The Golden Circle Tour Iceland is one of the most visited tours in the country that can give you a glimpse of Iceland’s natural beauty by covering one of each category of a geyser, a fall, and a volcano that form the majority of landscape across Iceland. The Golden Circle is named so after the Gulfoss falls, literally meaning “the Golden Falls” in Icelandic. All the attractions on this tour are right near Route 1 (Ring Road 1) of Iceland so that it is easy for travelers to reach them either with a guided bus or through self-drive.

Major destination on the Golden Circle Tour Iceland

There are three major attractions part of the Golden Circle, though you can decide to add-on many of the nearby spots depending on availability of time and your choice.

Thingvellir National Park (Þingvellir)

Thingvellir is one of nature’s marvels where you can see the ridge between Eurasian and the North-Atlantic tectonic plates sometimes above and sometimes underwater. Both the plates are moving apart from each other at a rate of about 2cm per year constantly creating new lava fields. The Silfra Fissure is a great place to snorkel and see the variety of flora and fauna that thrive in its mineral-rich waters.

Thingvellir also holds an important place in Iceland’s history as this is where Althing (Alþing) the national assembly of Iceland and World’s first democratic national parliament was founded in 930 A.D. Till 1844 it used to be held on the open grounds of Thingvellir after which it was moved to the current capital Reykjavik.

Geysir Geothermal Area

Iceland has over 700 geysers and hot springs all across which makes it one of the nations with maximum geothermal activity. The Great Geysir was born in, what is now called the Haukadalur Valley, in the 13th century due to the strong earthquakes and has reduced and then revived again during the centuries that followed. It was active till 1981 and in 2000 erupted for several hours continuously after an earthquake. Currently, it sits silently, watching over the other active hot springs nearby. Most remarkable among them is the Strokkur geyser which is known to erupt every few minutes.

Gulfoss Falls

The last stop on the Golden Circle is the Gulfoss Falls (the Golden Circle Iceland waterfall) which is one of the most popular and one of the most beautiful falls in Iceland. Formed by the River Hvita cascading in two steps down 36 feet and 71 feet into a deep canyon, the reflecting light of the midnight sun gives its mist a golden glow, thus the name “Golden Falls”. The river gets completely hidden as it falls down the deep gorge looking as if it is vanishing into Earth.

Best time to visit the Golden Circle

Iceland is a good place to visit any time of the year. Be it the summers to enjoy the midnight sun or the winters to marvel at the Northern lights, all three main spots of the Golden circle are open all year round and well maintained.

Visiting in the summer months means you have the choice to self-drive and visit during non-peak hours giving you more privacy at each spot. Though each of the three attractions is an open geographical area so crowd should not be much of a concern.

Visiting in winters will need you to be more careful as the roads and paths can get slippery and dangerous. Thus it makes more sense to travel with experienced guided tours from Reykjavik during this season.

How long does it take?

The Golden Circle itinerary takes only about 6-7 hours starting and returning to Reykjavik. It can be completed easily in 1 day even if you take one or two detours to cover nearby spots. Thingvellir National Park takes about 1.5 to 2 hours, Geysir geothermal park will take about 1 hour and Gulfoss falls will take another 1 hour. The locations are close by to each other not taking much time to travel in between. There are many day-trips organized from Reykjavik starting at about 8 am that will bring you back to the city before dinner time.

Can you do a self-drive?

Self-drive is one of the best ways to explore Iceland’s beautiful natural wonders at your own pace. For Golden Circle, there are two routes you can follow. A quicker route through Route 1 and Highway 36 will take you to each of the three attractions in least possible time or the other more scenic route through Route 1 and then Highway 435 that goes through a beautiful mountain will take a couple of hours longer.

During summers, if you want to avoid the crowd at the spots, you can easily plan your drive so that you start much earlier and avoid the tour crowd staring to reach the spots at 9 am.

Where to stay

A self – drive direct Golden Circle Iceland Tour can easily be done within 8 – 10 hours if you do not plan to stay at any of the places. But if you want to travel like the Icelanders, and spend time leisurely, you can easily find many hotels, cabins, and cottages near all three places.

There are also well equipped camping grounds at Thingvellir, Geysir and in the vicinity of Gulfoss. These camping grounds offer facilities like restaurants, WIFI, toilets, showers, electricity and cooking stations. Most of these are open only from May or June to September so it is better to check before you plan your visit.