Tour info
- 6 days / 4 riding days
- 22-27 sept. 2026
- 2480 EUR
- Domestic transport included
- Riding level: Intermediate / Advanced
- Herd: Yes ✔︎
Roundups & Lake Hóp
In some areas of Iceland, horses are set free to the highlands in early summer. All summer long they wander around free like wild animals. In the autumn farmers gather together, ride up to the mountains and drive all the free horses to roundups where they are sorted per farm and then taken back home to their farms.
We offer this tour as a combination of 4 nice riding days in the northwest part of Iceland of which one of the days will be a fantastic ride over lake Hóp, and visit one of the roundups on Saturday; watching the sorting of the horses and joining the farmers on this annual party.
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Itinerary
We drive up north with a bus to our starting point at farm Reynhólar. ( approx 3 hours drive)
After a short introduction we saddle up and ride into the highlands where we have a fantastic view to Eiríksjökull glacier in the south and the bay of Hrútafjörður in the North. This ride is a nice testride without our herd to get ready for the riding with the herd in the days to come!
We saddle up at Reynhólar and ride along river Miðfjarðará on soft river banks and cross Valley Línakradalur towards Víðidalur valley. Then along the riverbanks of Víðidalsá to farm Stóra Ásgeirsá.
Today we follow great trails along the riverbanks of Víðidalsá and at the shores of lake Hóp which is one of the biggest lakes in Iceland.
We’ll ride with our herd to the next farm; Þingeyrar, which is a historical place as the first monastery in Iceland was erected there. There’s a beautiful stone church close to where we’ll keep our horses.
At the farm we’ll leave our herd and ride with 1 horse per person towards lake Hóp to cross this lake, which is one of the largest lakes in Iceland. This is truly an experience never to forget! Lake Hóp is for the most part of the crossing rather shallow, and on days with no/little wind it is as if one is riding over a mirror. At the other side we take a nice lunchbreak under a massive basalt-rock wall before heading back to the farm, crossing the lake once more.
Today we don’t ride anymore ourselves, but drive with the bus to a roundpen where the farmers will arrive with the herd from the mountains to sort the horses to take them home to their own farms. We will spend good time to watch the sorting and getting emerged into this big annual tradition!
