (shoes with traction!).
However, if any of the above has scared you off, the views on this trail are magnificent and well worth the hike. From atop the mountain, you can see Reykjavik sitting at the feet of the distance white mountains, and the large lakes look like puddles scattered amongst the countryside. The trail on its own was also full of beauty, such as the trickling half-frozen streams (Second row, first photo), and mouths of ice protruding from the cracks in the earth (First row, second photo). If you are planning a trip to Reykjavik and want a taste of Icelandic hiking, Esjurætur Hiking Center is for you.