Hveravellir

Halfway across the interior on the Kjolur route, between the ice caps of Langjokull and Hofsjokull, the ground at Hveravellir breaks into hot springs, fumaroles and low domes of white and orange sinter. Boardwalks lead around the active part: a blue pool that stays clear to the bottom, a vent that roars without pause, crusted mounds built up over centuries of mineral deposit. Beside the huts there is a small bathing pool where hot water off the field is mixed with cold down to something bearable. Eighteenth-century accounts place the outlaw Fjalla-Eyvindur here for a time, living off the warmth in a landscape offering no other shelter.

What you actually see

• The sinter mounds - white and orange mineral crusts built up around the vents.
• The steaming vents - fumaroles and hot pools reached on boardwalk.
• The bathing pool - a small mixed pool of hot and cold water beside the huts.
• The Kjolur crossing - the gravel route between two ice caps that brings you here.

When to go

Late June to early September, which is when the Kjolur road is open and the huts are staffed; the route is closed and unmaintained the rest of the year. Beds go early in July and August. Arriving in the evening, after the day traffic running between Gullfoss and the north has passed through, leaves the boardwalks almost empty.

Honest expectations

This is an F road, and rental agreements generally require a four-wheel drive on it whatever the surface looks like on the day. Facilities are basic and there is nothing else for a long way in either direction. The bathing pool is small and fills up. The sulphur smell is constant, and stepping off the boardwalk risks breaking through hot crust.

Nearby

Kerlingarfjoll lies south along the same route, with Gullfoss beyond it and Blonduos to the north.