Can you imagine how it is to live in a cave? Well less than 100 years ago a normal Icelandic family did!

The caves have been renovated the way they looked when the last cave people in Iceland lived there only a century ago.

You can join a guided tour in the caves and they  will bring the story to life with amazing tales about how they lived, their struggles and their happiness. Laugarvatnshellar are two man made caves located between Þingvellir National Park and Laugarvatn (where Fontana, Geothermal baths are). There are no sources that can determine who made them or when they were made. Some have suggested the caves were made by Irish monks before the settlement in the year 874.

Through the Centuries the caves were used by shepherds since the surroundings were excellent for grazing. The caves would be used as shelter for both sheep and shepherds. After some episodes with ghosts in the caves shepherds stopped using them.

1910 a young couple, Indriði Guðmundsson and Guðrún Kolbeinsdóttir moved into the caves and lived there for a year.

In 1918 another couple, Jón Þorvarðsson and Vigdís Helgadóttir moved in and lived in the caves for four years.

Both residents had some sheep, a cow and some horses. They grew potatoes, hunted Ptarmigans and picked wild berries. 

For further information visit: http://www.thecavepeople.is/