One-Day Itinerary to the Golden Circle in Iceland
The one thing everyone has to see and to do is to visit the famous “golden circle”. It is the perfect sightseeing-program for every “stop-over” tourists, who want to see “Iceland in a nutshell”.
The Golden Circle offers waterfalls, volcanic craters with emerald blue crater lakes, geothermal areas, geysirs and much, much more. If you only have limited (travel) time available, it is important to plan your itinerary thoughtfully. This blog article will help you select the best spots of the Golden Circle in Iceland.
If you only have limited (travel) time available, it is important to plan your itinerary thoughtfully. This blog article will help you select the best spots of the Golden Circle in Iceland.
The itinerary starts at Kerið – a volcanic crater. The crater was formed after an eruption about 6.500 years ago. The earth around is vivid red and (usually) the water in the middle appears emerald green. “Usually” as this is not really the case in winter – so please do not expect this. The small lake usually freezes and the ice shelf is partly covered with the red earth and mud.
Nevertheless, it is worth a visit and it is a nice sunrise location as you can walk around the whole crater from where you have a great view over the surrounding landscape. It takes about 10-15 Minutes to walk the complete distance and you can also walk down to the lake via a staircase.
You have to pay a small entrance fee (about 400 ISK per person), if you want to visit the crater.
The next stop of this itinerary is the geothermal area and home of the Geysirs. We decided to drive a short detour via Laugarvatn as the mountains were beautifully lighted by the sunrise. We drove into this direction to get some picture-perfect cotton-candy sunrise shots.
When approaching the geothermal area, you might be lucky and already see an eruption of the Geysir “Strokkur” from the distance.
When you arrive at the geothermal area you will notice the smell of sulfur. The whole area has small streams of hot water and smaller Geysirs. Stream rises from the many hot thermal springs and covers the area in a foggy mood.
The two main attractions are the Geysir called “Geysir”, which is the “mother” of Geysirs and the Geysir “Strokkur”. Unfortunately, the great Geysir is currently dormant as an earth quake in 2000 ended its series of eruptions.
The Strokkur Geysir is still active and reaches a height between 15-20 meters – sometimes even more. Sometimes less. When we visited the Geysir, we mainly witnessed smaller eruptions, which not even reached a height of 2 meters as well as really a high one, which was about 30 meters. I can just recommend to stay patient and plan some more time at the area and to wait for one of the higher eruptions. I can ensure you: it is worth it!
I can recommend to take a lunch break at the “Geysir” parking lot (Coordinates: 64.31359501821039, -20.296568313816834), which is located closer to the actual Geysirs. From here you can observe they Geysir, while staying in your warm car.
The entrance to the geothermal area as well as the parking lot at the geothermal area are for free.
Not far away from the geothermal area you will find the next highlight of the Golden Circle: the powerful waterfall of “Gullfoss” (Golden Falls). As already the Sejlandsfoss and the Skógafoss, this watrerfall is easily accessible.
The Gulfoss tumbles down into a rugged canyon, which contributes to the rough and brutal appearance of the waterfall. In winter, the waterfall is covered in a white dress as many parts of the actual waterfall and the surroundings are covered with a thick shelf of ice and snow.
Nevertheless, the waterfall extremly impressive and a must-see for every visiter.
We visitied the Gulfoss quite late and the sun was already setting by then. The sunset wrapped the landscape in an even more beautiful light and the cliffs around the waterfall appeared in a bright orange, which contrasted beautifully with the blue shades of the waterfall.
We ended the circuit by driving southwards via the 30 and 344, where we also spotted some Icelandic ponies.
When driving the circuit, you can stop by the famous Hrunalaug Hot Spring. A really nice and small geothermal spring, which lies hidden between green meadows. As it was quite crowded at that time, we did not jump in. Even though, the sun almost set, people were still arriving at the spring.
The small “house”, which you see, also serves as changing room. Be prepared to get changed for your hot spring experience with up to ten people at the same time in a very tiny space.
The entrance to Hrunalaug Hot Spring is for free, but it is expected to leave a small financial aid (about 1000 ISK) for the maintenance and conservation of the spring. You can put your money into a small box next to the parking lot.
There are further stops, which you can consider, when visiting the Golden Circle.
- Þingvellir Nationalparc – the “birthplace” of the Icelandic parliament. Here you will also find the “gap” between the two continents of America and Europe. You can walk or even dive through the gap between both continents. If you want to have the diving or snorkeling experience, you need to go to “Silfra” at the north shore of the Þingvallavatn
- Laugarvatn Fontana – another geothermal spring, which is located directly at the Laugarvatn lake. A visit costs about 3.950 ISK (about 30€) per person and you can stay as long as you want.
