Iceland
Krafla
Boiling mud pots and steaming lava fields that still radiate heat decades after erupting.
The ground is warm through your boot soles. Steam rises from cracks in black lava that cooled only decades ago, and the air reeks of sulphur and the particular metallic heat of a planet that hasn't finished forming. Krafla in north Iceland is where volcanic power is neither ancient history nor abstract concept — it's happening now, underfoot.
Krafla is a caldera system that last erupted between 1975 and 1984 in a series of events known as the Krafla Fires, which produced lava flows that are still warm to the touch. The Leirhnjúkur lava field, formed during these eruptions, is a chaotic landscape of black, red, and sulphur-yellow rock threaded with steam vents and boiling mud. The older Víti crater — from a different eruption in 1724 — contains a pale blue lake inside its explosion crater. Iceland's first geothermal power station was built directly on top of the Krafla system, drilling into the volcanic heat to generate electricity. The nearby Námafjall geothermal area adds boiling mud pots and hissing fumaroles to the sensory overload. The entire area is connected by well-marked walking trails from a car park on the Ring Road.
Friends
Walking across lava that erupted within living memory, touching warm ground, and watching mud boil — Krafla is raw geological spectacle that energises a group.
Solo
The Leirhnjúkur trail alone, with steam rising and the ground warm beneath your feet, is one of Iceland's most visceral solo walks. You feel the planet's mechanics.
- The Víti explosion crater from the 1724 'Fires of Mývatn' eruption still steams.
- Leirhnjúkur lava field from the 1975-84 Krafla Fires still radiates heat underfoot.
- Iceland's first geothermal power station sits inside the volcanic system.
- The surrounding Námafjall geothermal area has boiling mud pots and sulphur vents.
Hard-boiled eggs cooked in a geothermal vent on the edge of the steaming field.
Lamb stew with parsnips and rutabaga served in a nearby geothermal power station cafe.
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