The Amazing Golden Circle in Iceland: Path and Activities

The Golden Circle is arguably THE thing that people want to do during their visit to Iceland due to its immense natural wonder.

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Golden Circle, Iceland

The Golden Circle is one of the most well-known drives in Iceland. You’ll find plenty of Iceland’s natural beauty along this single drive. Some might consider it a “must-do” and we’d agree that it’s something you should consider if you haven’t been before. You’ll see widely different terrain, including the point at which two tectonic plates meet, large waterfalls, bubbling geysers, and geothermal springs, among other things.

What makes it especially nice is that it’s a simple drive if you’re based in Reykjavik, which is where most visitors to Iceland stay. That means you could do this as a daytrip from the city center pretty easily. The whole trip took us 9 hours, including the time spent driving to and from Reykjavik. That’s a long drive, and you can certainly break it up by staying the night somewhere along the way or by staying in Selfoss.

Breaking it up might be preferred if you have the time and want to explore because we didn’t have the time to do everything.

If you’re driving during the winter season and plan to start early, just be aware that you might be driving on snowy roads. Of course, you might be used to it by now if you’ve driven around Iceland before this point in your journey. However, most of the roads are plowed frequently.

Weather in Iceland hits each section at different times and in different ways. Plan ahead by checking out these two important websites:

https://road.is/ (live road closures and conditions)
https://en.vedur.is/alerts (weather alerts within the next 3-5 days)

Clockwise or counterclockwise?

This might be the question of the day. Should you drive the route going clockwise or counterclockwise? Our recommendation depends on several things with the assumption that you’re departing from Reykjavik:

If you’re starting your journey earlier in the morning (by 8AM), we’d recommend going clockwise. You’ll hit up Thingvellir first and then continue on to Strokkur Geysir.
If you’re starting your journey later in the day and into the afternoon, we’d recommend going counterclockwise. If your goal is seeing the Northern Lights, you might want to end at Thingvellir to make it an easier road home. There aren’t any street lights out here to help guide your path.

What’s influencing our decision on the route to take is avoidance of the tour groups. Thingvellir is quiet in the morning around 8:30-9:30AM. But once the clock hit about 10AM, suddenly the crowding began with the buses dumping off visitors. Avoid the crowds and start early, or start late and you might avoid them too.

What to do within the Golden Circle

The Golden Circle is full of natural beauty. We’ll talk about each in clockwise order starting with Thingvellir, which is what we did first.

Þingvellir National Park (Thingvellir National Park)

Official website: https://www.thingvellir.is/en/

In case you’re curious, the letter Þ in the Icelandic language is pronounced as ‘th’ as you might find in the word ‘thing’. To keep things simple, we’ll just call it Thingvellir.

We arrived at Thingvellir at about 8:45AM and found plenty of parking available in lot P1. In fact, there are so few cars at this point that we weren’t sure we parked in the right area. Thingvellir has several other parking lots, but this one is the closest to the Visitor Centre. And before you ask, yes, it costs money to park and there is no “street parking” to bypass the need to pay.

Hakið (Visitor Centre & Viewing Platform)

From the parking lot, it was a short walk over to the Visitor Centre. Aside from being a nice place to fill up on water and use the restroom, there are some other things awaiting inside.

The first is the large map that shows just how varied the terrain is here in the area. If you stop by here later when the tour guides show up, you might even overhear the guides giving some commentary about the history of Thingvellir.

Map of the terrain around the Golden Circle

Hidden under the table is a smaller map you can pull out. This map shows what’s here in the area, including walking paths. If all you care about is what to see in the immediate vicinity of the Visitor Centre, this is for you.

The Visitor Centre also has a gift shop, a small area to pick up snacks, and a paid experience that explains the area and history. (We didn’t do the paid experience.)

Right outside the Visitor Centre is an area where you can get a nice view of the surrounding valley. Just walk up this wooden platform and you’ll be there.

Thingvellir has a lot of history, aside from just being the site where tectonic plates meet up. There were parliamentary areas here at this site. Thingvellir also has a history of being where rule-breakers were once drowned after being tied up in bags. How humane.

Glance off to the right and you’ll see Thingvallavatn, the largest lake within the Golden Circle.

North American tectonic plate division

From the Visitor Centre, you’ll want to take the path downwards to walk alongside the shift in tectonic plates. But a brief warning–if you’re walking in the winter, it will be slippery here. Crampons are not necessary for this part of the walk, but it would make it a lot easier. There aren’t any railings to hold onto as you walk and going down is harder than going up. We saw others fall, so be careful. Before your trip, consider buying crampons if you’ll be here during winter months (affiliate link).

Once you’re down at the bottom, you’ll see just what it’s like when two tectonic plates meet. It almost just looks like someone messed up and didn’t have the two sides of the earth meet up at the right level. These plates are the North American and Eurasian plates. In fact, the plates are splitting apart roughly 2-3 cm each year and you could take a roughly 8 km walk in between the plates to soak in its beauty.

Öxarárfoss

Continue along the path (close to parking lot P2) and you’ll see signs to Öxarárfoss, a beautiful waterfall that helps source the large Thingvallavatn. Again, if you’re here in the winter, watch for slippery areas and stay on the path. The snow can hide exactly where the ground is.

We’ve seen images of this waterfall during the summer months but in winter it’s a bit frozen over. Well, so much for getting a good show! Despite the exterior being covered in ice and snow, we could still hear the waterfall roaring underneath.

Still images couldn’t capture it well, but here is a short video showing that the waterfall was indeed running at this time.

There are signs of life under the ice

Old Icelandic parliamentary area

As we referenced above, there are walking paths all around this area that helps show off some of the old parliamentary area. We walked the paths, but again we saw quite a few people falling over on the stairs and pathways. Since we were here with our kids (and no crampons), we didn’t see quite as much as we would have wanted.

What we did see was completely covered in snow and ice. If we had to make a guess, we’d suggest Thingvellir is probably more impressive during summer months when you can see the green and brown better. With everything covered in snow, it was hard to see much of the detail.

To be clear, we still enjoyed it here and we were happy that the weather behaved all day. Being here during a blizzard would not be fun.

Silfra Fissure

One thing we should point out for completeness is if you want to check out the continental rift underwater. The Silfra Fissure is a popular place to snorkel and dive to see that gap in the planet’s crust. Yes, even in the summer, we imagine the water is cold enough that you’d want to wear full-body suits and other protective gear. If we come back in warmer weather, this is on the list of things we’d like to try out.

Strokkur Geysir

Moving along clockwise from Thingvellir, the next major site is the Strokkur Geysir. There are other smaller sites along the way, like waterfalls that some smaller group tours go explore. However, we planned on making Strokkur the next destination for us. The Geysir Center parking lot is next to the road–you can’t miss it.

After you park your vehicle, it’s a simple walk across the street to go see they geysers. Watch for passing cars because there is no stop sign that forces cars to slow down. There’s just a small raised platform where pedestrians cross.

You’ll find a map of the area across the street. Most of the geysers are contained within a small walking area but there are a couple of easy hikes you can take here too.

There’s a raised platform that takes you above where some of the smaller geysers are located. You really should stay on the path. We observed a couple of kids (not sure where their parents went) who ran up to the bubbling geysers to throw snow into the water. They could have easily fallen in accidentally. While it’s cold and snowy outside, it’s easy to forget that the water is at a boiling temperature. Scalding is a real concern!

Many of the smaller geysers look like the below. It appears to be a small pond that has plenty of steam coming out of them. In fact, the floor is littered with these geysers.

The most impressive geyser here is this large geyser (named Strokkur, naturally). Pick your spot to observe it and in 8-10 minutes, you’ll see it erupt. The water emitted from this geyser shoots roughly 25-35 meters into the sky. Thankfully, the steam won’t hurt you but you’ll still want to keep your distance.

Strokkur erupting

As with parts of Thingvellir, if you come here during the winter, you’ll find some paths that are covered in ice. Again, there are no handrails to use as support, so having crampons is highly preferred. We saw others falling over as they attempted to climb. However, you are able to view most of the geysers without worrying about icy conditions.

If you do have crampons or you come during warmer conditions, you can get a nice view of the area at the observation deck.

Restaurants and hotels

There are two hotels and several restaurants available if you’d like to make this a longer stop. We didn’t stay at the hotels here, but being that this is roughly halfway through the Golden Circle, it seems like a logical place to call it a night.

The Geysir Center, where you likely parked your vehicle, is home to a couple of restaurants, a large gift shop, and clean restrooms.

Both of the restaurants are set up as quick-service/cafeteria. This one is a bit less crowded of the two options and is on the northern side of the Geysir Center.

We ate at the first restaurant we saw, which is on the southern side of the center. This one is more popular and appears to also be where some tour groups dine. To dine here, you’ll stand in a line and point at any of the ready-made pastries and sandwiches. They also have warmer food like soups, pizza, and Icelandic dishes.

During our visit, there were three soups to choose from: fish soup, tomato soup, and traditional lamb soup.

One of the Icelandic dishes we ordered were some meatballs covered in gravy, rice, vegetables, and soft potatoes. The meatballs have a bit of a gamey taste to them but I still enjoyed it. Altogether, the dish wasn’t as filling as I feared it might be, but that’s a good thing. I wasn’t looking to walk away feeling stuffed.

Jenn ordered the fish soup, which had plenty of seafood flavor to it. On a cold day like it was when we visited, it certainly hit the spot. The bread that came with the soup was good for dipping but we could have used a little more.

The kids were interested in the pizza, which we didn’t think was available at first because it said it was only available in the afternoon. However, to their surprise, we could order it for lunch. The dough is fresh and the pepperoni tasted awesome according to Alex. There’s good cheese pull too, making this not a bad option for a roadside pizza in the middle of Iceland.

Gullfoss

A short distance away from Strokkur Geysir is Gullfoss, one of the largest waterfalls in the area. The great thing about this particular stop is unlike almost every other site in southern Iceland, there is no parking fee or admission fee to come view these falls. That’s awesome!

From the parking lot, there is a simple walk over to the observation area, which is divided into both an upper and a lower deck.

In the picture below, you’ll get a sense of the upper and lower observation decks relative to each other. The upper area will give you a nice view of the overall scenery but the lower area is arguably better for seeing the falls from a closer angle.

We went down to the lower area first, which isn’t handicap-accessible but it is easy to scale even in winter. There are plenty of handrails and no icy conditions when we were there.

Walk up to the lower observation deck, and you’ll get a nice view of the top of the falls. It’s a little unfortunate that you can’t observe the entire falls from here, but you can certainly hear the roaring water beneath you.

Wander around the lower platform and you’ll find the river that serves as the outlet going away from Gullfoss.

How about the upper path? Well, you get a great view of the large river as it heads to the falls.

And then from here you’ll be able to see the falls from above. However, the angle isn’t the best and we’d say it’s best for just checking out the point where the bottom of the falls meets the river below.

Restaurant

Not to be outdone by Strokkur Geysir, Gullfoss also has its own restaurant, gift shop, and restrooms. The setup is quite similar in that it’s more of a quick-service restaurant. As we already ate at the Geysir Center, we didn’t get much of a chance to compare how the food looked. Oddly enough, on top of that, there was a fire alarm going off in the building when we were here, so that cut our visit a bit short.

However, we will say that the seating looks more comfortable here than what we had at the Geysir Center.

Faxi Waterfall

We didn’t get a chance to stop at Faxi Waterfall on our trip through the Golden Circle. That’s partly because we’ve seen so many waterfalls in Iceland already that we felt fine skipping it on this trip through. However, the entrance to the waterfall is along the main path, making this a great pitstop that doesn’t add much extra time to your overall journey.

In retrospect, squeezing in this waterfall probably would have been preferred. As awesome as Gullfoss was, the thing we missed from it was being able to clearly see the whole falls. Faxi, on the other hand, gives you that full waterfall effect we wanted. Of the things we missed on the Golden Circle, regrettably this would be the thing we would have liked the most.

Secret Lagoon

Official website: https://secretlagoon.is/

Secret Lagoon is a geothermal bath, a not-too-uncommon sighting throughout Iceland. If’ you’ve been to the more popular Blue Lagoon near the Keflavik Airport, this will seem similar albeit a little smaller. The Secret Lagoon still has three pools available for your use.

The great news is if you’re looking for a cheaper experience than what Blue Lagoon offers. With as commercialized and well-known as Blue Lagoon has become, prices have crept up there a bit more drastically. On an average day, you might find the entrance fee to Secret Lagoon at just a third of the price of what it costs for Blue Lagoon. That said, you’ll need to bring your own towel or you’ll be hit with a per-towel fee.

You’ll need to take a little bit of a detour if you want to come here, but you’ll find signage leading you there. (No, it’s not that much of a secret.) It’s also preferred to make a reservation before your arrival, but that can be a little stressful if you’re trying to time this with the rest of the Golden Circle. We’d recommend staying the night perhaps in Selfoss and then coming here first thing in the morning if your goal is to check out the Secret Lagoon.

Kerið Crater

The Kerið Crater isn’t on everyone’s list of things you must do at the Golden Circle, but we think it’s still worthy of a pitstop. To start, there’s a fee-free parking lot though it’s on the smaller side. The picture below is pretty much the entire parking lot.

While in the parking lot, you’ll see some information on the history of Kerið Crater, which started out as a scoria crater. It erupted and the magma chamber underneath retreated from that eruption, causing the crater to cave in on itself and giving the crater its current look.

If you’re hungry while here, there’s also a small shop if you need a quick snack but don’t expect too much to eat here.

Though parking is free, there’s a small admission fee to enter. Children under 7 are free.

The reason not as many people call this place a must-see is likely because the path is mostly just a hiking path around the crater. Those dots along the rim of the crater in the picture below are people as they hike around. With so much snow and ice in the area, the kids didn’t feel as stable walking around the perimeter, so we didn’t get a chance to walk around the whole thing.

From what we did hike, we didn’t encounter any problems not having crampons over our boots.

If you don’t want to walk around the crater, you could instead descend into the crater. There’s a single staircase that leads you from roughly the entrance of the Kerið Crater down a winding path to the center.

In the winter, the water here at the bottom is completely frozen over. In warmer climates, you’ll see a small pond here. And before you ask, no, the ice is not thick enough to walk on.

Still, it’s nice to just come down here to take a picture and have a rest.

Other possibilities within the Golden Circle

Here are a few more niche options for you to consider as you chart out your own course around the Golden Circle. However, our experience was a bit limited with each of these so we’ll cover them at a higher level.

Friðheimar Greenhouse

Official website: https://fridheimar.is/

Finding a place that grows its own tomatoes in the middle of Iceland is rare. That’s what makes this pitstop a bit unique to the rest of the scenery in Iceland. Friðheimar is a local, family-run business where you can tour the greenhouses and even see a horse show.

What do they do with the vegetables they grow here? Use it in their recipes at the restaurant they run, of course. Overall, it’s a cute stop and could be one of the tastier options you have along the entire journey.

You’ll find this greenhouse near where the path splits off to the Secret Lagoon.

Viewing the Northern Lights

While many of the tour groups will go west from Reykjavik to search for the Northern Lights, another viable option is anywhere along the Golden Circle. If you’re staying the night anywhere along the path and the sky is clear, try searching for the lights on your own between 11PM and 1AM. Those are typically the best times to go on the search for the auroras dancing in the night sky.

If you’re instead staying in Reykjavik and want to go out on your own to see the lights, we’d recommend heading towards Thingvellir. While you could go deeper into the Golden Circle, what you really want are clear skies and to get away from light pollution. When you get to Thingvellir, you’ll get exactly that.

A word of warning regardless of where you choose to view the lights. Don’t stand in the middle of the road at night as you stare up into the sky looking for the lights. People have been injured or killed by passing cars. Try to stay by the side of the road so you can stay out of trouble as much as possible.

The Northern Lights underneath the clouds

Hveragerði

If you’ve driven between Selfoss and Reykjavik before, you’d know the road is pretty much just a regular highway most of the way through. There aren’t too many spots where you can stop off and find something cute and quaint along the way.

One possibility is Hveragerði, which is known as a geothermal town. It’s actually known as the farthest north city that grows bananas. Also here at the town is a small art museum, a brewery, and a number of hotels and restaurants.

While here, you might be interested in checking out The Geothermal Park, which has a geyser that erupts every 20 minutes. They also boast rye bread that you can try that has been baked in the steam from the geyser overnight.

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