Landmannalaugar looks as if someone has spilled a paint box over the mountains. The hills around the camp are made of rhyolite, a volcanic rock that weathers in shades of pink, yellow, green, blue and purple, and in the evening, with the low sun on them, they glow like embers. Beside the camp is a black lava field, the Laugahraun, and a stream of warm water runs through it from hot springs, where trekkers sit in a natural pool after a long day on the trail.
This is the start of the Laugavegur trail, one of the best-known walks in Iceland, which runs for fifty-odd kilometres to Þórsmörk, and in summer the camp is crowded with hikers, tents and buses. The huts are run by the Icelandic Touring Association, and the whole place has the feel of an outpost, with a small shop, toilets and a car park full of big four-wheel-drive vehicles. The volcano Hekla, which has erupted many times in recorded history, stands to the south-west.
The roads to Landmannalaugar are mountain tracks, not highways. Most visitors arrive on the F208 or by the track from Route 26, both of which involve loose gravel, lava rock and several river crossings, some of them deep, and they are officially open only in summer, usually from late June, when the snow melts. Conditions change from day to day, so check the road authority's website for closures and river depths before setting off, and think hard about whether your machine, your tyres and your nerve are up to it. It is a hard ride, not a casual one.
Carry food, water and warm clothes, since the weather in the highlands can turn from sunshine to sleet in an hour, and always tell someone your route.