Icelandic Hiking Maps

The availability and quality of Icelandic maps that are suitable for moderately technical backcountry travel (i.e. anything more complex than following vehicle tracks) was disappointing. I guess that with a population of just over 300,000 and a population density just 7 people per square mile, the demand for such maps is not high enough to create a competitive market. The challenge of finding good and necessary maps was exacerbated by being an ocean away. This page will hopefully make it easier for you to prepare for your own trip.

Essential Maps

1:250,000 Section Maps, from Ferdakort. These were invaluable in planning my route. They contain a lot of useful and up-to-date information -- roads, rivers, ford locations, huts, topography, services, distances between points, glaciers, etc. I purchased all three maps. The scale and contour lines are not designed to support technical travel, but there were several places where these maps were my only reference -- a few times I had to change my route mid-trip, after receiving new information, and got pushed off my small-scale maps -- and in those cases they were marginally adequate.

Atlas Map Sheets - Map CD 2, from Ferdakort. This CD was unavailable in Spring/Summer 2008, but if I could have acquired it I would have in a heartbeat. The software contains 1:100,000 maps for the entire country. This scale is optimal because Iceland's topography is usually not especially pronounced and small-scale maps like 1:25,000 or 1:50,000 are usually too small -- they just do not provide a full enough picture of the landscape. While you can easily view the maps with the provided software, printing the maps is a major hassle: the software only allows you to copy or print 12cm x 12cm (4.7in x 4.7in) squares at a time, so you'll need to copy and paste these squares into Photoshop so that you can produce a reasonably sized map.

Optional, Supplemental, and Complimentary Maps

Topographical maps - Map CD 4, from Ferdakort. This CD was available in Summer 2008 and I purchased it because I could not get the 1:100,000 CD. It has the same printing/copying limitations, but the problem is actually worse because you print/copy a smaller on-the-ground area. Once I had copied all the relevant map sections into a huge file in Photoshop I reduced the scale of the maps, probably to something like 1:70,000, in order to make them more useful. This 50,000 CD does not contain maps for the entire country -- 1:50,000 maps (paper or digital) are only available for the central one-third of the country, plus Reykjavik. You will need to find maps of important places like the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, Northwest Fjords, or the entire eastern third of the country (including Lonsoraefi) elsewhere.

1:100,000 Atlas Paper Map Sheets. If you cannot obtain the 1:100,000 CD you may need to buy paper map sheets for areas that the 1:50,000 CD does not cover, depending on your route. For my Traverse, I purchased the 100,000 maps numbered 35, 94, and 95. I would not recommend buying any 1:50,000 maps unless you need all that detail.

Special Maps, from Mal og Menning. These 1:100,000 maps are produced for many of Iceland's popular natural regions. I used two of them (Lonsoraefi and Snaefellsnes), which supplemented or complimented my digital 50,000 maps and the 100,000 atlas paper map sheets.

Laugavegur

Thorsmork/Landmannalaugar Special Map, from Ferdakort. This 1:100,000 map is not essential because the trail is well worn and well marked; the trail description available on the Icelandic Touring Association website (#1) is adequate. But I like maps because they help me understand where I am and what I'm looking at, so I bought it.

Where to buy Icelandic maps

In the US, it is probably easiest to purchase maps from an Iceland-based company -- I failed to find a US distributor that was reliable and that had a comprehensive selection of maps. In Europe, there may be more local distributors because Iceland is a popular vacation destination for Europeans, not sure.

I bought my maps by phone and in-person. Ideally I would have liked to have had all my maps before I left the US, but I ran out of time and I could not find everything I needed online anyway. So I spent part of my first day in Iceland filling out my map collection.

OmniMap.com. I initially ordered from them because they were the only US-based company that sold the maps I needed. I should have taken a clue from their website -- which hardly instills confidence - and looked elsewhere. Two weeks after placing the order I sent an email inquiry about the order. There was no response for a few days so I called them and a woman told me the order had taken a little longer to go through than expected but it wouldn't be much longer. I waited a week until calling again, at which point they told me that they would be unable to obtain the maps I ordered. Gee, thanks.

Ferdakort. This Reykjavik-based private map company is the best resource for Icelandic maps. A few years ago it purchased the National Land Survey of Iceland's digital map database along with its stock of published maps, which would be like a US map company buying everything the US Geological Service had ever produced. I purchased nearly all of my maps from Ferdakort. They were very responsive via email and phone; Maria was especially helpful.

Mal og Menning. This bookstore has a good set of 1:100,000 "Special Maps" (see above) that cover many of Iceland's natural areas. You can purchase them online at www.NordicStore.net or buy them in-person at the store at Laugavegi 18, which is in downtown Reykjavik's main shopping area.