Krafla

About Krafla

Krafla is an active volcanic system just northeast of Lake Mývatn in North Iceland, with a caldera about 10 kilometers across and a fissure zone some 90 kilometers long. Its last eruptions, the Krafla Fires, came in nine episodes between 1975 and 1984, and the black lava they left still steams in places.

Most visitors make two stops. The first is Víti, the explosion crater that formed at the start of the Mývatn Fires in 1724, where a path follows the rim above its green-blue water. A few minutes down the road, a marked loop at Leirhnjúkur leads through sulfur-stained ground, mud pots and the 1980s lava fields, and it takes one to two hours at an easy pace.

The ground here is hot and thin in places, so stay on the marked paths and wear sturdy boots. On the way up you pass the Krafla geothermal power station, run by Landsvirkjun, which turns steam from deep boreholes into about 60 MW of electricity. Its visitor center is closed for winter 2026/27.

The drive from Mývatn to Krafla is short. Take Route 863 off the Ring Road just east of Námaskarð, and you reach the parking lots in about 20 minutes from Reykjahlíð, or roughly an hour and a half from Akureyri. Parking at the Víti and Leirhnjúkur lots is paid, so check the signs for the current rate and payment method.

June to September is the best time to visit, when the road is clear and the trails are easy to follow. In winter, snow can bury the paths, so check the official road-conditions map and travel warnings before heading up. Give the Krafla crater area two to three hours, and add Hverir at Námaskarð on the way back.