Jonathan Morrison
A view of hell that’s simply heavenly
Don’t be put off by the active volcanoes: it’s never been easier to immerse yourself in the stunning scenery of Iceland thanks to some ultra-stylish OOD cabins
As views of hell go, there are far worse: the 8.15 crush on the Northern Line or the boarding of a budget airline at Stansted, for example. By comparison, Mount Hekla is downright beautiful.
Yet this too was one of the diabolical regions of the earth — at least according to the Norse seafarers who settled Iceland and then later Medieval monks. Herbert of Clairvaux wrote of Hekla: “The renowned fiery cauldron of Sicily, which men call Hell’s chimney … that cauldron is affirmed to be like a small furnace compared to this enormous inferno.” The Anglo-Norman friar Benedeit went further and named Hekla as the prison of Judas Iscariot himself, while there is still a local legend that witches gather on the summit to commune with the devil every Easter.
It’s fair to say that Hekla has earned her fearsome reputation, having erupted about 20 times since the first settlers arrived in Iceland, more often than any other volcano here in the land of volcanoes. The biggest eruption came in 1104AD — just in time to impress all those clerics — when she ejected millions of tonnes of tephra. She erupted four times in the 20th century, the last time in 2000, but the 1947 eruption was sufficient to add 14m in height to her summit and send a column of ash 28,000m into the atmosphere. It’s thought that the next big one is overdue.
The sumptuous interior of pale wood and cream furnishings is concealed behind a reflective glass façade, but nothing interrupts your enjoyment of the scenery (Ingibergur Thor)
So you might question the wisdom of building a series of glass and steel cabins on a hillside about five miles away as the pumice flies, elegant as they are. These are the ÖÖD (meaning “sleep well” in their native Estonian), whose Scandi-chic interior of pale wood and cream furnishings is concealed behind a reflective glass façade that works as a two-way mirror, allowing uninterrupted views from the inside across to the snow-covered stratovolcano and the moss-blanketed plain that surrounds her, while also providing privacy from the outside and, naturally, the opportunity to take a thousand selfies and post them on Instagram.
And you might doubly question the wisdom because the owners Arnar Freyr Jónsson and Ingibjorg Jakobsdóttir have already suffered the trauma of having to flee a volcanic eruption: as recently as 2023, they were given five minutes’ notice to evacuate their home in Grindavik when a mile-long fissure split the centre of the town in half and lava flows threatened to overwhelm hastily-constructed earthen walls. There’s a famous photo of Arnar urgently leading his children to safety with a suitcase in each hand – which is all they were allowed to take. They’ve still not been allowed to return.
So are they not afraid they might lose their beautiful ÖÖDs to Hekla’s wrath? “You can’t live in fear,” Arnar, who met his wife when they were both professional basketball players, says simply. “And anyway, they watch the mountain very closely.” As can visitors through the floor-to-ceiling glass.
Ingibjorg adds: “Iceland has always been a hard place to live in. The whole island is volcanic and the weather can be crazy as well so you need to respect nature and live with it. We had our doubts in the beginning but decided on having an adventure instead of being afraid.”
The owners had to flee their homes in Grindavik when a fissure opened in 2023 (Marco Di Marco/AP)
Of course, all this geological activity has an upside too: geothermal energy heats most of the homes here and then there’s the landscape: it’s not for nothing that scenes in Game of Thrones were shot round the corner, as was a Justin Bieber music video. People the world over come to Iceland on bucket-list adventures to see the waterfalls, the black sand beaches, the geysers and the glaciers. The Blue Lagoon, which was closed by the same lava flows that threatened Grindavik, adorns a million social media accounts, mine included.
Iceland’s Blue Lagoon adorns a million social media accounts but still has plenty of “wow factor" (Alamy)
One of the best ways to see the extraordinary landscape, and venture a little further into the interior than most manage, is by organising a tour through Midgard Adventures in the nearest town, Hvolsvöllur — they can certainly deliver the “adventure” Ingibjorg speaks of. Their “super jeep” excursions whisk you from black sand beaches past waterfalls and over deep rivers to within touching distance of the snouts of glaciers and even up close to Eyjafjallajökull, the volcano that shut down air travel in 2010. A day’s exploring with Ragnar, my funny and knowledgeable guide with a strange allegiance to Tottenham Hotspur, taught me all about the geography of the interior, whilst offering the chance to glimpse Arctic foxes, tern and ptarmigan and to dig for obsidian in a river bed — such shards of “dragonglass” might come in useful when you reach Stakkholtsgjá Canyon, where a famous GoT scene featuring the “white walkers” was shot. The level of exertion is up to you, but the view from the peak of Valahnúkur, should you choose to climb it, is breathtaking in every sense.
And of course, there are plenty of opportunities to explore further. If playing with fire appeals, the Icelandic Tourist Board has just launched a “Volcanic Way” route across the south of the country that links eight volcanoes, including Hekla, and 17 towns and villages across 1200km and is designed to take travellers beyond the well-worn “golden circle” that visitors to the capital Reykjavik typically embark on, but which can get overcrowded in summer.
A place for all seasons: visitors to Hekla Horizon in the winter can enjoy unparalleled views of the northern lights, too (Gertrud Ots)
Over eight or so days, visitors can avail themselves of Michelin-starred food, take to ziplines and mountain bikes, visit Reykjanes Lighthouse, the country’s oldest and most dramatic, and go properly zen by hot springs, mudpools, more waterfalls and mountain lakes. A particular highlight is visiting the Westman Islands just off the coast — the most recent crag dates from an eruption in 1973 — and the world’s first beluga whale sanctuary, although you’re more likely to see colonies of puffins in a landscape that could be straight out of Star Wars.
The final stage gives you the chance to stretch your legs properly as you near Vatnajokull, the largest glacier in Europe: below it hiking trails weave through woodland to crystal rivers that tumble over basalt cliffs and the descending fingers of the great snowy cap. At “Diamond Beach” the fiery and the frozen finally meet, with blue-hued icebergs breaking on ash beaches — it’s a place much-photographed, but nonetheless inspiring for that.
The black sand beach at Vik is one of Iceland’s many attractions (AP)
If that all sounds a bit energetic, then be assured there are also plenty of ways to relax, not least in one of the myriad hot tubs or pools that seem to be attached to every cabin (otherwise the beer, only legalised in 1989, is a tad on the expensive side). For me, one of the bonuses of staying in the Hekla ÖÖDs was that each one came with its own sauna, just big enough for two weary travellers to fully stretch out. A word of warning, though: just like the ÖÖDs themselves, with the light on the inside and darkness outside, the mirror-effect reverses and passers-by can see in! If you sauna in the Germanic or Scandinavian tradition, you might need to consider exactly which bits you’re in danger of showing to the rest of the camp. This is less of an issue in the summer, of course, when the sun sets around midnight, your modesty is as well preserved as the famous fermented shark, and you can gaze serenely out towards the magnificent Hekla. And not just because you’ll need all the warning you can get if the “gates of hell” open again and you have to leave in a hurry, although that too is part of the adventure in this land of ice and fire.
– For more information on the Volcanic Route, visit: https://www.south.is/en/destinations/travel-routes/the-volcanic-way
– To book an ÖÖD at Hekla Horizon, visit: https://oodheklahorizon.is/
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