Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
with extended pauses at Nýidalur, Aldeyjarfoss and Goðafoss. Fare for the entire route is
Ikr16,500.
Bus 17 Reykjavík-Mývatn, 17a Mývatn-Reykjavík (three weekly July and August). Total
journey 11½ hours. Again, although it's a scheduled bus, it's also used as a tour, with
breaks at Nýidalur, Aldeyjarfoss and Goðafoss. Fare for the entire route is Ikr20,500.
CAR
There's no fuel along the route. Goðafoss to Hrauneyjar is 240km, so plan accordingly.
The nearest petrol stations are at Akureyri (from the Eyjafjörður approach); Varmahlíð
(from the Skagafjörður approach) or Fosshóll, near Goðafoss (if you're coming from the
north along the main route through Bárðardalur). There is petrol at Hrauneyjar if you're
driving from the south.
Eyjafjörður approach
From the north, the F821 from southern Eyjafjörður (south of
Akureyri) connects to the Skagafjörður approach at Laugafell.
Skagafjörður approach
From the northwest the 81km-long F752 connects southern
Skagafjörður (the nearest town is Varmahlíð on the Ring Road) to the Sprengisandur
route. The roads join near the lake Fjórðungsvatn, 20km east of Hofsjökull.
Öskjuleið (Askja Route)
The Öskjuleið runs across the highlands to Herðubreið (1682m), the Icelanders' beloved
'Queen of the Mountains', and to the desert's most popular marvel, the immense Askja
caldera.
The usual access road is Rte F88, which leaves the Ring Road 32km east of Mývatn at
Hrossaborg
, a 10,000-year-old crater shaped like an amphitheatre, used as a filmset for
the Tom Cruise sci-fi film
Oblivion
(2013). Askja is also accessible further east via Rtes
F905 and F910 (close to
Möðrudalur
).
For much of the way the F88 is a flat journey, following the western bank of the Jökulsá
á Fjöllum glacier river, meandering across tephra wasteland and winding circuitously
through rough, tyre-abusing sections of the 4400-sq-km
Ódáðahraun
(Evil Deeds Lava
Field).
After a long journey through the lava- and flood-battered plains, things perk up at the
lovely oasis of Herðubreiðarlindir, at the foot of Herðubreið. The route then wanders west-