If you’ve looked up anything to do in Iceland, the Golden Circle will most definitely come up as a top rated tourist attraction just outside of Reykjavik. It’s a popular thing to do for good reason!
As stated, we were in Iceland in January (yes, brr…) so each stop along the way was not nearly as busy as photos I’ve seen in the summertime. While it was a very cold day, especially at Gulfoss, it was pretty incredible to wander around with hardly any other tourists around.
The Golden Circle has three main stops, with many side stops and detours along the way. The big three are:
Thingvellir National Park, which is right along the Mid Atlantic Ridge and you can walk between the North American continent and Eurasian continent. A seriously cool activity is to dive down between the two in the Silfra ravine. Unfortunately, none of us are dive certified or interested in winter diving, so that activity will have to be one we come back to! It’s a pretty big park, so there’s lots to see just walking around.
Did you know that Iceland has the oldest, still ongoing, representative parliament in the world? It was founded in 930 AD right on site of what is now Thingvellir National Park. Thingvellir translates to “the fields of parliament”, and the area has been an important part of much of Iceland’s history. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, and is a very impressive stop both for the scenery and the history.
Geysir Geothermal Area, a whole area of steamvents, geysers, and a lot to look at!
Geysir itself is the earliest documented geyser in European literature, and the name comes from the Old Norse verb geysa, “to gush”. While big boy Geysir doesn’t erupt very frequently, nearby Stokkur does and it’s really cool to see!
Iceland’s energy comes from roughly 85% geothermal sources, so there’s a lot of heat pumping around under the surface. That’s no surprise considering Iceland has about 130 volcanoes, both active and inactive!
Gulfoss Waterfall, the largest in Iceland. Be very aware in the winter, the wind is strong and frigid off the water!!
Even in the winter, this waterfall is impressive! We could only stand being out on the lookout for about 15 minutes but it was totally worth it.
Like I mentioned, there are plenty of detours to check out along the Golden Circle, and we spent some time at the Kerid Crater and Fontana Geothermal Baths.
For more information on the Golden Circle, check out the Guide to Iceland’s post!
Sometimes a downside to traveling in the off-season is main attractions are closed for maintenance, which was the unfortunate case with The Blue Lagoon. We still wanted to go to a geothermal bath though, and Fontana was excellent! Check out their website here: https://www.fontana.is/en/sauna