Askja
A remote volcanic caldera in the central highlands — 8 kilometres wide, holding a deep blue crater lake and a smaller geothermal lake (Víti) you can bathe in. The most isolated stop on this guide.
Why this place matters.
Askja is what's left of a volcano that collapsed in 1875. The caldera floor sits 1,100 m above sea level, 8 km across, with two lakes: Öskjuvatn (the main caldera lake) and Víti (the smaller geothermal one). Apollo astronauts trained here in 1965 for Moon-walking.
Access is via F910 from Mývatn area — a long day with multiple unbridged river crossings including the deep Jökulsá á Fjöllum. Super-jeep tours from Mývatn are the realistic option for most travelers. Self-drive is for very experienced parties only. Once you arrive, a 45-minute walk from Drekagil takes you to the crater rim.
North-Central Highlands · Vatnajökull NP.
F910 from Möðrudalur, or super-jeep tours from Mývatn / Reykjahlíð.
Worth visiting — read the fine print.
Honest, not cynical. These are the things returning visitors tell first-timers.
F910 crosses Lindaá, Svartá, and most seriously Jökulsá á Fjöllum (1–1.5 m typical depth). Super-jeep recommended; ordinary 4WD is genuinely risky.
Saga Travel, Mývatn Tours, Geo Travel all run super-jeep day-tours. €280–€420. Includes the river crossings + an experienced driver.
The geothermal lake is irregular in temperature. Test before committing. Recent activity has heated some areas dangerously.
Mostly absent on F910. Tell someone your route and ETA. 112 Iceland app works offline.
Snow can fall any month at this elevation. The drive in can become unsafe rapidly. Always have a coastal exit plan.
The black lava plains around Askja were used as Moon-surface training. The geology is genuinely lunar.
When the place is itself.
Late July to early September only. F910 opens mid-July, closes ~Sep 10. Weather can shut the road any month. The shortest reliable window of any location in this guide.
Light, shaped by ice.
45-min walk from Drekagil. Wide angle. The lake is impossibly deep blue at midday.
Smaller geothermal crater 200 m from the main rim. Mint-green water. Wide angle.
F910 crosses the Holuhraun lava field — the 2014 eruption deposit. Endless black with mountain silhouettes.
Super-jeeps fording rivers makes a striking scale shot. From the guide's vehicle.
Getting there, calmly.
The place, four ways.
Within an hour.
- Drekagil hutSleeps 60 · ranger station · book ahead
- Holuhraun lava field2014 eruption deposit
- HerðubreiðarlindirOasis at Iceland's iconic flat-top peak
- MývatnTour pickup base
- MöðrudalurHighest farm in Iceland · café
It lives on these routes.
Read this place differently.
What the place is doing right now.
Make Askja part of your expedition.
Open it inside the Explorer to see it in context with terrain, season, and conditions — or plan a route that passes through.