SUMMIT TO SHORE

Find exhilaration and adventure on Iceland’s rugged Troll Peninsula

Volcanoes, geysers, lava fields and hot springs:

Iceland is a fount of dramatic landscape. The Troll Peninsula, known locally as Tröllaskagi, is particularly breathtaking. This wild pocket of land stretches between the Skagafjörður and Eyjafjorður fjords of Northern Iceland. Mountains rise up to over 1,500 metres and glacier carved valleys cut into the powerful landscape with tumbling waterfalls and gushing rivers flowing between. Such rugged terrain naturally inspires adventure.

Intrepid travellers come to journey along the scenic coastal roads, explore its mesmerising fjords and stop by fishing communities such as Siglufjörður and the region’s geothermal pools. Iceland’s summer months can be spent hiking through the vales and exploring on horseback, with whale watching tours departing most of the year, but winter is the time to come for adrenaline fuelled snow sports.

When the colder months set in, this rugged peninsula is the setting for adventurous helicopter skiing. The local outfit Arctic Heli Skiing, which is based at the family farm turned hotel Klaengshóll Lodge, specialises in helicopter excursions that can see you skiing from the mountain’s summit to the shores of the Arctic Ocean

— if you’re lucky enough, in tandem with the Northern Lights.

Deplar Farm lies to the west of this outfit in the region’s remote Fljot Valley. When this hotel opened in 2016, the converted sheep farm was dubbed Iceland’s most exclusive accommodation. Created by adventureled Eleven Experience, the high-end property combines its original character—blending into the landscape with a living roof and black timber cladding—with everything you could want from a luxury hotel. See the Northern Lights through its floor-to-ceiling glass and soak in the geothermal saltwater pool with swim-up bar. The lodge has two helipads for instant access to the slopes.