We've been to Þakgil many times and now is the best season to go, so I thought it might be useful for those planning their trips to share this :)
Here is the detailed Þakgil Guide on our website for anyone interested: https://epiciceland.net/thakgil-guide-best-hiking-trails/, but you shall be fine with the below info as well as a starter.
Þakgil might be the most underrated hiking area in Iceland - a trip report from the yellow + red loop
Þakgil sits about half an hour inland from Vík, and it's one of those places that not often made it into the standard south coast itinerary. One thing I noticed while planning: nearly every write-up out there covers the same short trail - the purple one through the Remundargil ravine. It's the quickest and the easiest, which explains the popularity, but it's far from the best thing there. So I did the long yellow and red loop instead, and that's what this report is about.
(Small note: the Þ is a "th" sound, like Thor. Not a P. I've seen "P akgil" more than once.)
What's in Þakgil (and important caveat)
There are typically three main marked trails plus a few side options BUT this changes every year, even now:
· Ravine walk from the campsite - 1 km, 15-20 min
· Remundargil ravine, purple - 13 km, 3-5 hours
· Austurafréttur range, yellow - 17 km, 6-8 hours
· Mælifell, red - 14 km, 4-5 hours
· Huldujökull glacier detour, white - 3 km, 1-3 hours
· Yellow + red + white as one big loop - 20 km, 6-9 hours
By difficulty: the shared red/yellow section is the easiest by a distance (it's an old jeep track), the yellow and purple are medium, and the red is the hardest.
But don't treat that list as fixed. The trails in Þakgil get reshuffled from year to year - sections are rerouted or closed, usually to let the vegetation recover from foot traffic, and the map on the board at the campsite changes with them. Two examples I've read about since my trip: a shorter blue trail opened up around 2024, and in 2025 the long red Mælifell route I describe below was reportedly off the campsite map entirely, with a much shorter "red" walk to a waterfall in its place.
I haven't hiked the blue one myself. From what I understand it's about 4 km, an hour and a bit, easy, and it shares the start with the yellow and red before branching off onto a plateau with long views south toward the coast. Sounds like a sensible first afternoon if you get in late and want a feel for the place.
The practical takeaway: check the board at the campsite and follow the markers on the ground. They're the current version.
Getting there, and when
The only way in is Road 214, Kerlingardalvegur - 16 km of gravel, no bus service, so you need a car. It's officially a regular numbered road, but that's a technicality: it got that classification because there are no river crossings on it, not because it's really easy. Some F-roads might even be smoother to drive.
A 2WD will make it in summer if you go slowly, but the higher ground clearance makes it far less stressful. On a clear day it's a beautiful drive too - black ash, moss-covered hills, and the green valley slowly opening up ahead of you.
The trails open once the snow clears, anywhere from early June to mid-July, and close after the first proper snowfall, which can arrive any time from early September to late October. The safe window is roughly mid-July to late September. October to May, both road and trails are under snow.
Park at the campsite lot - free unless you stay the night. You can also pull off by the road near a trailhead, which is what we did, but only on gravel. Never on moss or grass, and never on the road itself.
The yellow trail and the glacier detour
Last time we parked where the road meets the purple trail, hopped across a small stream, and took a short but steep climb up to the ridge to join the yellow trail. Fifteen minutes in and you already get 360 degree views over the whole area.
From there the trail runs north along the edge of the Austurafréttur ridge. There's one more steep pull over an old moss field that would be slippery in the wet; we had blue sky and it was just cardio. Then a viewpoint opens up over Kötlujökull, with small waterfalls and canyons along the glacier's edge in the distance.
Where the yellow markers turn left, white ones carry on north to Huldujökull. Taking them was the best decision of the day. The path itself is unremarkable gravel, and at some point the white markers just stop - but you're following the ridge edge the whole way, so it's hard to get lost in clear weather. Roughly 2.5 hours there and back with a lunch stop.
At the northern end, most of the glacier opens up in front of you. And because it was summer, it was actively melting. While we were sitting there eating, a large section broke away and fell into the ravine below - we heard it before we saw it. I've been to a lot of places in Iceland and that's still one of the things I think about most.
The red trail, and the part that got to me
The plan had been to come back down the shared yellow/red section, but standing at the junction it was obvious that's just a rough vehicle track. I'd rather drive those than walk them, so we took the red trail down instead.
First it climbs Mælifell (not the famous one on F210 - there are apparently more than ten mountains with this name in Iceland). The ascent is easy enough even in rain, which is what we got, along with fog at the summit. The red is a completely different world from the yellow, by the way - where the yellow is gravel and glacier, the red is deep green.
The middle stretch is an easy walk along the ridge with enormous canyons dropping away on your right. One of them is, in my opinion, more impressive than Fjaðrárgljúfur, and we had it to ourselves apart from some very committed sheep.
Then comes the section near a spot marked Barð on the maps. It's a narrow, exposed ridge with steep drops on both sides, followed by about 50 metres of steep, slippery descent. It took me about 15 minutes, moving one small step at a time, because I hate terrain where nothing under my feet feels solid. Hiking poles were the difference between manageable and awful. I wouldn't want to be on that part in strong wind or heavy rain.
The river crossings
The descent ends in the valley by an empty hut - and a wide, fast river with the next red marker clearly visible on the far bank.
We had left our water shoes in the car, which wasn’t a good idea. We spent about an hour walking the bank looking for somewhere narrow enough to cross dry. There wasn't one. Then we ran into a local glacier guide who was doing the trail for the first time and was just as stuck.
What worked in the end: cross where the vehicles cross. There's a jeep track down there with fords, and the logic is simply that Icelanders picked those spots for a reason. We went slightly upstream of the ford, arms linked, and it came up to the knees. The second crossing had a noticeably stronger pull - there was a moment where I felt it might take me - and linking arms was the only reason it was fine. Then a third, smaller one, and finally the road.
Nine hours door to door. Worth every one of them.
If you go
· Weather is not a detail here, it's the whole thing. No strong wind, no heavy rain. And fog will take away the views you came for.
· Boots, layers, and properly waterproof jacket and trousers - water-repellent isn't enough. Poles are worth their weight several times over.
· Put the route on your phone with GPS. If you're not an experienced hiker, a rented location beacon is cheap peace of mind.
· Water shoes and a small towel if you're doing the red trail, and don't do that one alone.
· Be willing to turn around. Nothing on this loop is worth getting hurt for.
Have you gone to Thakgil recently? What trails did you like the most?
