The Golden Circle: Waterfall, plates and geysirs

The golden circle is a stereotypical suggestion for Iceland, and honestly it should be. If you’re only in Iceland for a day or two loads of tours run out to the circle or hire a car and drive it your self , the first stop is only 45 minutes from Reykjavik.

Thingvellir National Park rift valley:

So one of the only things on this list that’s not entirely free, in that we paid for parking. It is situated directly between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates creating an incredible landscape. Its also home to Iceland’s first parliament, so there are plenty of informative boards around detailing some of Iceland’s Nordic history.

Their continued separation is the reason that Iceland has such fascinating volcanic activity, they produce regular earthquakes as they separate slightly each year.

Geysir Hot Spring Area:

The place where geysers get there name, after the very large one ( and plenty of small ones) on the golden circle. Geysir is mostly dormant, but does occasionally go off, although we were unlucky to see it, in 2000 it reached a height of over 120m, making it an impressive sight if you catch it. Its neighbour, Strokkur, goes off around every 10 minutes, and although not as big, is definitely a sight to behold; with some reaching 40m in the air.

In the area there are also various hot pools and hills covered by minerals, giving them unique colours. It can only be described like being on another planet.

Gullfoss Waterfall:

One of the biggest in Iceland and one of the most spectacular. At over 30m tall it has an enormous amount of water spilling over it, even at Easter when the ice hasn’t melted fully. Rainbows surrounded the falls creating an altogether ethereal look.

Reykjadalur valley

After deciding against blue lagoon, mostly due to its price and after reading some not rave reviews, I decided I still didn’t want to miss out on swimming in the outdoors in Iceland but I wanted to do it for free.

There is parking at Hveragerði town, then an approximately 3 km hike up to the river. Its pretty steep at parts and at Easter did require some navigating of snow, its also not for the faint of heart as some parts of the trail are definitely stomach turners if you look down.

After the ordeal of hiking there, you’ll be glad to know this was one of the highlights of my trip. Not only is the river super warm, there are built in walkways to avoid the mud and changing areas. While we were there, there were around 20ish or so people at any one time although i’m sure it will be much busier in the summer time. As you go further up the river the water gets hotter, so you can find an area that’s the perfect temperature (I opted for a hot bath temp).

Swimming Pool in the mountains, Seljavallalaug

If the idea of trekking over mountains to go sit in a river isn’t for you, another option is the swimming pool built into a valley that is also free to use. Not only is it only a five minute walk from the car park, so much more accessible, it has a proper building for changing and is a fully built swimming pool but is naturally heated from the nearby hot springs.

The water is pretty warm although can be a bit of a murky colour but nice for a swim particularly when the air is a bit cool. The views from the pool are definitely unique.

Originally built to teach the local people how to swim its been in use since 1923.

Jorkulsarlon

Icebergs. Lots of them. And yes, we licked one.

Any Glacier

On the ring road heading east from Vik you get the opportunity to drive past a few. You can stop in the designated pull over areas to admire them, and a few have car parks and trails to get an even closer look. I’m 90% certain this one is part of Vatnajokull, the largest glacier in Iceland.

On our drive it was a bit of a dreary day, having rained most of the night, resulting in most of the ground being quite slippy. This meant after walking passed the many signs warning of tourists going missing after walking on the icebergs we were already slightly on edge, although we had no intention of walking on the icebergs especially without a trained guide or equipment. We decided to follow the perilous path around the side of the mountain, but as the air got wetter the ground got more unsteady so we decided to turn back. From the pics you can see what was super clear water the day before had turned brown from run off from the mountains resulting in a not quite as picturesque look.

Skogafoss

Its a massive waterfall. Like really massive. This picture is taken from as close to the base you can get without stepping into the river and did involve a lot of spray. Just near the car park is also a large path leading up to the top of the waterfall where you can view everything from a slightly different angle. There’s also a second smaller water fall just at the top that you can only get too by climbing the excessive amount of stairs.

The waterfall you can walk behind, Seljalandsfoss

This waterfall, located just down the road from Skogafoss, has a path leading all the way around it. meaning you can walk to the back side and get some great views over the countryside. The wind also means you occasionally get very wet, as just after this photo i was ceremoniously covered in water. A right of passage. Some nice tourists had also left a selection of waterproof ponchos tied to the entrance to the path to help the unsuspecting.

Just 5 minute walk from Seljalandsfoss is a second water fall, one that’s much harder to see from the path. Which leads to the next post…

Gljufrabui

This waterfall is masked from the path in that you can only see the very top. There’s a large rock formation you can climb but the view doesn’t really get much better (as we soon discovered).

Instead, after recommendation by a helpful information sign, we took off our shoes and socks and walked up the shallow river to the small cove where you can get a much better look. I’m not going to lie the water was very very cold and the rocks were not the least painful things to walk on but it was so worth it. In the car I had brought a pair of cheap shoes which I sacrificed to the occasion and they were very handy to have.

Vik’s Black Beaches

Surreal, I know. Just outside the town of Vik, the beaches are covered in beautiful black sand and interesting rock formations.

Legend tells of a husband whose wife was kidnapped and killed by two trolls. The man followed the trolls down to this beach where he froze them into these rock formations, ensuring that they would never kill again.

Along the cliff edge are also large rock columns, similar to the giants causeway in Ireland, they are very odd and you can get up close and personal with them.