Kerlingarfjöll is a 1,477 m tall mountain range in Iceland situated in the Highlands of Iceland near the Kjölur highland road. They are part of a large tuya volcano system of 100 km.
This place is quite otherwordly and defintely worth a visit if you want to venture off the beaten path.
Getting to Kerlingarfjöll in the summer is pretty easy - Follow Road 35 / F35 to F347 and stop at Highland Base at Kerlingarfjöll. Any 4x4 vehicle will do as there are no river crossings. However, getting to Kerlingarfjöll in the winter will require an organized Highland Bus ride to & from Highland Base. This is one of the only ways to experience the Icelandic Highlands in winter.
If you want to play it safe and be in a well-equipped, photogenic car, then you should rent an old-school Land Rover Defender from www.isak.is. Use the code "gunnar" for renting your Defender on a special price.
Once at Highland Base, grab something to eat or maybe stay the night. From Highland Base you can hike to a natural hot spring and join other hiking trails.
Or, continue driving along F347 and take a right to get to the Hveradalir geothermal area.
Hiking in Kerlingafjöll and getting to Hverdalir (valley if hot springs)
Make sure to stay on the path when hiking in this area as there can be dangerous hot springs off-trail. You can either park at the Kerlingafjöll Basecamp and hike from there (especially if you're camping). This is around a 5km hike each way, so going back and forth is a solid say hike - beautiful and rewarding. Alternatively, you can take the rugged road further up to the Hverdalir parking spot - but keep in mind that this is solid 4x4 territory. (Don't confuse Hverdalir with Hveradalur which is further towards the north of Iceland). If your main objective is photography and droning, it's well worth skipping the longer hike so you have more time to spend in the valley of hot springs.
Bathing and nature lagoons
The Kerlingafjöll Basecamp offers a nice spa with geothermal hot pools and is available right from the basecamp itself. Campers who don't stay at the hotel get a discount too once they've paid for the campsite. Alternatively, you can go visit the free nature lagoon which is around a 30 min hike from the camp site, this one is more basic but also a great experience - more of a true wilderness experience than luxury spa. Look for "Baðlón" to find the route to the free pool. Both are highly recommended. My personal recommendation: if you do the logn hike, treat yourself and get the more luxurious spa at the base camp - and for those you skip the longer hike, do the extra hike to the natural hot-pool to still get a feeling of that off the beaten path hike... or simply, try both!
Other tips and tricks
One extremely useful trip is the hose at the Basecamp to clean your shoes. The mud is extremely hard to clean off your shoes and gear and there is a hose located by the Baseline restaurant/reception that is very useful. You can use the brush to get the worst of the mud off, and then clean the rest with the hose. I personally rarely use hiking poles, but if I ever were to use them, Kerlingafjöll would be the place. The mud is very slippery and some of the stairs and be quite tricky, so poles are very useful to avoid slipping in the mud. Also consider using some of your older shoes (if you have that luxury) to avoid colouring some of your nicest boots.
Food and accommodation
There are few options for accommodation:
You can either camp in a tent or camper van
Stay in one of the cabins managed by Highland Base Camp
or stay at the Highland basecamp which offers both hotel and lodges,
The food is quite good at the Basecamp and you can eat there even if you're at the camp site. But keep in mind that lunch is relatively early and dinner is often fully booked, so make sure to do a reservation. There is also a waffle buffet in the afternoon which is very cozy after a long and satisfying day out in the wilderness.
