Excellent views from the Icelandic highlands

Word to the wise: A bus runs the 25km from Reykjavik to the base of the mountain. Though if you want to schedule exact drop offs and pick ups, tour agency Extreme Iceland runs day trips.

One Reykjavik landmark rises taller than all the rest: Mount Esja. At nearly 3,000 feet, the 3.2 million-year-old mountain stands sentinel over Reykjavik like a sentry post. Despite the name of the tour group offering mountain excursions, Extreme Iceland, their climbing tour of Esja is fairly straightforward.

The trails marking the path to the summit are rocky, but nothing a tourist of moderate athletic ability can’t overcome in about 90 minutes. On a clear afternoon, the reward for the day’s trek up to the peak is a panoramic portrait of the Reykjavik peninsula all the way west towards the mystical Snaefellsjokull glacier, the entry point to the centre of the earth in Jules Verne’s novel ‘A Journey to the Centre of the Earth’.