Hverir Mud Pots

Hverir, also called Namafjall, is a geothermal field on the east flank of Namafjall ridge, 5 km east of Reykjahlid on the Ring Road. Sulphur-yellow crystals rim the vents, grey mud pots plop like slow porridge, and steam roars from fumaroles under enough pressure to be audible from the car park. The ground crust is thin — one bright orange rope marks the boundary and you must not step off the boardwalks. It sits above the Krafla magma chamber, which erupted last in 1984 and still keeps the field roaring.

The visit is a slow 30-40 minute loop on gravel paths, made stinking and unforgettable by hydrogen sulphide. There are five or six main features to walk between: several mud pots, three big fumaroles, and a bank of sulphur boils. On the far side, a steeper path climbs the Namafjall ridge (30 minutes each way) for a panorama over the whole Myvatn area. Bring wind protection; the ridge is exposed. Do not touch the mud, do not step off the paths — the crust is 2 cm thick over 100°C water.

Come at sunrise for steam glowing golden against cold air, or at sunset when the low light picks out the yellow crystals. Midday tour buses arrive between 11 and 3. There is a small car park directly on Route 1 and no facilities: no toilets, no cafe, no shop. Pair with Myvatn Nature Baths (10 min drive) for a hot soak that washes the sulphur out of your hair, or Krafla caldera 20 km north. Wash your clothes when you get to the hotel — the smell clings.

The sulphur here was money once. From the 1500s until the late 1800s the Hlidarnamur mines on this slope shipped crude sulphur to Copenhagen for gunpowder, and the Danish crown treated the deposits as a royal asset; the trade only died when cheaper Sicilian sulphur reached northern Europe. Walk the loop and you can still see where the yellow crust was scraped and where pale rubble was heaped downslope. Directly west, on the flat you drove across, sits Bjarnarflag — Iceland's first geothermal power station, running since 1969 — and the same borehole field that feeds the Myvatn Nature Baths. None of this is signposted in any detail: there are safety warnings and little interpretation, so read the history before you arrive rather than expecting a panel to explain it. Ten minutes of context turns a smelly field into the industrial and volcanic centre of north Iceland.

Getting here means driving, and there is no honest alternative. Hverir is on the south side of Route 1 at the foot of the Namaskard pass, 5 km and about five minutes east of Reykjahlid, 100 km and roughly 1 hour 15 minutes east of Akureyri, 165 km and about two hours west of Egilsstadir, and 480 km — six and a half hours of steady driving — from Reykjavik via the north coast. Strætó route 56 links Akureyri, Reykjahlid and Egilsstadir on a thin summer timetable and stops in the village, not at the field; the 5 km walk out climbs a pass on a shoulderless Ring Road and is not worth attempting. Fill up at the N1 in Reykjahlid, the last fuel before Egilsstadir. If you have no car, book a Myvatn day tour from Akureyri instead of trying to improvise transport.

The site itself costs nothing: no ticket, no parking machine, no honesty box, and no plan to introduce one. The money goes on everything around it. Fuel is the big line — reckon on roughly ISK 300 a litre, so the Reykjavik to Myvatn run burns something like ISK 11,000 to 13,000 of petrol each way in a small car, while rentals run from about ISK 9,000 a day in the dark months to well over ISK 20,000 in July. There are no toilets at Hverir; the nearest are in Reykjahlid at the N1 and the supermarket, where coin toilets typically want ISK 200 to 300. Myvatn Nature Baths, the standard follow-up, charges around ISK 9,000 for an adult in high season with towel hire extra. Krafla's power station visitor centre is free in summer. Budget for the soak, not the volcano.

Timing matters more here than at any other Myvatn stop. In June and July there is usable light around the clock: arrive at 22:00 or 07:00 and you may have the whole field alone, which is the single best decision you can make about this place. Coaches from Akureyri and the cruise calls unload between 11:00 and 15:00, when the 40-odd parking spaces jam and the boardwalks queue at the main mud pot. September and October give crisp air, low sun and thin crowds — the strongest month for photography. Winter turns the steam enormous but drains the colour to grey and white, ices the gravel, and can close the Namaskard pass in a storm. Check wind direction before you walk: a westerly pushes the plume straight over the loop and you will see nothing but white. Stand upwind and wait for a gust to clear it.

It suits almost everyone for half an hour and nobody for longer. Small children are fine on the boardwalks but must be held: the mud sits near boiling, the rope is the only barrier, and burns happen here most summers. Teenagers will photograph it in fifteen minutes and be ready to leave. Wheelchair users and anyone unsteady should know the surface is loose gravel throughout — the steam, the smell and the biggest vents are visible from the car park itself, so a five-minute stop still delivers most of the drama. Asthmatics and anyone sensitive to hydrogen sulphide should keep it short and stay upwind. Remove silver jewellery, which tarnishes in this air, and consider glasses over contact lenses. Leave dogs in the car: the ground is hot and paws blister. With a one-hour gap in the day, this is a comfortable stop.

Fold it into a half-day rather than a special trip. Myvatn Nature Baths is 5 km west, 10 minutes; Grjotagja, the small hot cave with water too hot to enter, is about 3 km off Route 860 near Reykjahlid; Hverfjall's tephra crater is a 20-minute climb from its car park off Route 863; Dimmuborgir's lava pillars are 12 km away with a one-hour loop and Kaffi Borgir on site; the Skutustadagigar pseudocraters ring the lake 20 km round. North on Route 863 lies Krafla, 20 km, with the Viti explosion crater and the Leirhnjukur lava field still warm from the 1975-84 Krafla Fires. Dettifoss is 60 km east on the paved Route 862, Godafoss 50 km west. A clean order: Hverir at 08:00, Krafla by 09:30, Nature Baths at noon, lake circuit after lunch.

The honest caveats. This is a gravel loop of a few hundred metres, not an expedition, and the Mars comparison oversells the scale — most people are back at the car in twenty-five minutes. The photographs you have seen were taken in wet autumn light, when the ochre and yellow saturate; under midday summer sun in dry weather the field reads as flat grey. The ridge path is steep, loose and fully exposed, and in the wind that blows through Namaskard most days it is not worth the 30 minutes each way; skip it and drive up to the pass viewpoint instead. The smell is not a joke — it soaks into fleece and hair, and clothes need airing overnight. There is no cafe, no toilet, no shelter and no visitor centre, so eat and use the facilities in Reykjahlid first.

Hours & entry

Always free

Open 24/7 year-round · Boardwalks accessible any time · Steam heaviest at dawn in cold air

What to see

• Main mud pot — Central raised platform, marked by the biggest boardwalk loop
• Roaring fumarole — West side of the field, follow the loudest hiss
• Namafjall ridge viewpoint — Top of the trail climbing east, 30 min from car park

Tips from the ground

• Come at sunrise for the best steam contrast and no buses
• Follow up with Myvatn Nature Baths 10 minutes away to lose the sulphur smell
• Keep phones and cameras away from the fumarole steam — moisture ruins electronics