When researching Iceland and what the biggest attractions are, the Golden Circle route comes up all over the place. After doing some research on what is actually on the Golden Circle, we decided which stops on the route we wanted to go to the most and booked an Airbnb closer to the “Nature” attractions on the circle rather than closer to the city.
The Circle itself starts at Reykjavik, the capital city, and goes all the way out to Gullfoss as the farthest point on the route. There are many small stops along the way on the route, but we wanted to focus on the main spectacles on the route which include the Kerið Crater, the Strokkur Geysir, and Gullfoss. We also included the Secret Lagoon because it was incredibly close to our Airbnb.
See a more comprehensive list of all there is to do on the route on I Heart Reykjavik’s Blog post. It’s a great resource for smaller waterfalls, places to eat, and other tips and tricks. I used their post to decide which places we would be able to see with our limited daylight of which we only had about 5-6 hours a day.
https://www.iheartreykjavik.net/drive-it-yourself-the-golden-circle/
We did have a pretty cloudy day with on and off rain which resulted in us spending less time at each location than we would have preferred, but it didn’t take away from how beautiful each place was at all.
Reykjavik
Reykjavik was our first stop from the airport, only about a 45-minute drive. We arrived when it was still dark out so we grabbed some food at a bakery, and then headed to see some of the sights.
It is the largest city in Iceland with a population of about 120,000. For us, this is small considering that it’s almost half the size of our home, Rochester, NY.
We started at the Grotta Lighthouse and then made our way to the Hallgrimskirkja Church which is the main landmark of the city.
Both are beautiful and significant parts of Reykjavik, but we were excited to move onto some of the “Nature” attractions of the Golden Circle so we did not spend much time in the city at all. When doing my research, it was made pretty clear to not spend too much time in the city if you are taking a short trip. Although Reykjavik is a great city, if you don’t have a ton of time in Iceland, you should spend most of your time seeing the more spectacular attractions Iceland has to offer.
We “watched the sunrise” at the Grotta Lighthouse. We were the only ones there, and we found that because of where Iceland is on the globe the sunrises and sunsets are very long and there’s not so much of a daybreak as we are used to seeing at home.
Kerið Crater
Our second stop on the circle was then Kerið Crater only about an hour-long drive from Reykjavik. One of the best parts about the Golden Circle route is that you pull off the main road and get to see all the attractions. The crater has a small parking lot right off of the road with free parking, but an entrance fee to the crater for roughly $3 or 400 ISK. We walked along the rim to get a stunning view of the crater. You can also go to the base of the crater, but because of the weather, we didn’t walk to the bottom.
The water in the lake at the base of the crater is a stunning aqua blue because of all of the minerals. And the volcanic rock is a stunning red shade amongst the green moss that grows there as well.
It makes for a very surreal looking landscape with a mixture of vivid colors. It’s perfectly located to stop, check it out, take your pictures, and move on!
Strokkur Geyser
And next stop on our route was The Strokkur Geyser. The geyser has a bit more going on than the crater. It has a large gift shop, a restaurant, bathrooms, and a cafe. It’s free to park and free to see the geyser which is right off of the main road like the crater. It was a bit busier than the crater, but also not busy compared to any American attractions I have been to.
The Strokkur Geyser is really fun to watch erupt! It goes off about every 15 minutes or so and sometimes erupts twice at the same time. The water is a bright blue color at the base where it bubbles up from. It shoots 15-20 meters in the air but can reach heights of 40 meters, and in the past has been even higher than that. It is “small” compared to the largest geyser in the world which is the Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, but Steamboat erupts more randomly and way less frequently.
We spent around 45 minutes at the geyser watching it erupt twice and checking out the gift shop. It was a short drive from the crater only about 40 minutes.
Gullfoss
We decided to make Gullfoss our last true stop for our Golden Circle day. We knew the sun would be setting, and most of the rest of the circle was smaller waterfalls, tourist activities, and restaurants.
Gullfoss is the largest waterfall in Iceland by volume of water and has two drops in it. There’s a lookout above the waterfall right off of the road, and another lookout (where these pictures were taken from) more directly in front of the waterfall. Again, the attraction is right off of the road with a parking lot, and it’s free to park.
The Secret Lagoon
The Secret Lagoon was super convenient for us to visit after the sun went down because it was only about a 10-minute drive from our Airbnb.
The hot water hitting the cool night air made for a mystery misty landscape.
Entrance to the Secret Lagoon was only about $25 (3000 ISK) and drinks were about an average price. Adam and I both had a drink and it came to $20. You can rent towels and bathing suits, but we brought our own.
I loved the atmosphere of this lagoon. It did feel like a secret because it is a bit more off of the main path. The water had different temperatures depending on how close you were to where the water came into the pool from the hot spring, some spots were very hot, and it was an amazing experience. The “pool” is all-natural so the floor is made of sand and rock, and the water is incredibly clear so you can see right through it. We spent about 2 hours in the pool and were able to go home and shower and make dinner.
One thing to note is that the showers are open communal showers, they make it very clear on their website that you have to shower before you go into the pool without a bathing suit on. This wasn’t a problem for us at all but should be noted if you aren’t used to showering in a communal shower or comfortable with it. There is soap provided in the showers!
Check out their website here: https://secretlagoon.is/
Overall, our trip around the Golden Circle attractions was amazing. We opted out of doing tours because we like to travel at our own pace. Renting a car and driving it ourselves was a great choice. We had no problems driving to each location. It was relatively cheap to split the cost of the rental car for the entire time we were there and gas between the 5 of us making it much cheaper than doing day tours the entire time. If you don’t like driving far distances, would rather follow someone else’s itinerary instead of creating your own, or are traveling solo/with fewer people than you might want to weigh out if renting a car is cost-effective versus a tour.
Picking and choosing which attractions we wanted to go to when and how long we wanted to be there is how we prefer to travel, and it was super easy to do this for the Golden Circle route because it is one main road the entire time. If you only have a short time in Iceland like we did, the Golden Circle is a must-do experience.