Driving The Golden Circle

Having sussed out Reykjavik and after talking to my AirBnB hosts, I felt confident to rent a car and drive the Golden Circle by myself. The roads were paved, the route was pretty straight forward and you can do the trip in less than a day. If I could drive the Pacific Coast highway from San Simeon to Monterey and from Alhambra into Los Angeles, I can most certainly drive around Iceland.

I booked an automatic Yaris from Hertz, which costs a little more than manual. As I’m a stick driver for the past 15 years, I was tempted to get a manual, but as a precaution as I’ve never driven in Iceland, I erred on the side of caution and got an automatic this time.

I also opted for GPS rental and collision damage waiver, declining the theft protection waiver, sand, ash and windshield protection. Reason being was that the agent told me that there is hardly any crime in Iceland and although one never knows when a volcano will erupt, the chances that it’ll be on the day I rent the car are most likely slim to none. So that saved me a few bucks, but all in, it cost $140 CDN. A little pricey compared to Canada, but this is Iceland, so it’s to be expected. Plus I was driving solo.

So off I go!

There are three primary stops on this 60 km route – the first being Þingvellir UNESCO World Heritage Site and National Park, followed by the geothermal valley of Haukadalur with Geysir and Strokkur and last but not least, Gullfoss waterfall. Plus Icelandic horses! And sheep! And you know I just had to stop the car (several times) to see the horses.

Fun Þingvellir facts:

• Alþingi, the oldest extant parliament in the world, was established here in 930 AD.
• Became a world heritage site in 2004.
• Almannagjá is a canyon formed by continental drift between the North American and Eurasian plates – in other words, it’s where the tectonic plates meet.
• You can go scuba diving in the Silfra Ravine, the fissures between the continent.

Fun geysir facts:

• Home of the great Geysir and Strokkur geysers, as well as 30 smaller geysers/hot pools.
• The active geothermal area only covers around 3 km sq at the surface.
• The area has been active for about 10,000 years.
• Geysir erupts after earthquakes, last periods 1986-1930 and 2000.
• Strokkur erupts anywhere from 50-130 ft into the air and is the most active, erupting approximately every 8-10 minutes.
• Compared to Old Faithful in US, which erupts every 30-100 minutes.
• They’ll be a a ton of tourists around the safety rope, but it’ll give you a sense of the geyser’s height in your pictures.

Fun Gullfoss facts:

• Known as the Golden Falls, the waterfall flows down a curved 3-step staircase into a crevice.
• The height of the waterfall is 105 ft.
• Gullfoss is the most visited waterfall in Iceland.
• If you go on a late and sunny afternoon, you’ll see a rainbow above the falls!
• It’s likely that Gullfoss was given its name because of the golden evening hue which often colours its glacier water. Another theory is that the name was inspired by the rainbow which often appears when sunshine hits the water-spray thrown up by the waterfall.

Although the Golden Circle is certainly touristy, there’s a reason why visitors do this route. Magnificent beauty notwithstanding, you get to see a waterfall, a geyser and UNESCO site. Another plus, as a single traveler, you never have to be worried about being completely stranded or helpless – there’ll always be a car coming by.

I spent so much time at Geysir, Gullfoss, not to mention the numerous times I stopped for Icelandic horses, that I would’ve run out of daylight driving the loop to Kerið, a volcanic crater lake. A bit of a bummer, but when it comes down to it (this time), Icelandic horses > crater.

View more photos of my trip on my Flickr album.