Iceland Golden Circle Itinerary – Is it Worth It? Complete Guide

Iceland’s Golden Circle route is considered to be the go-to attraction for a first time visitor to Iceland as it is a way to see some of the natural highlights of the country. Thanks to its close proximity to Reykjavík and the KEF International airport, along with the short driving distances between each attraction, the Golden Circle route in Iceland is easily accessible and convenient for Iceland travelers to incorporate into their itinerary.

In this comprehensive guide, I’ll provide you with everything you need to make the most of your journey along Iceland’s Golden Circle route, all drawn from my personal experience driving the route. From the essential sights to insider tips, I’ve got you covered, fam! Because you can do the Golden Circle in Iceland as a day trip from Reykjavik or as part of a longer Iceland Ring Road trip, I’ll offer recommendations for both. Let’s begin!

Table of Contents

• Golden Circle Route in Iceland – Quick Details
• Iceland Golden Circle Itinerary Map
• Best Stops on the Golden Circle Route – Iceland
  • Thingvellir National Park
    • Is snorkeling at Silfra worth it?
  • Bruarfoss Waterfall
  • Geysir / Strokkur
  • Gullfoss Waterfall
  • Secret Lagoon
  • Kerid Crater
• Golden Circle – What We Did
• Is the Golden Circle in Iceland Worth it? Or should we skip it?
• Where to stay when visiting the Golden Circle?
• Golden Circle in Iceland – Final Thoughts/Pros and Cons
• More About Iceland

Golden Circle Route in Iceland – Quick Details

Golden Circle Distance from Reykjavik: To do the whole Golden Circle route as a day trip from Reykjavik, you’ll cover roughly 150 miles (250km)
No 4×4 required — you will not be driving on F-Roads.
Time Required: You’ll need to devote a full day to do the Golden Circle. Just driving the route straight through with no stops would take about 4 hours (to/from Reykjavik), but you should plan on 6-10 hours for this drive.
Best time of year to visit: You can do this year-round

Note: Don’t confuse the Golden Circle with the Ring Road. These are two separate entities. The ring road is Rte 1 which makes a loop around the entire country. The Golden Circle is a ‘circle’ of interesting attractions easily accessible from Reykjavik that can be done as a day trip.

Iceland Golden Circle Itinerary Map

Below you’ll find a map showing the loop of the Golden Circle route, from Reyjkavik.

Best Stops on the Golden Circle Route – Iceland

I’m going to list these stops in the order you’d see them if you are traveling from Reykjavik and going clockwise around the circle.

Thingvellir National Park

The first stop along the Golden Circle route begins at Thingvellir National Park, a place of both geological and historical significance. Althing, located in the park, is the location of Iceland’s first Parliament, which started back in 930 AD. This is Iceland’s first National Park and it sits atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that separates the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. Entrance to the park is free, but there is a small parking fee at the various car parks.

One of the most popular things to do at Thingvellir National Park is to snorkel between the two tectonic plates at Silfra. We didn’t do this, but we watched several groups go in the water at the drop-off point.

Is snorkeling at Silfra worth it?

I can’t quite answer that for you as I didn’t do this myself but I can give you my thoughts on why I didn’t do this.

Snorkeling at Silfra absolutely 100% did not interest me. A few reasons:

• You have to wear an extremely tight wet suit, which many people say can be hard to breathe in, and that they feel like they’re choking in the suit because the seal needs to be very tight. This just sounds so uncomfortable to me.
• The suiting up process takes up most of your tour time. For an excursion that is slated to last 4 hours, you are only in the water for 30-45 minutes.
• Water is too cold. Many people report that their face goes numb and their hands get cold.
• I love snorkeling but I want to see sea life. You won’t find much of anything except rock walls here. To me, this just doesn’t seem compelling enough for the high price tag.

But you might feel differently! Many, many people love their snorkeling excursion at Silfra, but it’s not for me.

Thingvellir National Park was my least favorite spot on the Golden Circle — and a spot I would skip — but we’ll get into that later.

Bruarfoss Waterfall

Up next is the beautiful teal waters of the Bruarfoss waterfall. This will be a quick stop off the main Golden Circle route, where you’ll drive down a short, unpaved road. Park at the lot and then it’s a quick 5 minute jaunt to the waterfall. I wrote about visiting Bruarfoss in much more detail – check it out if you want to learn more.

Geysir / Strokkur

Your next stop will be the famous Geysir area that includes Strokkur, which is like the Old Faithful of Iceland; it goes off about every 5-9 minutes. In addition to Strokkur, you’ll find various kinds of hot springs, steam vents, and bubbly mud pots. Geysir is free to visit and has free parking.

I’ve been to Yellowstone National Park dozens of times, so I’ve seen my share of Old Faithful eruptions, yet I still found Strokkur captivating! I thought it was really cool, especially if you stand on the north side of the geyser — you can see the water start bubbling up from the ground before it goes off — it’s really cool!

You’ll walk right by Geysir itself, but Geysir has been dormant for many years.

This is a very busy area but the parking lot is huge and you shouldn’t have any issues finding a space. There’s a large gift shop onsite, with a restaurant and cafe. We stopped here to have coffee and cake – it was delicious!

Gullfoss Waterfall

Gullfoss waterfall is one of the most powerful waterfalls I’ve ever seen and you’ll definitely want to stop to view it. Gullfoss is free to visit.

The area for Gullfoss is quite large — you will need to walk down stairs and navigate pathways to various viewpoints of the falls. I recommend checking out all the viewpoints as some of them get you very close to the falls, to where you can almost feel the power of the water.

Gullfoss has a large visitor center with a restaurant, restrooms, cafe and gift shop.

Secret Lagoon

If you’re looking to take a dip in a hot spring while traveling the Golden Circle route, you can stop at the Secret Lagoon. The Secret Lagoon is Iceland’s first public pool. I wrote about visiting the Secret Lagoon in much more detail here.

Kerid Crater

For the final stop on the Golden Circle route, we’ll stop at Kerid Crater, a stunning volcanic crater with pretty hues of red rock and green vegetation that line the crater walls. The now-empty magma chamber is filled with a deep teal shade of water. You can walk along the rim of the crater or hike to the bottom for different viewpoints. There is a small parking fee to view Kerid crater.

After visiting Kerid Crater, congrats! You did the Golden Circle route – you can head back to your lodging in Reykjavik or wherever your next destination happens to be.

Golden Circle – What We Did

We stayed at the Stay Inn Gardur, which is the on-site lodging at the Secret Lagoon in Fludir. Because we were already on the Golden Circle route, doing this entire loop did not take as long as it would had we been starting in Reykjavik.

Our intentions for staying in Fludir were to head to Landmannalaugar for hiking but I chickened out on driving F-Roads so we changed our plans and decided to devote the day to the Golden Circle. We visited all the stops above on our Golden Circle route, except Kerid Crater, which we saw the next day en route to Reyjkavik.

We started our day at Gullfoss, then hit up Geyser, Brurafoss and finally Thingvellir National Park. All of this took much longer than I expected — we started the day around 9am and by the time we reached Thingvellir National Park, it was about 2:30pm. We called it a day after Thingvellir National Park and headed back to Fludir so we could enjoy some time at the Secret Lagoon before dinner.

Is the Golden Circle in Iceland Worth it? Or should we skip it?

Personally, I loved it — much more than I thought — and we left the Golden Circle for the end of our trip — so we had already seen some amazing sights in Iceland. I can be really cynical about overhyped tourist attractions but I really enjoyed the Golden Circle. If you’re only in Iceland on a short stopover or only have a few days & you’re based in Reykjavik, you definitely should devote a day to the Golden Circle. However, if you do the entire Ring Road, you might be disappointed with the stops along this route, as they might be a little bit disappointing when compared to what you’ve already seen.

For me, I enjoyed everything on the Golden Circle route except Thingvellir National Park. The two tectonic plates meeting spot was cool and it was fun watching the snorkeling groups, but I didn’t think there was anything visually spectacular about the park. As for its historical aspect, well, I’ll be frank; it didn’t interest me. Many people enjoy this park but to me, this would be a stop to skip.

Where to stay when visiting the Golden Circle?

Many tourists chose to do this as a day trip from Reykjavik, so anywhere in Reykjavik would work well. We did not stay in Reykjavik at any point during our trip, so I don’t have any specific recommendations.

If you want to stay on the Golden Circle route, we stayed at the Stay Inn Gardur at the Secret Lagoon, just outside of Fludir. I highly, highly recommend this fabulous guesthouse!

Otherwise, you could look into other lodging options in Fludir. We also considered staying in Selfoss as well.

Golden Circle in Iceland – Final Thoughts/Pros and Cons

Overall, I enjoyed our day drive along the Golden Circle, even though we did this at the end of our Iceland ring road trip. Strokkur was a lot of fun to watch erupt, even as someone who has seen plenty of other geysers in Yellowstone and I loved Bruarfoss and Gullfoss! It definitely helped that we had a warm (80 degree!) sunny day.

Golden Circle in Iceland – Pros
Many of the places are free
Easy to get to from Reykjavik
Can be done in a day
Easy to navigate between sights
Lots of nice amenities at the sights (restaurants, restrooms, gift shops)

Golden Circle in Iceland – Cons
Might not compete with other spots in Iceland you’ve already seen.
Crowded – you will find lots of other tourists and come across many, many tour buses

Any questions regarding the Golden Circle route in Iceland? Let me know in the comments!