While in Iceland you’re sure to hear about the Golden Circle — which is an area in Iceland to see numerous natural areas. These areas might be hot springs, National Parks, waterfalls, and more. In this blog post I’ll be sharing some of our favorites we experienced, tips & tricks about them, and what tour we took to see them all. I also want to mention that there are seriously SO MANY places to stop on the Golden Circle but these were the ones we stopped at that are probably the most popular — and of course beautiful.

We rented a 4-wheel drive SUV, which I highly recommend in Iceland, especially in the winter and unpredictable weather. However, we didn’t take our own vehicle to experience the Golden Circle… we did a Bubble tour where after you experience these beautiful and breathtaking natural areas you stay in a freaking bubble! Read more about that specifically here. It was absolutely worth it doing a tour + nice to be able to look out the window while driving to these locations in the Golden Circle. Iceland is not short on tours of the country but we just loved being driving around in a nice SUV, chatting with other people on our tour (max is 6 people in the car but we only ever had 4 total guests), and getting to know our Icelandic tour guide. On this tour we stopped at 4 locations + dinner so let’s get into what they were, why you absolutely need to put them on your list of places to visit, and any tips I might have while seeing them.

Thingvellir National Park

Thingvellir National Park is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization world heritage site and the most significant place regarding Icelandic history. The Althing, the supreme national parliament of Iceland, was established here in 930 AD making it one of the oldest parliaments in the world. Thingvellir is also known for its geology and has been a protected area since 1928.

What’s even more interesting is Thingvellir is amongst the very few places on Earth where you can observe a continental drift valley between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. Andrew and I have a BIG NERD moment seeing this drift and divide. Our guide drove to Þingvellir Parking P1 and dropped us off to walk between the rock formations and learn more about the area along the way. Then we were picked up at Þingvellir Parking P2. It was about an easy 20 minute walk from point A to point B. If you do it without a guide to pick you up at point B, it’s still a super easy walk down and back.

Thingvellir National Park GOLDEN CIRCLE DESTINATIONS

view of the Thingvellir National Park one of the GOLDEN CIRCLE DESTINATIONS

woman standing in the view deck of the Thingvellir National Park

Geysir Hot Spring Area

Our next stop was the Geysir Hot Spring Area. It’s located in the geothermally active valley Haukadalur; and today the most active is Strokkur, an energetic spouting hot spring, which goes up every 5 minutes or so. We saw it shoot up 3 times before heading to the lodge area for some hot chocolate. Iceland has some amazing hot chocolate by the way, highly recommend. Other interesting hot springs in the area are Blesi and Fata, the former are two large basins separated by the ”blaze” but connected to it is Fata. There is also Konungshver named after King Christian IX king from Denmark. Regarding this entire area, it’s cool don’t get me wrong but Andrew and I weren’t super impressed. We actually found some way cooler hot springs at Gunnuhver and Seltún Geothermal Area. They didn’t have a geyser that shot up every 5 minutes but the overall vibe was more interesting than standing around a million other people waiting for a geyser to explode. If you’ve ever been to Yellowstone National Park, it reminded me of Old Faithful. She’s a gorgeous geyser but she does the same thing over and over again and it’s a little overhype. I would say if you’re already passing through, stop and take a peek, grab a coffee, then head to Gullfoss waterfall.

Geysir Hot Spring Area one of the GOLDEN CIRCLE DESTINATIONS

Gullfoss Waterfall

Get ready to shed a tear when you see this incredible waterfall. It’s one of the most popular tourist attractions on the Golden Circle and you can see why. It runs down the river Hvítá into beautiful curved three step “staircase”! If you look closely in the first photo you can see a faint rainbow. We saw it for a while too — which was really cool! We parked at the bottom portion of the waterfall as seen in the first photo and then walked up the stairs to the upper area to view the waterfall as seen in the second and third photo. Many of the waterfalls in Iceland let you get very up close and personal and with the crazy strong Iceland wind it can be extremely dangerous. While we were viewing the waterfall someone actually fell off the upper viewing area. We don’t know any details on if they survived, if they only broke some bones, nothing. We saw paramedics put on their ice gear to get to them and then saw them with the person at the bottom. Overall, I share this information not to scare you but to alert you of the danger in some of these areas if you’re not following the rules such as staying behind the robes and chains. Andrew and I felt so weird about standing there admiring the waterfall when someone could potentially be dead at the bottom so we headed into their little shop/bathroom area and ordered some hot cocoa. I’ve done some digging to see if the person was okay but didn’t find anything in the news. Anyway, this is a waterfall we recommend for it’s beauty and strength just be sure to be careful!

Secret Lagoon

Of course we had to experience a hot spring while on touring the Golden Circle.. I mean Iceland isn’t short of them. The entire island is basically multiple volcanos😅 The Secret lagoon is a little bit more rugged and natural then let’s say the Blue Lagoon or even Sky Lagoon, which I loved too but I think I preferred this one because I felt more connected to nature. The dressing rooms were in a small building and they were all about getting naked.. let me tell ya. They even had signs saying do not use bathrooms as changing rooms and to only shower naked. You have to shower before getting into the lagoon because your body has oils that could potentially harm the lagoon overtime soooo it was a must. Basically, get real comfortable with your body when you come to Iceland and want to check out the hot springs because you’re most likely going to be stripping in front of everyone. After this experience though, I got over being nervous about being naked in front of others at the other lagoons LOL. I also thought, wow I’ve totally grown up in a country that kind of makes us hate our bodies… but that’s for another time! Naked bodies are just bodies and the Secret Lagoon is SO worth getting naked in public for.

It is a unique natural hot spring and the oldest swimming pool in Iceland (made in 1891). Its temperature is perfect and the water holds at 38-40 Celsius (100-104 Fahrenheit) all year around. When you’ve finished bathing, enjoy the beautiful landscape- see the natural geysers heating the lagoon and the nearby greenhouse. There’s a nice little trail you can walk around after soaking for a bit I definitely recommend. You’ll feel great too after you’ve soaked in the hot lagoon for a bit. We were freezing going in and felt completely fine coming out.