Is This The Most Breathtaking Run In The World? Why Running Tourism Is The Best Way To See Iceland

Join our wellness director as she laces up her trainers for the Highland Base Kerlingarfjöll Ultra in Iceland and realises that hitting the trails can be the best way to truly discover a new country.

For me, this is the true appeal of running tourism: travelling somewhere specifically to run in a spectacular location. Races – especially marathons – have long offered an excuse to travel, usually to well-known cities, but this new generation of running tourism is taking the idea much further, pairing challenging routes with beautiful hotels, destination dining, recovery experiences and adventures that make the entire trip memorable beyond simply reaching the finish line.

THE LOWDOWN 

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Set at around 700 metres above sea level in the remote Icelandic Highlands, Highland Base sits at the edge of the Kerlingarfjöll mountain range – an almost otherworldly landscape of mountains, geothermal valleys and volcanic terrain. It’s the sort of place where you could spend all day looking out of the window, marvelling at the view – if it wasn’t for the fact you’ll almost certainly already be out there enjoying it.

The property itself was once a ski lodge (with snapshots of this charming past neatly displayed via photographs throughout the accommodation), but as the snow retreated, the hotel evolved and is now a year-round base for exploring one of Iceland’s wildest regions. The original mountain-lodge spirit remains within the expanded hotel though, and visually, it has all the attributes of Scandinavian simplicity, with a focus on natural materials, soft lighting and earthy tones throughout the 48 hotel rooms and six private lodges. What I particularly liked was that Highland Base never feels as though it is trying to compete with its surroundings, which would ultimately be hard to do. Instead, it acts as a cosy haven that invites you ‘home’ from the great outdoors, offering comfortable rooms to curl up in, natural geothermal baths with panoramic mountain views, a charming restaurant serving local fare, and warm communal spaces that encourage you to say hello to potential new friends as you recover together after a day of adventure. (And, if I had one universal piece of travel advice, it’s this: speak to the locals – you get your best travel tips this way!).

I was only staying for a short weekend, so I checked into the hotel the day before the race itself, giving myself just enough time to settle in, and crucially, take a sneak peek at the landscape I was going to be running through in less than 24 hours. The mountains are quite literally metres from the rooms (meaning the start line for the race was too), and I spent much of that first evening looking out across the peaks, slightly mesmerised while trying to work out quite how on earth I was going to get up some of them the following morning.

THE RUN

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Within minutes of crossing the start line, I was climbing. That’s the first thing I remember about the Highland Base Kerlingarfjöll Ultra 22. Not gently, either. The trail snaked upwards into the mountains, and while I tried to settle my breathing and convince my legs that this was, indeed, a sensible way to spend a Saturday morning, my Garmin beeped to tell me my heart rate already thought otherwise.

I couldn’t help but smile. Trail running in Iceland, a country so defined by its imposing volcanic landscape, was always going to be a challenge. What I didn’t know yet was just how beautiful – and unexpectedly joyful – the experience was going to be.

The run route takes runners deep into the Kerlingarfjöll landscape, where the terrain seems determined never to let you settle into a rhythm. Almost as soon as one section becomes familiar, the ground changes beneath you, with every turn demanding something slightly different from your legs. In fact, the trail seemed almost alive as I chased through it. One minute I was picking my way over black volcanic rock, the next clinging with my fingertips as I scrambled up and over rust-coloured mountains. Then came muddy, waterlogged valleys, dusty trails that twisted beneath my ankles and even the unmistakable crunch of ice beneath my trainers. It was like seeing a new side to Iceland every few miles.

I’ll admit, I fell once, twice, three, four times (yes, I’m clumsy, and I definitely need new trainers), but you couldn’t keep the tired smile off my face. Not least because with every step forwards and especially upwards, I realised there would be a reward waiting at the top. I’d look up from the trail, still catching my breath, and find views that my camera skills were, frankly, nowhere near good enough to capture.

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That is perhaps what makes Kerlingarfjöll so memorable. You don’t just see Icelandic landscapes; you experience them. You feel the wind pushing against you on an exposed ridge, the cold air in your lungs, the ground shifting beneath your trainers and the heat rising from the earth. You feel every climb in your thighs and every descent in your quads, but by the latter stages there is something so satisfying about realising that, despite the fatigue, you’re engaging with this breathtaking place in the most immersive way possible: on your own two feet.

Normally, with every beep of my watch, I’d be checking my pace and calculating exactly how much longer I had to go. Here, I repeatedly found myself slowing down because there was simply too much to take in. It might not have been the most efficient race strategy, but I don’t regret a moment of it. Then suddenly, after hours of climbing, scrambling and occasionally feeling as though I was flying through the mountains, I spotted the hotel – and with it, the finish line. For perhaps the first time all day, I wasn’t tempted to stop and look at the scenery. With a surge of energy as I crossed the finish line, it felt particularly satisfying because the challenge hadn’t just been physical. I knew I had experienced something that simply couldn’t be replicated from a car, viewing platform or photograph.

That’s the sort of tourist experience that’s very hard to replicate, and even as I lay on the ground celebrating, I thought: “I’d love to do that again!”

THE ROOMS

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The rooms at Highland Base have a wonderful ability to make you feel completely cocooned after a day in the great outdoors, while still keeping you connected to the wild landscape you’re really there for. If you stay in the newer Hamar wing, as I did, the large windows deliberately face towards the mountains, and after my adventures out on the trails, it was a real treat to take a well-earned rest in my cosy room while still being able to look out over the terrain I’d just conquered. The rooms themselves are rather minimalist by design, but I’ll never forget the feeling of waking up the next morning (with rather stiff legs, I might add) and pulling back the blackout curtains to be greeted by the sun sparkling over the peaks. That’s really the experience worth paying for.

There are more adventurous ways to stay at Highland Base too, if you are so inclined. For those wanting to get closer to the spirit of the original Kerlingarfjöll outpost, there are the Highland Base Huts, with their distinctive narrow, sloping roofs – a nod to the simple shelters used by the area’s earliest explorers. Or, if you’re the kind of person who thinks the best way to experience the outdoors is without any real roof between you and the elements at all, camping is also available during the summer months. It’s a popular option for more intrepid guests, giving you the chance to sleep even closer to nature while still having the hotel’s facilities close at hand.

THE BATHS

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If the run was the reason I arrived at Highland Base, the Highland Baths were very much the reason my legs thanked me for coming. More than simply somewhere to unwind after a day on the trails, they tap into Iceland’s deep-rooted bathing culture, fuelled by the country’s abundance of geothermal waters. In fact, I was told that almost every Icelandic town has a geothermal pool, where people traditionally gather to swim, socialise, relax and recover.

The hotel’s own geothermal baths – which include several warm soaking pools, a cold plunge and a glass-fronted sauna – sit beneath the main building, meaning you can pad across straight from your room via an underground tunnel. The setting is, once again, spectacular and mountain-facing, and the baths stay open until 11pm, so you can linger late into the evening and watch the light change across the horizon while you soak. Drifting between the warm water and (occasionally) the cold plunge, was exactly what my tired muscles needed post-race as a little bit of contrast therapy, but it was also a social occasion, with my fellow runners settling in for a drink and a chat about the course and our experiences in Iceland. Best of all, the baths are included with hotel accommodation year-round; they’re an integral part of the Highland Base experience. After my run, this was exactly what my body was craving.

THE FOOD & DRINK

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There’s just one restaurant at Highland Base, tucked into the heart of the main building, and despite the hotel’s remote location, you won’t go hungry. Breakfast is a hearty buffet designed to fuel you for a full day of activity, while lunch and dinner are served à la carte, with an emphasis on fresh, locally-sourced ingredients. Expect plenty of vegetables and fish that are bursting with flavour, including pan-fried Arctic char, soul-warming mushroom soup and grilled cauliflower, which were among my particular highlights. The night before the Highland Base Ultra, the team went one step further, putting on a buffet-style carb-loading dinner specifically for us runners, followed by a porridge breakfast on race morning. As someone who is gluten-free, I did find myself wishing I’d packed a few more free-from carbohydrates into my suitcase, as the choices were a little more limited, but the effort made to cater to the runners just goes to show – once again – how intertwined the hotel is with the active pursuits taking place outside its doors.

What the restaurant is perhaps best known for, however, happens every afternoon between 3pm and 5pm, and it sees guests flocking back to the hotel just in time. You can think of the ‘Icelandic Waffle Buffet’ as Highland Base’s own take on afternoon tea, but instead of tea and scones, there are soft, freshly made Icelandic waffles piled with whipped cream, strawberry jam and syrup. The tradition apparently dates back to the property’s ski-lodge days, when the smell of freshly made waffles would tempt skiers off the slopes for an afternoon break. And, having smelt them cooking, I can see exactly why it worked.

THE TO-DO LIST

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There is, naturally, a trade-off for heading somewhere as remote as Highland Base. Situated around 200km from Reykjavík, the drive takes roughly three and a half hours in normal summer conditions. It’s a lengthy (if worthwhile drive), so I’d highly recommend making the journey part of your sightseeing itinerary. Our driver picked us up from the airport and, on route to the hotel, made sure to stop off at some of Iceland’s most famous tourist attractions within the ‘Golden Circle’. That included a wander through Þingvellir National Park, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet; a ‘cameras at the ready’ moment at the Strokkur geyser which dramatically erupts every few minutes; and a visit to Gullfoss, an enormous two-tier waterfall. All are a brilliant introduction to Iceland’s geological drama before heading deeper into the Highlands. On our return journey, we made sure to visit the iconic Blue Lagoon, as another chance to relax post-race. The famous geothermal spa (which is actually owned by the same group as Highland Base) is undoubtedly one of Iceland’s best-known attractions, with the milky-blue geothermal seawater not only photo-worthy but naturally rich in skin-nourishing silica, algae and minerals. Its Lava restaurant is worth a visit in its own right, too. Dramatically set in an 800-year-old volcanic cliff, you can emerge from the lagoon and enjoy some of the freshest ingredients Iceland has to offer.

And, finally, for the non-runners reading this: you don’t have to be to enjoy Highland Base (my boyfriend certainly isn’t!). Gentle hiking is the obvious starting point, particularly around the extraordinary geothermal valleys of Kerlingarfjöll, and the hotel also offers e-mountain-biking and dune buggy experiences, which give you a completely different perspective on the landscape. Ultimately, what I found particularly interesting about the hotel is how naturally it turns the race into an actual holiday too. The run might give you a reason to come, but once you’re there, you’re surrounded by enough experiences to make the trip worthwhile even if you never put your trainers on. And perhaps that’s the real appeal of this new kind of running tourism: the race isn’t the whole trip. It’s simply an exhilarating way in.