Top 5 Stops on Iceland’s Golden Circle

Looking for a way to get the most out of Iceland’s Golden Circle in one day? You found it! This is our exact winter itinerary for a day trip around Iceland’s Golden Circle in your rental car.

Itinerary:

0730: Departed Reykjavik

Stop 1: Thingvellir National Park

Absolutely gorgeous views here with some great photo ops.

Stop 2: Gulfoss Waterfall

In the winter, Gulfoss is pretty frozen all the way around, and the trail leading closer gets shut down for safety reasons. Up the stairs from the parking lot there is a souvenir center with food and drinks as well.

* En route we stopped to say hello to some friendly Icelandic ponies! Make sure you bring some snacks for them or just don’t let them try to eat your hand off like Ashley did. At least there was no shortage in laughter!*

Stop 3: Geysir

There is tons of parking next to the hotel across the street from the trailhead. Ashley really wanted me to tell you to pack hand warmers. We used them here in the toe of our shoes to keep our feet warm. What a life saver. Having tripods here to video record the eruptions is a huge help.  The one called Stroker erupts every 7 minutes.  The others are far less often, so we didn’t waste our time.

Stop 4: Fridheimar Greenhouse

This was one hundred percent worth it, and was actually recommended to us by some fellow travelers! Reservations are required if you want to sit down at a table (which we didn’t know, and therefore didn’t do). However, the people there are so nice and let us grab some of the best soup and bread I’ve ever had in my life.  You can even walk around the tomatoes they grow right in front of you. We rate it 5 stars.

Stop 5: Laugarvatn Fontana

These geothermal baths are some of the best we experienced during our 10 days in Iceland. We parked out front in the snow, somehow managed to walk in without paying (it’s supposed to be 4.200ISK, whoops), and was totally enjoyable amidst the hail/snow. Don’t let the weather keep you from going into a bath! I was skeptical at first, but it’s still totally worth it.

Sunset: Arrived back in Reykjavik

 

Click here for tips on exploring Iceland on a budget.

For even more, check out all my posts on Iceland!

 

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25 thoughts on “Top 5 Stops on Iceland’s Golden Circle

  1. Wonderful photos and great tips! Never thought I wanted to go to Iceland, but now I do. Especially those adorable ponies.:) What is the best time of year there to see the Northern Lights?

    1. Thanks! I have way too many pictures of the ponies haha they were one of our favorite stops. Winter is the best time to see the Northern Lights, but they need to be tracked… which is why we ended up missing them. Wrote about our Northern Lights fail in this post.

  2. I didn’t realise you could see so much in just a single day in Iceland. Absolutely perfect for a stopover. Thanks so much for sharing!! (Love the pony by the way :))

    1. It’s amazing what you can see there in such a short amount of time! The Golden Circle especially is a nice (semi close) route with stops that are definitely tourist friendly and can be fully admired in a couple hours or less. Glad you liked it and the ponies were probably my favorite part hehe 🙂

    1. If you love the cold, then I TOTALLY recommend going to Iceland in the winter! Beautiful snowy views and less tourists too. They’re just so picturesque!

  3. This is a really succinct itinerary! I usually find it hard to wrap my head around Iceland itineraries, but this route makes a lot of sense. Perfect for a short trip—which I’m hoping to do soon!

    1. Thank you so much! I’m glad you got some value out of it and I hope you have an absolute blast on your trip!

  4. Oh, I thought I did the whole Golden Circle, but now I see I missed a few things! Didn’t know about the Greenhouse and the Fontana! I guess I have to go back then, thanks 😉

    1. They’re definitely not well known spots, but they were my favorite! I’ll always take an excuse to go back 😉

  5. I wish we’d known about the hot springs there! We totally missed out on that. Visiting in the winner was incredible and we got to see Strokkur spring right from our hotel room. My parents just went back for a second visit and I’m super jealous.

    1. Oh yea it was an incredible stop with amazing views!! That’s so cool! I wish we could have stayed somewhere close, but just getting to stop there was a great time. I’m jealous of your parents too… I can not wait to go back!

    1. Much appreciated! It was seriously incredible and I wish I had brought my phone out for pictures! Maybe next time, because I will definitely be going back. Hope your trip was awesome too!

    1. Thank you! Oh it was MOST CERTAINLY freezing, but totally worth it for all the beautiful snowy views! You should visit in the summer!

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