The golden circle day tour is Iceland's most popular tour. In this post I will try to tell you why Gullfoss, Geysir and Þingvellir (Thingvellir) national park attracts so much traffic.
1. It's close to Reykjavík
Whether you decide to rent a car and drive the golden circle by yourself or to join one of many golden circle bus tours you'll be at Þingvellir in about 40 minutes and at Gullfoss and Geysir in about 1 hour and thirty minutes. This means that even tourists that are visiting Iceland over the weekend make the effort to see what the fuss is all about.
2. Geysir geothermal area is one of a kind
Though Geysir does not erupt any more Strokkur is just as magical erupting every 4-8 minutes and stretching up to 20 meters high! Who would want to miss such a show? All the Geysir area is also a wonderland by itself with mindblowing geothermal colors and alien like landscapes.
3. Gullfoss the pride of Iceland
Golden circle tours are definitely the most popular tours in Iceland but Gullfoss the most famous attraction. As you approach Gullfoss waterfall the crevice is obscured from view so that it appears that a mighty river simply vanishes into the earth. It's not the biggest, widest or most powerful in Iceland, it's the beauty of it that attracts.
4. Þingvellir national park
The history of the area is just enough reason to visit. The Icelandic parliament was established in Þingvellir in 930! But lets be honest, most of our visitors go to Þingvellir for the opportunity to stand between two tectonic plates marking two continets, the American and Eurasian tectonic plates. They are pulling apart at a rate of a few centimetres per year! How cool is that?
