Iceland Six Days Five Nights: Golden Circle One-Day Tour - Classic Attractions and Travel Guide

Iceland 6-Day 5-Night Trip Journal - Guide to Iceland Local Tour

3/21 Today's itinerary is the Golden Circle day tour, a must-do in Iceland, which usually visits Þingvellir National Park, Strokkur geyser, and Gullfoss (the Golden Waterfall) either clockwise or counterclockwise. It's because of the magnificent scenery of Gullfoss that the route is called the "Golden Circle." Yesterday's tour guide was a burly bear in his 30s-40s (he said his Icelandic name translates to English as "bear"), and today's is an older bear. The first stop was Thingvellir National Park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with two important features. First, it was the site of Iceland's parliamentary assembly from 930 to 1798, making it one of the earliest parliaments in the world. Second, it lies at the boundary between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, where you can actually walk across both continental plates. After the guide explained the meeting point, we began our free time. We first admired this national park from the viewing platform beside the visitor center.

Then continue along the road to the council venue - Legal Stone. According to the map, we're only walking the short stretch from P1 Visitor Center to P2 Parking Lot.

This flag marks the location where the parliamentary meeting was held at that time

From this platform where the parliament building stands, you can see Þingvallakirkja Church, and there's also a hiking trail leading down to it, but we couldn't go down due to time constraints.

Later I read some independent travelers' trip reports, and it turns out this national park actually has many more attractions, for example: Langistigur Canyon, a cliff formed by two tectonic plates pulling apart from each other; Öxará Waterfall; and the Silfra Fissure, a diving paradise with visibility of one hundred meters. Looking at Þingvellir National Park from the perspective of a group tour, it feels a bit boring. If I get my diving certification later, I'd love to come back here to experience the feeling of diving between two tectonic plates! Before reaching the second stop, there's a viewing platform called the Hrafnagjá Observation Deck, where you can see Iceland's largest lake, Þingvallavatn. On the other side, the towering mountain is the one that served as the North Wall in Game of Thrones, and looking out, you can see rows upon rows of moss-covered rock formations.

The second stop, Strokkur Geyser, was breathtaking even before we reached the fountain itself — wisps of white steam rising here and there, hot spring water flowing into little streams, paired with the white-capped peaks in the distance. So beautiful!

Moving further inward, there was already a group of people gathered around the geyser, with STROKKUR marked on the ground. During the wait, I checked some information and found that the geyser erupts on average every 5-8 minutes. Suddenly, the geyser in front of me erupted, but the viewing position this time wasn't good and was blocked by waves of white steam.

There's a great viewing spot at the fountain's 9 o'clock direction, closest to the fountain, where you can observe it up close — the pale blue water drifting with wisps of white mist, occasionally rippling as if it's about to erupt. Suddenly, a huge bubble rises up, poised and ready, and then it erupts amid gasps of admiration from the crowd, before dissipating into thin air, leaving everyone marveling at the wonders of nature. My travel companion said they wanted to see it once more — of course, why not. The second eruption came about 8 minutes later, and this time it had built up so much energy that it erupted twice in a row. Fully satisfied, we continued on our way. Ahead is the GEYSIR geyser, the first geyser ever discovered in Europe, with a maximum eruption height of 70 meters, making it the world's second-highest geyser. However, it hasn't erupted since 2003, so now when you visit you can only enjoy the Strokkur geyser (ranked fourth in the world).

Walked to the end of the boardwalk and looked back at the whole fountain area

The third stop is Gubosi Falls (Golden Waterfall), which has two drops — the first is 11 meters, and the second is 21 meters, with a canyon over 70 meters on both sides. At first, the view from the parking lot area is fairly parallel to the waterfall

You can also hike up a short trail to the upper viewing platform, where you can enjoy this magnificent waterfall even better from up high

The second section drops 21 meters and flows into the Gullfossgljúfur canyon. Gullfoss waterfall was once eyed by investors who wanted to build a new hydroelectric power station there. Thanks to the persistent struggle of Tómas and his daughter Sigríður, the investors eventually gave up the investment, and this beautiful waterfall was able to survive. Sigríður is hailed as Iceland's first environmentalist, and the lawyer who helped them at the time, Sveinn Björnsson, became Iceland's first president after the founding of the nation. After this stop ended, old bear took us to see the Icelandic horses. We had originally thought we could decide on the spot to pay extra for a ride, but later found out that it all had to be arranged in advance, so we could only pat these short-legged cuties.

I thought the itinerary would end just like that, but old bear said he wanted to give us a bonus trip — he took us to see a volcanic lake (originally, this trip is usually only arranged for the Golden Circle after April; our Hong Kong friends were instead arranged to go to a ranch to eat ice cream). We were so lucky~ The entire volcanic lake looked like a vividly colored palette. The lake water in the middle had layers formed by moss, while the red volcanic rocks around it were dotted with touches of green and yellow — I could only keep marveling in my heart.

Walking down the trail into the crater, there's even a chair placed by the lake, letting people sit and enjoy this beautiful view

It's so, so beautiful that you can't bear to leave.

Today's day tour of the Golden Circle ended the earliest of our trip so far — we were back in the city before 5pm. This day was actually the time slot we had discussed earlier as the best option to reschedule the Northern Lights bus tour if it got postponed, but... due to weather conditions, we received notice again today that the Northern Lights bus needs to be postponed. We can only push it to after Saturday night's two-day southern tour, which is also our last chance... This is the earliest free day we've had in downtown Reykjavik, so we took the chance to walk around and explore while many shops were still open. The Bonus supermarket, with its eye-catching pink piglet logo, is widely recognized as the cheapest supermarket in Iceland. Here I bought breakfast and lunch for the next two days, while my travel companion bought some cookies as souvenirs to bring back home.

Next, I suggested going to Íslenski barinn near the supermarket, which is a traditional Icelandic ice cream place where you basically choose a base ice cream flavor and can sprinkle various toppings on top. My choice was milk ice cream paired with toffee chocolate and LAKKRIS chocolate.

LAKKRIS is actually licorice. In many parts of Europe there are foods made with licorice, but Icelanders especially love it, so you'll often find it in Icelandic desserts. Thoughts: It's fine to try, but you don't need to buy too much as a gift, since usually after eating one piece there's no wanting a second... Outside it's snowing heavily, and eating ice cream in this kind of environment has its own special charm~

After finishing the ice dessert, I went back to the hotel to drop off the things I just bought at the supermarket, and then went out again. It was only when I passed by the church that I remembered! I forgot to come to the church first to go up to the top and take a bird's-eye view of the city (you need to go up to the top of the church before 5pm) The church and the rainbow boulevard in front of it (daytime version)

While walking around, we passed by the hot dog stand my travel companion had been wanting to try, so let's give it a shot!

The staff girl at the shop showed nimble hands, and in less than a minute she made one — the hot dog was crispy, and while it wasn't anything particularly special, it was really tasty! Tonight was originally supposed to end just like that, but seeing how high the potential Kp index was on the aurora app, we made a bold decision! Let me explain the Kp index here first — the Kp index is a number used to measure global geomagnetic activity. First there's a potential Kp index, and this value represents how active the aurora is. We were actually really lucky, since almost that whole week it stayed above 2. Next comes the actual Kp index, which takes into account cloud cover. In fact, Iceland is not an easy place to see the aurora because the weather is unstable. The aurora index had not been low the previous two days, but because the cloud cover was too thick, we couldn't see it. Because the potential Kp index that night was 3, after checking online information, I decided to go to the lighthouse area, the best place in Reykjavik city to see the aurora. We took the bus to the lighthouse district, and when getting off, I saw two Asian-looking girls also getting off at the same stop as us. After getting to know them, it turned out they were Chinese students studying in the UK. They had the same purpose as us—hoping to see the Northern Lights! They said their friend waited at the pier until midnight on Tuesday and saw it~ When I heard that, it really boosted my confidence, but I also lamented that on that day we saw such thick clouds that we went back to our room and missed it~ The cold after nightfall, combined with the strong wind by the sea, made it very hard for us to move forward. We finally reached the area near the lighthouse and found that many cars had already parked there waiting, but since we had come on foot, all we could do was pitifully find a spot sheltered from the wind to hide in.

At 10 o'clock the aurora still hadn't appeared, and instead the wind and snow suddenly picked up. Besides giving up on the aurora, our original plan to take the bus back also had to be abandoned because of the terrible weather, so we gave up walking to the bus stop and took a taxi directly. Although we didn't get to see the aurora, experiencing both Iceland's buses and taxis in a single day was also quite an interesting experience. We then pinned our hopes for the aurora on tomorrow's two-day trip to the south. Explore more of the fantastic six-day, five-night journey in Iceland! 👉 【Iceland Six-Day Highlights Independent Travel Guide】Itinerary Planning × Local Group Tour Experience × Cost Estimate Understand the overall itinerary and plan your dream trip to Iceland! 👉 Iceland 6-Day 5-Night Travelogue: The Starting Point of the Journey and a Bumpy First Day Arriving in Iceland, strolling around Reykjavik 👉 Iceland 6-Day 5-Night Travelogue: A Guide to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula Day Trip and Exploring Hidden Gems Explore Iceland's enchanting peninsula and capture its magnificent natural scenery. 👉 Iceland 6-Day 5-Night Travelogue: Classic Sights and Tips for the Golden Circle Day Trip Feel the stunning charm of Iceland's classic attractions and gain memories that will last a lifetime. 👉 Iceland 6-Day 5-Night Travelogue: Exploring the Magnificent Black Sand Beach and Waterfalls of VIK in the South (Part 1) Step into the mysterious world of VIK and feel the natural beauty of the south. 👉 Iceland 6-Day 5-Night Travelogue: The Wonders of the Blue Ice Cave and a Night of Northern Lights Adventure in the South (Part 2) Experience the Blue Ice Cave adventure firsthand and capture the dazzling spectacle of the Aurora in the northern lands. 👉 Iceland 6-Day 5-Night Travelogue: Helicopter Volcano Sightseeing Experience, Overlooking the Magnificent Lava Land Fly over Iceland's volcanic landscape and enjoy a truly one-of-a-kind adventure.