Guide to Ásbyrgi Canyon in North Iceland

Ásbyrgi canyon is a horseshoe-shaped gorge in North Iceland, walled by high cliffs around a quiet, wooded floor. Glacial floods carved it thousands of years ago, though local lore prefers a better story: the hoofprint of Óðinn's eight-legged horse, Sleipnir. It anchors the northeast corner of the Diamond Circle, the region’s main sightseeing loop, alongside Dettifoss and Húsavík. This guide covers how to get there, the best hikes and viewpoints, camping, the legend behind the name, and when to go.

Ásbyrgi canyon stretches about 3.5 km (2.2 mi) long and 1.1 km (0.7 mi) wide, with sheer walls rising as high as 100 m (328 ft) at its innermost end. The cliffs curve inward to enclose the gorge almost completely, and a large rock formation called Eyjan, or “the Island,” up to 250 m (820 ft) wide, stands in the middle and splits it into two arms. At the foot of the inner cliffs sits a small pond, Botnstjörn, ringed by low woodland. The whole site lies within Vatnajökull National Park, the largest national park in Iceland.

The floor is a surprise after the bare lava and gravel around it: green and wooded with birch, willow, and mountain ash, plus pines planted decades ago that have grown well. Fulmars nest on the cliff ledges and other birds gather around the ponds. That mix of high walls and quiet water is what gives Ásbyrgi its calm, closed-in feel.

Ásbyrgi is in northeast Iceland, at the northern edge of Vatnajökull National Park, 541 km (336 mi) from Reykjavík, 153 km (95 mi) from Akureyri, and 193 km (120 mi) from Egilsstaðir in the east. The site sits just off Route 85, the coastal road that links it to Húsavík and the rest of the Diamond Circle. A large parking area at the canyon mouth, next to the visitor center, puts the main viewpoints and the easiest trails a short walk from the car.

The drive from Reykjavík takes about 7 hours without stops, so most travelers break it up rather than do it in one push. The route runs north on the Ring Road through Borgarfjörður, past Hraunfossar and over the Holtavörðuheiði heath, then along Húnaflói bay near Hvítserkur before reaching the north coast.

From Akureyri, the most common base in the north, it's about two hours up the coast on Route 1 and then Route 85, through Húsavík to the canyon. Coming from Egilsstaðir in the east, the paved Ring Road route takes over 2 hours across high, open country, with the option of taking in Dettifoss on the way. Route 862 is paved the whole way to the falls, while Route 864 on the east bank is gravel and slower, so check road conditions before choosing it, especially outside summer.

Ásbyrgi is one of the main stops on the Diamond Circle, North Iceland's answer to the Golden Circle. The route is a roughly 250 km (155 mi) loop that links Goðafoss waterfall, Lake Mývatn, Dettifoss waterfall, Ásbyrgi, and the whale-watching town of Húsavík. Apart from the gravel Route 864, the loop is now paved throughout, so a 2WD handles it in summer.

You can drive the circle in a single long day, but two days suit it better: one for Goðafoss and Mývatn, one for Dettifoss, Ásbyrgi, and Húsavík. In summer the long daylight gives you room to linger at each stop. In winter, a guided tour from Akureyri is often the safer call, since the days are short and conditions shift quickly. The Diamond Circle also connects to the Ring Road, so it slots neatly into a longer northern itinerary.

Ásbyrgi is often nicknamed the “shelter of the gods,” and the name suits the canyon's most enduring story. According to Icelandic folklore, the gorge is a giant hoofprint: Óðinn was riding his eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, across the sky when one hoof came down here and pressed the shape into the earth. Eyjan, the rock in the middle, is sometimes likened to the frog of that hoof, the soft, V-shaped part on the underside of a horse's foot.

The tale feels ancient, but it may not be. It doesn't appear in the medieval Norse myths set down by Snorri Sturluson, and is widely thought to have taken its familiar form much later, in the poem Sumarmorgunn í Ásbyrgi (Summer Morning in Ásbyrgi) by Einar Benediktsson, one of Iceland's best-known poets, which likens the canyon to the print of Sleipnir's hoof. Either way, the folklore is alive: many Icelanders link Ásbyrgi with the huldufólk, the hidden people believed to live inside rocks and cliffs, and the canyon is often named as one of the likeliest places in the country to sense them.

Ásbyrgi was carved by glacial outburst floods, known in Icelandic as jökulhlaup: sudden, massive surges of meltwater released from under the glaciers as the last ice age ended. At least two of these floods shaped the canyon, one around 8,000 to 10,000 years ago and another roughly 3,000 years ago. The water tore through the older lava bedrock at a discharge of at least 39,000 m³/s (1.4 million ft³/s), scouring out the horseshoe and leaving the cliff faces you see today, according to a geomorphological study of the Jökulsá á Fjöllum floods.

The flood water came down the Jökulsá á Fjöllum, the glacial river that still feeds Dettifoss a little to the south. After the canyon was cut, the river shifted east to its present course, leaving Ásbyrgi high and dry.

Most of Ásbyrgi's trails start from the parking area or the Gljúfrastofa visitor center, and they range from a flat 30-minute loop to a full two-day trek down the gorge. The easiest and most popular walk is to Botnstjörn, the pond at the inner cliffs, which suits limited mobility and often has a thin waterfall sliding into the pond in spring. The highlight for most visitors is Eyjan, the rock in the center: a wooden stairway climbs to the top, where the view runs the length of Ásbyrgi. The full Eyjan loop is 4.5 km (2.8 mi), but the climb to the viewpoint is much shorter. Mind the unfenced cliff edges up there.

Vatnajökull National Park grades and signs every route at Ásbyrgi, so you can match the walk to your time and fitness:

For the longer routes and the latest trail status, check Vatnajökull National Park's official trail guide, or ask the rangers at Gljúfrastofa, the visitor center, which keeps the longest daily hours in summer and shorter hours through the rest of the year.

Ásbyrgi has a large campsite at the mouth of the canyon, operated by the national park and open from May 15 to the end of October, though the exact dates shift with the snow. It takes tents, trailer tents, and caravans, and the service building has showers, a laundry room, drinking water, and cooking facilities, with 48 electric hook-ups for those who need power. The setting is the draw: you fall asleep under the cliffs, and the trails start right outside the tent. Book ahead in summer, when the site fills up and reserved pitches are the surest way to get an electric connection.

For something more basic, the park keeps a smaller tents-only campsite at Vesturdalur, further south in Jökulsárgljúfur. Its season is shorter, early June to mid-September, with no electricity or hot water and no reservations, so you simply pay the ranger on arrival. Phone coverage is patchy out there, so sort any plans before you go. Camping dates shift from year to year, so check the current season with Gljúfrastofa, the park's visitor center, before you travel.

There's no hotel at Ásbyrgi itself, so you're choosing between the park campsite at the canyon mouth, a handful of guesthouses along Route 85, or basing yourself in a town and driving in for the day.

The closest proper hotel is Hótel Skúlagarður, in the Kelduhverfi countryside a short drive from the canyon, with wheelchair-accessible, family-friendly rooms and its own bistro. For something smaller and even nearer, Garður is a guesthouse just off Route 85, about 10 minutes from Ásbyrgi and roughly 50 km (31 mi) east of Húsavík. The village of Kópasker, roughly 30 minutes north, adds a few more guesthouses, a campground, and a grocery store, and suits travelers who want an early start at the trailheads.

For the widest choice, most visitors base themselves in Húsavík, about 62 km (39 mi) from the canyon and roughly a 45-minute drive, which has the area's broadest range of hotels, guesthouses, and restaurants and pairs naturally with Ásbyrgi as a two-stop day on the Diamond Circle. Akureyri and Lake Mývatn are larger bases further out, better if you're circling the whole loop than focusing on the canyon. Wherever you land, book well ahead in summer, when rooms this far from the towns are limited and fill fast.

Eating options right at the canyon are limited, so it's worth planning meals rather than counting on finding food at the trailhead. The Gljúfrastofa visitor center has a souvenir shop, but no restaurant or confirmed food service, so many visitors bring a picnic to eat among the trees at the base of the canyon.

The nearest standalone restaurant is Veggur on Route 862 near the canyon, open year-round from late morning into the evening, with breakfast in summer. The menu leans on local Icelandic ingredients, fish and lamb, soups and salads, along with craft beers from nearby breweries, which makes it a practical lunch stop between Ásbyrgi and Dettifoss. 

In summer, Hótel Skúlagarður's bistro Grös is another nearby option, plant-forward and open daily 11:30 AM to 10 PM from June to September, with much of its produce grown on-site and salmon and lamb sourced locally. 

If you'd rather eat in a town, Kópasker has a grocery store with a small restaurant for a simpler bite or supplies to cook with, and Húsavík has the most cafes and restaurants in the area, including options around the harbor.

Summer, roughly June through August, is the easiest and most rewarding time to visit Ásbyrgi. The campsite and visitor center are open, every trail is clear, and the long daylight lets you walk late into the evening. Early fall brings the best color, usually in September, when the birch woods on the gorge floor turn gold.

In winter the canyon is quiet and can be lovely under snow, but it's remote, daylight is short, and the approach roads ice over and sometimes close. From roughly October to April, a guided Diamond Circle tour from Akureyri takes the driving off your plate. September and May usually still suit self-driving, but keep an eye on the forecast. Whenever you come, plan on at least two to three hours to do more than glance at the canyon from the lot.