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Walking tracks & hiking

Discover beautiful walking tracks and challenging hiking routes. Mountains, volcanoes, coastal tracks and more. All of these articles include lots of photos, maps and practical information.

Climbing up a ridiculously steep mountain with an unpronounceable name.

Scrambling up to prehistorical views.

A coastal track with wild cliffs and puffin colonies.

Hveradalir geothermal valley, Kerlingarfjöll, Iceland.
Kerlingarfjöll – Steaming valleys and surreal landscapes

Kerlingarfjöll – Steaming valleys and surreal landscapes

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The hot spring valley of Hveradalir in the Kerlingarfjöll mountains is something out of this world. Breathtaking views unfold into a steaming geothermal valley padded with snowfields clinging to the slopes, and shapes and colours so magnificient that you wonder if it’s even real. It’s like you’ve stepped into a surrealistic painting. Find out how to get to this otherworldly landscape and hike around the steaming valleys in the Icelandic highlands.

Helgafell volcano, Heimaey, Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland.
The walking track to Helgafell – The twin volcano

The walking track to Helgafell – The twin volcano

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Helfgafell offers sweeping surround views of brooding volcanoes and a heart-shaped crater. For a long time, Helgafell was the ruling volcano on Heimaey. The one that merged the chain of rocks to the north and Stórhöfði to the south into the present island, its classic volcano-shaped silhouette dominating the interior. Hike to the top and you may have Helgafell with its beautiful views virtually for yourself.

Muri Beach lagoon, Rarotonga, Cook Islands.
Cook Islands – The stuff of Pacific dreams

Cook Islands – The stuff of Pacific dreams

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The Cook Islands are the stuff of Pacific dreams. White, sandy, coconut-strewn palm beaches, translucent lagoons in all shades of shimmering blue, and a laid-back atmosphere where everything just circulates on island time. But there are also craggy peaks beckoning in the interior of Rarotonga, the main island. You can discover them on the Cross-Island Track, an adventurous hike across the jungle.

Heimaklettur, Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland.
The walking track to Heimaklettur – The Home Rock

The walking track to Heimaklettur – The Home Rock

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Heimaklettur is the iconic Home Rock of Vestmannaeyjar. It may look a bit inaccessible at first sight, but there are ladders and chains to help you up the path to the top. I made a detailed description of the Heimaklettur hike, including lots of pictures of what the track is like. In the darker days of the year, people like to light candles on Heimaklettur. And around Christmas and New Year they get totally out of control, with a multitude of candles all over the upper slopes. It’s an incredibly beautiful sight.

Stórhöfði puffin colony, Heimaey, Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland.
The coastal track to Stórhöfði – Puffin colony and geological beach

The coastal track to Stórhöfði – Puffin colony and geological beach

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Stórhöfði peninsula is the southernmost point of Heimaey, and home to the biggest puffin colony in Iceland. Beneath Stórhöfði there’s also the surreal geological beach of Klauf, formed by volcanic eruptions from several directions. On the coastal track to Stórhöfði you can see incredible views, wild cliff formations and lots of puffins along the way.

Etna about to go off, Sicily, Italy.
Mount Etna – Vigorously steaming from all its craters

Mount Etna – Vigorously steaming from all its craters

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Mount Etna is Europe’s most active volcano, and it’s in a constant state of excitement. There’s always something going on around the slopes of Etna. Often it’s just quietly steaming away, and you can do many beautiful hikes in the summit area. But when it erupts it can cough up large rivers of lava, fissure fountains, strombolian fireworks, fuming ash clouds and everything inbetween from its various craters.

Sunrise into the Ko’olau Gap caldera on Mount Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii.
Haleakala – The House of the Rising Sun

Haleakala – The House of the Rising Sun

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Haleakala is the House of the Rising Sun – literally. The sunrise on this volcano on Maui is of such an epic magnitude that it draws people to get up at ridiculous o’ clock at night and drive up its endless hairpin roads to the summit, in order to gawk over the ethereal beauty of its caldera when the sun lights up and paints it in otherworldly colours. You can hike all the way to Halemau’u on the other side of this vast caldera, and explore its countless craters and cinder cones.

View to the top of Stromboli.
Stromboli – The ancient lighthouse of the Mediterranean

Stromboli – The ancient lighthouse of the Mediterranean

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Stromboli is the stuff of legends and the ancient lighthouse of the Mediterranean. The volcano island has been erupting its mesmerizing glow for over 2000 years, in such a way it has actually become the ‘type locality’ for it. When I saw its triangular shape looming on the horizon, it was pulling me like a force from the centre of the earth, excited to finally see the strombolian action from up close.

Sunrise on Mount Taranaki, North Island, New Zealand.
Ode to the mountains – The magic of Mount Taranaki

Ode to the mountains – The magic of Mount Taranaki

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Mount Taranaki looms majestically over New Plymouth, on its own peninsula on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island. The mythical mountain is obscured from view most days of the year, shrouded by its low-hanging clouds. But now it stood there, clearly visible and beckoning in all its glory. I literally skidded to a halt when I saw it, and changed my direction there & then. It was calling me and I had to go. Mount Taranaki draws you in to explore its lofty top and many hiking tracks.