Laugavegur + Fimmvörðuháls (to Skógar) accommodation: where to stay and how to plan it

What makes accommodation planning different here

1. Decide direction and itinerary FIRST, because FÍ sells fixed package shapes and only books the Laugavegur north to south. The packages are: 3 nights (51,000 ISK), 4 nights (68,000), 5 nights (85,000) non-member, all a straight sum of 17,000 per night with no package discount. Every one of them includes an Emstrur night. 2. JOIN FÍ BEFORE YOU BOOK ANYTHING. Membership must be paid before the booking payment is taken in order to get the member rate, and it halves the hut price. This single step is worth more than any other planning decision, see 'membership' below. 3. Watch for the season release. FÍ loads one season at a time as a block; the following summer is simply not in the system until it opens. As of 29 July 2026, every day of June, July and August 2027 returned closed=true from FÍ's own availability API while all of 2026 was open. The exact release month is NOT published by FÍ and should not be taken on faith from blogs. Sign up to FÍ's mailing list at fi.is and check the site through the autumn and winter. 4. Book the FÍ package the day it opens if you want peak July or August. 5. IMMEDIATELY afterwards, if your itinerary includes Básar or Fimmvörðuskáli, book those separately with Útivist. They are not in the FÍ booking you just made, and a 2,000 ISK per person per night non-refundable deposit is due at booking. 6. If you want an Emstrur hut night outside a package, or a rented tent at Emstrur, email [email protected], it cannot be done online. 7. Book the Skógar end last; it is commercial and the only night that can safely be left late. 8. Note the cancellation cliff before you commit: FÍ refunds only 75% at 56+ days, 50% at 55-21 days and NOTHING inside 20 days, packages must be cancelled in full with no per-night refunds, and no refund is given for bad weather or a no-show. The one genuine escape hatch is that if the roads into Landmannalaugar are closed as impassable you get 100% back on all Laugavegur accommodation. The trail is only reliably walkable, and most huts staffed, from roughly late June to mid-September (fi.is gives individual hut windows of about 20/25 June to 15–18 September). The exception is the Þórsmörk/Langidalur hut, which has a much longer season. Staffed from the beginning of May to the beginning of October, because it sits lower and is less snowbound; camping there specifically is not allowed before 20 May to protect vegetation. Outside each hut's staffed window it is locked/unstaffed. FÍ's rule is that overnight stays are only permitted in huts and designated campgrounds, and campers should check with the warden before pitching. Camping doesn't buy access to a hut's kitchen. Campers get toilets, drinking water and outdoor tables/benches. Landmannalaugar, Hrafntinnusker, Emstrur and Þórsmörk/Langidalur additionally have a common tent/shelter campers can use to cook and eat in (you still need your own stove and cooking gear). At Hrafntinnusker, Emstrur and Baldvinsskáli, all rubbish must be carried out to the next hut. Paid showers are available to campers at five sites: Landmannalaugar, Álftavatn, Hvanngil, Emstrur and Þórsmörk. There's no scheduled public bus to Landmannalaugar; hikers use one of the private highland-bus operators from Reykjavík, Reykjavík Excursions' Highland Bus or Trex, a roughly 4.5–5 hour run via Hella that operates daily through the summer season (2026 dates run mid-June to late September). Leaving from Skógar at the Fimmvörðuháls end, the same highland-bus operators run back to Reykjavík but with a long (around 6.5-hour) layover in Hvolsvöllur; the ordinary Strætó public bus from Skógar is reported to be quicker, reaching Reykjavík (Mjódd) by early evening, ticketed via the Klappið app. All FÍ huts on this trail charge a flat 17,000 ISK per person per night as of the date seen (2026-07-27); camping, showers and day-visitor facility fees are charged separately and vary by site. On the Laugavegur proper, between Landmannalaugar and Þórsmörk, mountain huts and their adjacent campsites are the ONLY accommodation. There is nothing else, no villages, no farms, no hotels, and the huts are separated by a day's walk each. Ferðafélag Íslands (FÍ, the Iceland Touring Association) owns and runs every hut on the Laugavegur: Landmannalaugar, Hrafntinnusker (Höskuldsskáli), Álftavatn, Hvanngil, Emstrur (Botnar) and Þórsmörk (Skagfjörðsskáli in Langidalur), plus Baldvinsskáli up on the Fimmvörðuháls pass. All of those are booked through one system, FÍ's own at vinna.fi.is, reached from the 'Book a hut' button on each hut's page at fi.is. TWO IMPORTANT EXCEPTIONS. First, Emstrur (Botnar) is inside FÍ's system but CANNOT be booked as a standalone night. It is sold only inside 3-, 4- and 5-night packages, or by emailing [email protected]. Second, once you cross into Þórsmörk and start the Fimmvörðuháls extension, a completely different association appears: Ferðafélagið Útivist owns Básar á Goðalandi and Fimmvörðuskáli, and neither is in FÍ's system or honours FÍ membership. So a walker doing the full Landmannalaugar-to-Skógar route may need up to three separate booking relationships: FÍ online, FÍ by email for Emstrur, and Útivist for Básar and/or Fimmvörðuskáli. Skógar at the far end is a normal village with commercial lodging and no hut. One more trap: FÍ states 'We only book huts from north to south, i.e. from Landmannalaugar to Þórsmörk', the packages are directional and there is no southbound-to-northbound package on the Laugavegur.