Road Trip in Iceland – Day 1: The Golden Circle

Thingvellir National Park

Here you can enjoy the wonderful walking trails, lakes and waterfalls. The entrance to the park is free, but you need to pay a fee for staying at the parking. The name is associated with Althing, Iceland’s national parliament, which was established in 930. The most impressive place to me was the valley where the North American and the Eurasian Tectonic Plate divide.

The Öxaráfoss Waterfall was the first of many others, which we were going to visit during the trip. It is only 20 meters, but an important part of the national park and a favorite place for the locals. According to the legend the waterfall was artificially created, to drain the water, which was supposed to provide water to the members and visitors of the national parliament of Iceland Althing.

Only at this park you have the unique opportunity to swim between two tectonic plates in the Silfra fissure. This is the only place in the world, where you can practise diving and snorkelling directly between the two plates, which get further and further away by 2 cm yearly. It is considered that the water in Silfra is the clearest in the world and no wonder this is one of the top five places in the world for snorkelling.

Haukadalur

The Haukadalur valley is famous for its geysers. You can see the brightly colored ground and the blazing steam on the field. The valley is home to the two biggest geysers in Iceland – Strokkur and Geysir.

Strokkur was the next stop of The Golden Circle which we visited. This is the most visited active geyser in Iceland. It is located in the Geysir geothermal area. It erupts every 6-10 minutes, reaching an altitude of 30 metres and is one of around 1000 active geysers around the world.

Strokkur