Iceland’s Golden Circle is one of the most visited parts of the country, but for good reason. Its combination of waterfalls, geysers, a stunning volcanic crater and a historic national park provides a hugely varied landscape over a relatively small area. Here’s my guide for a great visit to the glorious Golden Circle.
1. Stay in lovely Laugarvatn
The Golden Circle is a popular day trip from Iceland’s capital city, Reykjavik. But if you stay in the area for a night or two, you can see and experience more and get ahead of the tour groups. We spent two nights at Bjork Guesthouse in Laugarvatn, a small village on a lake of the same name. It’s a pretty place, but more importantly, it’s home to the Golden Circle’s best alternative to the Blue Lagoon. We stopped off at the latter after arriving at Keflavik airport and went into the cafe to take a look at the lagoon and have an overpriced drink and snack. It looked very nice, but not as spectacular as we’d expected and we didn’t think it warranted the £100 price tag.
Instead, we continued onto Laugarvatn and, after checking in at the guesthouse, we walked five minutes to Laugarvatn Fontana, an outdoor spa on the lake. It doesn’t have the pretty blue water, but it costs a third of the price and has a great collection of geothermal pools at different temperatures. There’s also a sauna and a series of steam rooms, naturally heated from below. You can check the sign on the door for the rooms that are recommended on the day you visit. I popped my head into the one not recommended and quickly popped it out again as it was so hot!
Laugarvatn Fontana also has a cafe where they sell drinks and snacks, including rye bread that is baked in the ground nearby. You can even do a tour to see the bread being dug up. We took a walk across to where it’s baked and could see how hot the ground is from the bubbling springs.
Later that evening, we ate at what must be one of the best restaurants in the Golden Circle area. Lindin is also on the lake in Laugarvatn and serves delicious fish dishes. We both chose the Duo of Fish with Parmesan Risotto. The local Arctic Char and Lingcod fish were both fabulous.
2. Head to Gullfoss Waterfall before the crowds
The next morning, we headed to our furthest Golden Circle destination first, Gullfoss Waterfall. We’d discovered from online itineraries that day tours from Reykjavík tend to go there last. Sure enough, when we arrived at around 9.15am, it was very quiet. Gullfoss is a powerful two-tier waterfall and there are higher and lower viewpoints. We headed down the steps to the lower level, where there’s an observation deck to survey the magnificence of the cascading water.
Then you can walk along to see and hear the thundering waterfall at closer quarters and climb up onto the uneven stone platform for a view of the higher level and the river the water flows from.
There’s also a large visitor centre, shop and restaurant. Everything is pretty expensive, but that’s Iceland for you! A tea, a cappuccino and two croissants cost us £17. But on the plus side, Gullfoss was the only Golden Circle sight where we didn’t need to pay for either entrance or parking. Elsewhere, it was one or the other.
3. Get your camera phone ready at Geysir & Strokurr
On route to Gullfoss, we passed through the Haukadalur geothermal area and headed back there to the Geysir Visitor Centre. It was busier than Gullfoss but not at its peak, as it’s usually the second stop on Golden Circle tours after Þingvellir National Park. You need to pay for parking here, either via an app or a machine just inside the visitor centre. The shop here is huge and you could easily lose some time in it!
Across the road is Geysir, the area’s best-known geyser, but it’s no longer active. Luckily, the Strokurr geyser is very active, and it won’t be long before you see bubbles form and then the water spout shoot skywards. It’s an impressive sight worth waiting for. And if you want to video it, you need to have your finger on record, ready to hit go very quickly. There are also a variety of bubbling hot springs around the site, with water as hot as 100 degrees Celsius, so you have to stay at a safe distance. I’ll include a couple of photos, but they don’t do it justice. It’s an area you really need to see in person.
4. Walk around the rim of stunning Kerið Crater
Our next stop isn’t always included on Golden Circle day trip tours, but we loved it. Kerið is one of several volcanic crater lakes that were formed when one of the Earth’s magma chambers depleted itself and caved in. The result at Kerið is a gorgeous aquamarine lake surrounded by red volcanic rock and a green grassy slope. There’s a small entrance fee, but no parking charge. You can walk down to the lake or walk around the rim of the crater. We chose the latter, which takes 20-30 minutes, depending on how often you stop to admire the view and take photos. And you will stop as the colour of the lake is stunning and changes at different points of the walk.
5. Stop off for lunch in lively Selfoss
From Kerið, it’s only a short drive to the town of Selfoss. This was one of the liveliest places we visited outside Reykjavik, and as the Ring Road goes through the centre, it’s a popular stopping off point. The Ring Road is an 822-mile road that encircles Iceland, connecting its main hubs. Selfoss is a pretty place with lots of colourful buildings, and as it’s a college town, there are plenty of places to eat. That includes a converted former dairy that’s now a trendy food hall. Selfoss was once the centre of Iceland’s dairy industry, which probably also explains the proliferation of ice cream shops! We opted to have lunch at Kaffi Krus, a lovely spot with both indoor and outside seating, that does great fish and chips.
Next door to the cafe is a large Krónan supermarket, an excellent place to stock up on essentials, snacks and picnic food. As Iceland is so expensive, it’s good to self-cater some of the time. This is where we realised that, unlike the UK, supermarkets in Iceland don’t sell alcohol. For that, you need to visit a Vinbudin shop. Luckily, there is a large one in Selfoss, so we headed there next.
We also spotted a couple of Vinbudin stores on the Ring Road and visited one in Vik, but the opening hours were quite variable. We bought one bottle of wine in the large duty-free shop that you pass through when exiting the airport. If we’d realised it would be easier and cheaper than anywhere else in Iceland, we’d have bought more!
6. Be wowed by historic Þingvellir National Park
The last stop on our trip around the Golden Circle was Þingvellir National Park. It’s usually the first stop for tour groups from Reykjavik, so we found it was pretty quiet. The route from Selfoss takes you alongside the huge Þingvellir lake, so it’s a beautiful drive. We spotted various types of cabin accommodation and could see why you’d want to wake up to that view. At the top of the lake, you go around to the other side, passing the park’s service centre that has facilities for campers. A bit further on, there’s a turn to the Þingvellir Visitor Centre at Hakið.
From here, it’s a short walk to a viewing platform where you can see the rift valley that divides the European and North American tectonic plates. The tectonic activity has created a dramatic landscape and an opportunity to swim between continents in the Silfra Fissure. Next to the platform, you can walk through the Almannagjá gorge. It’s so wide that it’s hard to imagine it was once connected.
From the gorge, there are a couple of places to cross the rift and visit Þingvallakirkja. It’s one of Iceland’s best-known churches and was built on the spot where Iceland’s first parliament met for more than 800 years. It’s this that makes Þingvellir National Park so important in Icelandic history and culture. Next to the church is the Summer Residence of the Icelandic Prime Minister, so while the business of government has moved to Reykjavik, the historic connection to Þingvellir continues.
And that was how we saw the best of Iceland’s Golden Circle before heading back to Laugarvatn for a late evening picnic outside Bjork Guesthouse. The summer is a great time to explore Iceland, because it never really gets dark. In fact, it was still daylight outside our window when we went inside at 11pm, so my final bit of advice is to make sure your accommodation has very good blackout curtains or blinds!
Check the Europe section of my blog for more posts about Iceland that will be coming soon, as well as ideas for other European adventures.