Thingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss — three stops, one loop, and the single most popular day trip in Iceland. The Golden Circle covers roughly 230 kilometres from Reykjavik and can be driven in a day, though taking two days lets you linger where it matters.
Thingvellir National Park is where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates pull apart at a rate of two centimetres per year. You can walk — literally — between continents. It is also where Iceland's parliament, the Althing, was founded in 930 AD, making it one of the oldest parliamentary sites in the world.
Geysir geothermal area is home to Strokkur, a geyser that erupts every five to ten minutes, sending a column of boiling water twenty metres into the air. The original Great Geysir — the one that gave all geysers their name — is mostly dormant now, but Strokkur more than compensates.
Gullfoss, the Golden Waterfall, is the dramatic finale. The Hvita river plunges thirty-two metres in two stages into a narrow canyon, producing a wall of spray that catches rainbows on sunny days. In winter, the surrounding cliffs ice over and the falls take on an entirely different character.
Our advice: start early, drive counter-clockwise (most tour buses go clockwise), and stop at Friðheimar tomato farm or Efstidalur dairy farm for lunch. Both are on the route and both serve food grown or made on site.
