Laugarvatnshellir Cave
Laugarvatnshellir Cave
A small detour can be taken to visit the last cave in Iceland where people lived.
Take the small turning onto Laugarvatnshellavegur, road 367.
Back in the early 20th century, especially for lower-income people, affordable housing could be difficult to find.
A young couple moved to this cave in 1918. The family had three children, two of them born in the cave, and they lived here until 1921. It used to have two chambers but the wall between them has since fallen down.
The caves have formed by natural erosion of the soft palagonite tuff rock. The rock forms in eruptions underneath ice when the explosive combination of meltwater and magma fragments the lava into small pieces, which then cement together under pressure.
You'll see a lot of graffiti carved into the tuff walls of the caves, such as names, birthdays, car numbers and more – but please don’t add to them!