Iceland’s F roads are a beast unto themselves – unpaved mountain roads that traverse the highlands, require an all-wheel-drive vehicle by law and which may involve river crossings. They are only open certain months of the year and – even if you do have an all-wheel-drive vehicle – there’s a significant risk that your rental car company will not allow you drive on them, or at least over the rivers that run through them. (While other rental companies will salivate at the myriad repair fees they’ll be able to charge.)
So naturally we’ll be taking F roads up to Highland Base this morning.
But first – the usual rigamarole as we clear out of ÖÖD Hekla Horizon. They ask that you clean the dishes and take out the garbage when you leave, which is a bridge too far for a place that bills itself as “meeting the expectations of well-travelled guests.” We’re fine to clean the dishes, but we’re not dealing with the garbage again, particularly as we already had to empty their tiny garbage cans once already.
That’s my grump for the morning. I will otherwise note that ÖÖD Hekla Horizon was a great place to stay with stylish architecture and some sweeping views of the Hekla volcano area. It’s quite not as private as it’s made out to be in their photos – there are other rentals and houses within view – but it still feels secluded. We’d certainly return, particularly if doing any tours in the area.
(Beyond Secret Local Adventures, Caves of Hella also looked interesting – and the caves have ancient crosses, Viking era wall carvings and carved seats. Maybe next time!)
One more round of loadmastering:
We leave close to 11 am, passing a chaos cushion enroute – but not just any chaos cushion, a jumbo chaos cushion:
The wide angle makes it seem larger than it really is, so here’s another photo showing my wife for scale:
As you can see, this anarchy pouch is massive – well over eight feet tall (and yes, the adults went on it too)
And for those curious about the rules surrounding the chaos cushion, here you go:
Is that… blood on the sign?
We stop at Kaffihús Grund for coffee, hot chocolate and a bathroom break, then backtrack past Gullfoss before we hit the dreaded F roads:
And you know what? They are every bit as bad as I’ve made them out to be. Worse, even.
We start to nickname the sections with repeated potholes “gallopers” as it feels like you’re riding a bucking bronco:
And there are stretches that are genuinely hazardous to vehicles – not merely hazardous if you’re driving beyond the conditions, but simply hazardous to cross in any way, shape or form. It’s easy to see how someone could seriously damage the underside of their vehicle.
I can absolutely understand why Highland Base recommends that guests take their shuttle in from Gullfoss (or Reykjavik) whenever possible.
After two grueling hours of F road driving, we finally arrive at Highland Base:
Photo Credit: Highland Base
From their website:
“For centuries, this primal wilderness has been the source of myths and folktales. The name itself was inspired by a 25-meter pillar of volcanic rock—the legendary geological remains of a giantess who roamed the mountains and turned to stone when she was stricken by the first rays of the rising sun.
Kerlingarfjöll holds a special place in the hearts of generations of Icelanders who visited this untouched region year after year. To move across the vivid rhyolite hills and into the towering mountainscape is to walk in the footsteps of adventurers from across the ages.”
This is perhaps one of the most expensive hotels at which we’ve ever stayed – pricier even than the Mesm Tokyo – but we’re hopeful it will give us unique access to Iceland’s highlands. (Or at least some good stories to tell of how it all went awry.)
Highland Base costs a eye-watering $ 2,200 USD per night for our connected lodge, which – in the summer – includes no activities apart from hot springs or meals other than breakfast. This makes it pricier than many of our expedition cruises (urgh).
Check-in time isn’t until 3 pm – and the lodges where we’re staying are among the most difficult to clean – so we spend a bit of time in their luxurious upstairs lounge:
Very cozy.
Our lodge is ready at 3 pm, and what a lovely lodge it is:
We have both halves of an interconnected lodge, which works perfectly for us – the kids have their space, and we have ours.
Speaking of the kids, Highland Base has already made up the sofa bed:
There are some hotels that fail to live up to their photos, but Highland Base is not one of them – if anything, the accommodations are nicer than we expected.
There are even some welcome amenities:
As well as a fridge that wins the award for “Most Difficult Fridge to Find”:
But once we do find it, we can but marvel at its space-age beauty:
We’d hoped to book one of their less expensive offerings, but competition for Highland Base has been stiff this year – particularly with the eclipse in the offing. My wife checked every single day from February to June 2025 for their summer calendar to open up since Highland Base reception made it clear that they don’t control when the days are released and even corporate didn’t seem to have a rhythm.
Some places release a day at a time, while some do a week, or a month, or a season. Highland Base released a day at a time for 10 days in June 2025 and then randomly released the entire rest of the summer season. This was of course the one time my wife waited until 9 am EST to look (instead of the usual 6:30 am), at which point half the damned rooms had booked out. (Not that she’s grumpy about it.)
When “discussing” this with reception, my wife was told that group bookings opened up months earlier so we were quite fortunate to get any rooms at all.
We’d initially suspected that there was some sort of wedding or other event, but now that we’re here it becomes immediately clear that Nat Hab and Arctic Adventures have booked out a significant portion of the hotel rooms – but it doesn’t seem to be impacting service at all.
But for those who are eyeing Highland Base with interest – we expect they will have greater availability going forward, as guests won’t have to compete with the eclipse crowd.
One minor grump is that we need to schlep our bags across the gravel to the furthest of the lodges, but it’s a minor grump – they offered to help us move the bags, and it’s only about a hundred metres. Plus it will be nice to be out on the far end, as it will give us maximum privacy.
We take a bit of time for reading / writing / relaxing before we go off on a leg-stretch up the nearby pathway – which gives us a nice overview of Highland Base, including the camping area that is seldom shown in promotional photos:
There have been absolutely zero issues with having a camping area here, and we’re glad that there are some more affordable options to reach this beautiful part of Iceland
Onward and upward:
My wife and daughter leave my son and I far behind:
But eventually we also reach the top of the trail:
Some nice views from here, including of Fannborg – more on that later:
We don’t go far, but even the scenery from here seems promising:
Back to Highland Base for dinner.
The kids each get the burger:
While my wife and I get the beef tenderloin:
There isn’t a lot of variety in the menu, which is part of why guests only tend to stay two or three nights – along with the cost. Dinner is eye-wateringly expensive at CAD$90 per steak. (Though the burgers are a mere CAD$25, give or take.)
The resort is owned by Blue Lagoon Corporation, so they also offer a package which includes a stop at Silica Hotel and visits to Blue Lagoon.
However, there is a hot spring on site here at Highland Base – plus a waffle bar in the afternoon – and we will plan to make full use of both of those tomorrow after our big hike:
Photo Credit: Highland Base
Speaking of big hikes, after dinner we meet our guide Boris who will be taking us up Snækollur tomorrow, so that we can summit the highest peak in the Kerlingarfjöll mountain range.
Boris notes that cloud cover is expected to roll in early tomorrow, so we might be limited in what we’re able to accomplish. We have the option of stopping at the top of nearby Fannborg on the way if the weather turns unexpectedly, or if we run out of steam.
The Highland Base page for the Snækollur hike mentions crampons and ice axes, but Boris notes that it’s not the right time of year for that kind of climbing – however, he will bring the ice gear and we can look at doing an intro session to ice climbing instead if we’re not able to summit. (Or if we do summit and have time left at the end.)
The bottom line, however, is that we’re going to need to leave earlier than expected tomorrow – so after taking a few artful sunset shots:
It’s most definitely time for bed.