Laki Road F206 — Ring Road to Lakagígar via Fagrifoss and the Laki Craters

In 1783 the Laki fissure split open and spat lava and poison gas for eight months. The famine that followed, the Móðuharðindin, killed about a fifth of Iceland’s people, and you drive straight into the scar it left. The F206 leaves the Ring Road north of Kirkjubæjarklaustur, follows the Hverfisfljót and Skaftá country, then climbs into a landscape of moss-draped lava the colour of old tennis balls. Fagrifoss waterfall is the main waypoint. Then comes a string of small stream fords, and finally the crater row itself. A line of 130-odd cones runs off to the horizon, and the walk up Laki mountain gives you the whole fissure at once.

This is a Moderate drive that gets its reputation from the F-road rules rather than raw difficulty. Expect washboard, soft ash patches, and a handful of stream crossings that swell with warm weather and glacial melt. They are usually shin-to-knee deep, but check conditions first. You need a high-clearance 4×4 with decent tyres, and rental agreements generally demand it. The road opens late June and closes by mid-September, so check umferdin.is before you commit. Camping is limited to the designated Blágil campsite, there is no fuel past the Ring Road, and cell coverage is patchy at best. What you get is one of the most otherworldly short drives in Europe, and a history lesson on the ground. Have a dirty day.