Hverir Geothermal Area

Hverir puts most forms of geothermal activity into one field. Mud boils and bursts at ground level. Fumaroles hiss steam out of piles of rock, and the gas they carry smells strongly of sulphur. Heavy mineral deposits colour the hillside in ochre, rust and grey, with no vegetation to break it up. What is missing is a geyser: nothing here erupts to a schedule.

Designated boardwalk trails run through the field. Walking off them is possible, and people do it, but boiling mud and steam vents sit between the marked routes. A path also climbs the slope behind the field, and the view from the top takes in the whole area at once.

• Sulphur: the smell is strong across the whole field and it stays on clothes.
• Footwear: the mud is sticky and gets onto shoes, on the boardwalk and off it.
• Stay on the boardwalks: boiling mud and steam vents sit between the marked trails.
• The climb: take the loop left to right; the right-to-left descent is steep and dangerous when wet.
• Crowds: the field is crowded in mid-August.

Most people arrive by car. The car park is a short distance off the Ring Road, and the field begins at its edge, so there is no walk-in to speak of. The boardwalks lead straight from the car park into the mud pots and fumaroles.

The climb to the viewpoint starts from the field itself. Go left to right for a loop, or up on the right and back down the same way. Do not take the loop right to left: that descent is the steep one.

Better: dry weather, if you want the climb to the viewpoint.

Avoid: wet days on the slope, and mid-August.

The mud pots and fumaroles are there in any weather and the field never closes, but rain makes the descent from the viewpoint dangerous. In mid-August the boardwalks are crowded.