Berserker Lava Field

Berserkjahraun

West

Berserkjahraun is a lava field on the Snæfellsnes peninsula formed by four scoria craters that erupted around 4,000 years ago. The rock has since accumulated a dense covering of moss — deep green in wet weather, almost luminous in low light — that softens the jagged surface into rolling mounds and narrow corridors. Walking through it gives a real sense of scale that a drive-by on Route 54 does not. The name comes from Eyrbyggja saga: two Swedish berserkers agreed to clear a path through the lava field in exchange for a farmer's daughter. They completed the task; the farmer had them killed and buried in the field. The cut path — the Berserkjagata — is still walkable, and the burial mounds are marked. Recent archaeological work reportedly found skeletal remains of two large individuals near the site, lending the old story an unexpected credibility. The marked path starts from a pull-off on Route 54 between Stykkishólmur and Grundarfjörður. The walk to the burial mounds takes around an hour there and back. Free, open year-round, and within 20 minutes of Kirkjufell and Stykkishólmur.

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