Can You Still See Lava at Fagradalsfjall? What You Will Actually See

What the Icelandic Met Office says

The Icelandic Meteorological Office publishes situation updates for the Reykjanes peninsula, and its latest one states plainly that no eruption is active. The most recent event, the ninth in the Sundhnúkur series, ended in early August 2025 after running from 16 July to 5 August 2025. That is the closest thing to an official answer to the question can you still see lava at Fagradalsfjall: no, and the same holds for the whole peninsula.

One caution about other websites. Visit Reykjanes's own eruption FAQ still carries a leftover sentence saying there is an ongoing eruption, next to a newer item on the same site saying there is not. That is stale copy, and the Met Office is the authoritative source here. Any operator page or photo promising flowing lava at Fagradalsfjall is also older than the current situation, because nothing has erupted there since 2023.

The magma is still building under Svartsengi

Quiet does not mean finished. According to the Met Office, roughly 29.1 million cubic metres of magma accumulated under Svartsengi between 17 July 2025 and 16 August 2026, with an uncertainty range of 28.3 to 29.9 million cubic metres. Over the three months before the latest update the land rose by about five centimetres at the SKSH GPS station. Seismicity along the Sundhnúkur crater row and near Grindavík remains low, though there has been a slight recent increase in small earthquakes, including within the magma intrusion.

The Met Office's own wording on the next step is clear: as long as uplift continues, the most likely scenario is a magma intrusion propagating from Svartsengi into the Sundhnúkur crater row, which could lead to an eruption. It is not possible to predict when, and a short lead time must be expected. An eruption can close trails, roads and Grindavík at short notice rather than open a viewing opportunity, so book flexible dates. The Fagradalsfjall safety guide covers what happens if the ground wakes up mid-trip.

Where the eruptions moved after Fagradalsfjall

Fagradalsfjall itself erupted three times, then the activity shifted. In December 2023 the Sundhnúkur crater row series began a few kilometres north of Grindavík and northeast of Fagradalsfjall, and it produced nine eruptions through August 2025. That means the newest, rawest lava on the peninsula is not at Fagradalsfjall at all.

The Sundhnúksgígar site near Grindavík is closed, with no hiking trails or parking areas currently defined there. From the Fagradalsfjall trail network you can see toward the crater row, which is the closest most visitors get to it today.

Geldingadalir and the 2021 eruption

The first eruption began on 19 March 2021 and ran 181 days, until 18 September 2021, making it the longest eruption of the 21st century in Iceland. It was the first on Fagradalsfjall in about 6,000 years and the first anywhere on the Reykjanes peninsula since the medieval Reykjanes Fires ended around 1240. It produced 151 million cubic metres of lava covering 4.8 square kilometres by mid-September 2021.

Today Geldingadalir gives its name to parking P1, and Path A, about 6-8 km one way, passes the 2021, 2022 and 2023 eruption sites. At P1 (Geldingadalir) and parking costs 1,000 ISK (about $8) per vehicle for a 24-hour ticket paid through the Parka app or parka.is.

Meradalir and the 2022 eruption

The second eruption lasted less than three weeks, from 3 to 21 August 2022, and poured about 12 million cubic metres of lava over the 2021 flows in the Meradalir valley. Meradalir sits behind the first lava field, so reaching it is a longer walk. Path E to Meradalir runs about 18-20 km both ways, 5-6 hours of hiking before any viewing stop.

This is the site the Meradalir hike and northern lights combo targets, a long day priced at $185 that pairs the hike with an evening aurora drive.

Litli-Hrútur and the 2023 eruption

The third and final Fagradalsfjall eruption ran from 10 July to 5 August 2023 at Litli-Hrútur, producing about 15.9 million cubic metres of lava over roughly 1.5 square kilometres. It started significantly stronger than the first two. The Litli-Hrútur site is the youngest of the three.

Tours such as the afternoon hike to the new volcano site at $132 walk toward this area. If you want to know how the whole thing feels before you commit, the worth-it guide weighs the cooled landscape against other uses of a day.

Every eruption in order

Read the table from top to bottom. The first three rows built the Fagradalsfjall trail network you can still hike. The remaining nine happened near Grindavík, at a site that is currently closed to visitors.

What the timeline means for your visit

Two things follow from those numbers. First, the Fagradalsfjall trail network covers eruptions one to three, so it is permitted for hiking whenever no eruption is active, which is the situation now. Second, the most recent lava of the whole series lies at the Sundhnúkur crater row, and that site is closed with no defined trails or parking.

The 61 million cubic metres from the sixth Sundhnúkur eruption alone were more than five times the whole 2022 Meradalir event, but you see it from a distance or from the air rather than up close. The helicopter flight over Litli-Hrútur, Geldingadalir and Fagradalsfjall also crosses toward Grindavík on its route, which is the easiest way to grasp the scale of the newer flows.

Cooled Lava and the Craters

The core sight is the lava itself, solid and cooled. Path A passes the 2021, 2022 and 2023 eruption sites over about 6-8 km one way. Path C over Langihryggur, about 4 km one way, looks across all three eruptions but cannot see the crater itself.

The 2021 flow alone covers 4.8 square kilometres and the 2023 flow about 1.5 square kilometres. Walking on the lava is strictly forbidden even now, since the crust can be thin over hot rock underneath.

The view toward the Sundhnúkur crater row

From the higher ground around Fagradalsfjall you can look northeast toward the Sundhnúkur crater row near Grindavík, the scene of all nine eruptions from December 2023 to August 2025. You are looking at the peninsula's newest lava from outside it, because no trails or parking are defined at the closed Sundhnúksgígar site. Several tours build this into the day.

The Reykjanes minibus circuit from Arctic Adventures at $113 stops at the Nátthagi viewpoint above Fagradalsfjall for about an hour and then drives through Grindavík and past the Sundhnúkagígar and Svartsengi lava field. The Grindavík and Krýsuvík circuit from Click Tours at $186 follows a near-identical route.

From the air

A flight changes the picture completely. The 40-minute GlacierHeli trip at $514 passes over Litli-Hrútur, Geldingadalir and Fagradalsfjall, with about 20 minutes of the flight over the volcano area, and it is upfront that visible lava cannot be guaranteed. Some travelers report an unadvertised landing on the lava field, but the listing does not promise one, and the flight needs a minimum of 4 passengers or it is cancelled with a full refund.

If the aerial idea appeals mainly for pictures, our photo spots guide covers the ground-level angles too. To plan the walking part yourself instead of booking, the without-a-tour guide lists every marked path.

Listings stuck in 2023

At least one tour description on the market still advertises erupting lava at Litli-Hrútur, a flow that stopped in August 2023. Within the listings compared here, the afternoon hike to the new volcano site at $132 and the eruption site hike and Reykjanes tour at $134 both carry an old note saying the lava at Litli-Hrútur has only just stopped and the area is still smoldering, written for 2023 with no year attached. The hike and northern lights combo at $185 goes further and calls the destination a live volcanic eruption with magma erupting from the core, which does not match reality at all.

Re-read any description before you pay, and treat flowing-lava photos as pictures of the past.

Listings that tell the truth

Several operators frame it correctly. The volcanoes, Grindavík and hot springs tour at $122 states plainly that no lava is currently flowing and that its route only turns into an eruption-viewpoint stop if a new eruption starts and conditions allow. The crater viewpoint hike with a geologist at $159 gives you a volcanologist to explain the cooled landscape, capped at 6 travelers, though it is rated difficult over rough terrain and excludes children under 12.

The small-group original local volcano hike at $157 notes in its own listing that visible lava can never be guaranteed and that its photos come from past tours, which is exactly the honesty to look for. Prices above are the listed per-person rates from the Fagradalsfjall tour price comparison.