Driving Iceland’s Golden Circle

Flying with WOW Air or Iceland Air? Decided to book a stopover? You will probably be bombarded with different ideas about how to spend your time in the country, but pretty much every blog or website will recommend or offer tours of Iceland’s Golden Circle. The Circle is a loop made up of three destinations, easily accessible from Reykjavik: Þingvellir National Park, Geysir, and Gullfoss Waterfalls. In total, it is about a 3 hour drive starting and ending back in the capital city, so it’s very easy to do, though I would give yourself the whole day to do it. It offers a great introduction to some of Iceland’s incredible natural wonders. I drove the circle starting from the south, driving up rt 30 from the Ring Road, so that is another option if you are planning a longer trip (and check out the Secret Lagoon along the way!). There are lots of tours, though I really think driving the Circle on your own is your best option. It is in some cases cheaper and offers way more freedom. That way you can choose to go on some lengthier walks or hikes at any of the stops.

Geysir

The first stop on my “tour” was Geysir. Its name derives from the Icelandic word “geysa” (to gush), and is what gave the English language our current word for the erupting water springs. The famed Great Geysir was one of the largest and most active geysers in the world for many years, though it’s eruptions have subsided over the past decade. It lies in the middle of a geothermal area with the “Little Geysir” (which basically just bubbles), and Strokkur. Strokkur is the destination for many tourists today, now the largest and most popular geyser in the country, shooting water up to 20 m into the air every 5 minutes or so.
It was fun standing around Strokkur, watching the water froth and bubble until the pressure was too much. People would cheer when it went off and “ooh” and “ahh” as it sucked the water back down into the large hole. You could walk around and see it from several vantage points, but if you wanted to watch it up close, you had to wait behind the other tourists until it was your “turn” to stand along the edge of the fenced-off area. That’s okay though, because it erupts so often that it never takes long to get some great pictures of this unique landmark.

Gullfoss

From Geysir, I drove about 10 minutes down the road to Gullfoss, the largest waterfall in Iceland, and one of the largest in Europe. I had high standards, having already visited several other waterfalls around Iceland, but Gullfoss did not disappoint. It was wild. The Falls are actually made up of two cliffs with a combined height of 32m dipping down into a gorge, with the wide Hvita river pouring over them. There are some nice walkways down along the falls. They’re not quite close enough to spray you like at the Niagara Falls, but you get close enough to really see the immense power of Gullfoss. I walked right along the gorge and then up along the rim as well, which is when the sun came out and granted us all with a postcard-worthy rainbow across the falls. Everyone was standing around, snapping as many pictures as possible (me included), and it was incredibly beautiful.

Þingvellir National Park

Þingvellir is about 40 minutes back in the direction of Reykjavik. It is an area not only rich in beautiful nature, but also in Iceland’s history. The national parliament of Iceland met there for centuries and it became a social center for fairs and trading. The history of the area is fascinating, and can be read along the walking trails. Remnants of old trading huts can still be seen on site. But the historical significance is easy to gloss over when the natural beauty of the area is so overwhelming! Þingvellir is home to a rift valley caused by the fault line between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates that it lies on top of. The fault grows in distance by roughly 2cm each year, so it is really interesting to think about how the park has changed over its centuries of use. There are loads of opportunities for hiking trails there, though I didn’t have time for much besides a short walk. It was still gorgeous though, with mountains and volcanoes reflecting in Iceland’s largest natural lake as the sun set.
The one (tiny) drawback to Þingvellir is that they charge for parking. It’s 500kr for a day pass, so if you aren’t staying long (like me), it might seem kind of dumb to pay. But keep your eyes out for anyone who might be leaving the park when you arrive and ask if you can have their pass, it worked for me!

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to the Golden Circle a lot. I knew there would be loads of tourists and people taking pictures, walking all over the place, etc, all of which seemed extremely obnoxious to me after my week of solitude. But it was really okay. The sites were way more impressive than I expected, and though there were more tourists than in the desolate fjords I had explored, they were nothing in comparison to the crowds at more famous places like Niagara Falls. And the Golden Circle still managed to present spectacular bits of the country’s nature, even though I had already seen so much. I would 100% recommend doing the drive to anyone visiting Iceland. It’s definitely worth it!