Iceland - Thingvellir National Park & Golden Circle Questions

Thanks; I'll head over to TA!

Personally I loved Fontana spa. They have various temperature pools with different depths. It is located overlooking a lake. Also the steam rooms get the steam from a geothermal right under them. You might want to check out their policies for ages though.

Fontana Spa caught our eye as a possible morning trip from Reykjavik on our second day in port. Our ship will depart at 2 p.m. and we'll have our own rental car. Do you think we can pull this off? Do you think we need any sort of reservation with Fontana or can we likely just drop in? Thanks in advance.

We will be driving the Golden Circle ourselves and I could use some advice about the best order to visit the various sites. Just hoping to avoid the masses and not get stuck behind slow busses. Do most bus tours leave Reykjavik at around 9:00 AM?

Most tours do go that early, so if you can be out by 8AM you should get some quieter time at your first stop. Some tours stop first at each of the three stops, though, so you will run into buses at your later stops. If you are there in summer with unlimited daylight some folks find starting out at 5PM gives them more solitude at all the sites.

We drove (rental car) the Golden Circle this past August. We used our GPS to get on the proper route which is a few miles outside of town. So once you leave the port you are going to be on a highway for a few miles....where there is no concern about buses. Once on the rural roads that make up the Golden Circle, we never had any big problem with buses. Yes, there are plenty of tour buses (not just from your cruise ship) and also lots of private vehicles. But there is plenty of parking at the major sites and the crowds were tolerable (and are likely around these sites all day). Our major problem was finding a decent place for lunch away from the hoards...and there we got lucky. When we got to the Geysir and Hot Springs, there was a nice modern complex (across the street from the Geysir field. When we walked in (to get out of the heavy rain) there was a large cafe/restaurant away from all the hoards...where we had a decent cafeteria style lunch.

 

Trying to vary your route to avoid all the buses is probably impossible. It is a relatively long drive and it just makes sense to take things as they come....versus doing all kinds of deviations and doubling back. Avoiding hoards of tourists would be akin to going to the Eiffel Tower in July...and expecting to avoid crowds. It is just not going to happen. But Iceland is no Paris...and neither are the crowds :).

 

Hank

Roothy123, The above postings have lots of info. With 2 and a half days, it will be hard to choose, as there is soooo much to see and do. But one thing I have not seen mentioned is the "SuperJeep" tours. We have been to Iceland twice, and both times our SuperJeep tours were a highlight. They took us to places we could not have driven to ourselves in a standard rental car. Definitely worth the splurge. We used Mountain Excursions both times. Johann will give you a day to remember!

Regarding avoiding a route to avoid the bus traffic: Impossible. The buses do the same thing. Different tour companies do the different sights in different orders, thus it is impossible to "go the other way" and avoid the buses. Nonetheless, this isn't a big city at rush our. Traffic is generally light and manageable any time of day. Just pick a route and do it, don't worry about what the tour buses are doing.

Thanks for the comments regarding the order of seeing the Golden Circle sites and good to know about that lunch spot in Geysir!

We booked with Reykavik Excursions. They picked us up and returned us to our hotel....the guide was excellent..the buses clean and comfortable. The ones we did with them, where they stopped and MHO on the worthiness of stop:

 

The Golden Circle: 8 hours:

 

greenhouse village: mildly interesting...clean restrooms...short stop

Kerio volcanic crater: WOW...

Gulfoss Waterfall: not to be missed

Geysir hot springs: not to be missed

Thingvellir NP: not to be missed

 

South Shore Adventure: 10 hours:

 

Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss waterfalls: OMG outstanding places...if at all possible not to be missed....In October the spray was freezing in mid-air!!!!

Vik: Amazingly and eerily beautiful...

 

If you can only do one go with the Golden Circle. If you're there long enough to rent a car do the waterfalls on your own. If you're interested in Vik with the amazing rock formations it's not hard to get to by car.

 

We also did the Blue Lagoon with them and again, based on time, it was an unforgettable experience. You can rent bathing suits, but we had our own. The skin products are fabulous! Many people stop here on their way to the airport but I would not want to sit on a plane with wet hair....we spent about 3 hours there...beautiful and relaxing.

 

In downtown Reykjavik the main attractions are the Pearl; the Hallgrimskirkja Church and the Viking ship statue on the waterfront....and the museum....if you're short on time drop the Pearl....everything else is walking distance, as is the Pearl, but I'd categorize that as a hike not a walk.

 

 

Thanks! This looks like an awesome itinerary! I'll look into the Golden Circle tour with Reykjavik tours! [emoji2]

 

 

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Not the OP, but thanks for all this good info!

 

 

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Back from our second trip to Iceland this June, and already planning our third trip next summer. Here are a few new things to mention.

 

Iceland is very expensive (island, isolated, northern). A modest but tasty lunch for two at the Geysir in that cafeteria cost us about $35 US. You can save by buying a few groceries at a Bonus supermarket. There are many in Reykjavik. Buy some sliced bread, cheese (local is delicious), lunch meat for sandwiches, juice, etc. Skyr is a delicious Icelandic version of yoghurt, comes in small tubs with spoons, and in many flavours. Gas stations sell ready-made items, and Icelandic hot dogs which are famous.

 

We did not really like the Blue Lagoon. It's one big pool, often very crowded, and very expensive. However we loved the geothermal public pools, which is where Icelanders go to bathe. There are nine in Reykjavik (google them) and the large ones feature numerous outdoor tubs of varying temps, water slides, swimming lanes, etc. About $10 admission, open till 10 pm, and a cultural experience too!

 

Not mentioned so far is the Reykjanes peninsula, which is where both the Blue Lagoon and the airport are located. We self-drove but there are also bus and van tours. The landforms on this peninsula are very different from the Golden Circle and the south coast. Weird, other-worldly, like a science fiction movie. Immense lava flows of many shapes and colours, volcanic cones, steaming vents, ocean views and cliffs, and the rift appears again above-ground too. It was a highlight for us.

Been to Iceland twice: once on our own where we rented a car for a week. Naturally we did the Golden Circle attractions. However, last year we were back via a cruise for a 2 day stop in Reykjavic where we used a tour company for the Golden Circle. One place they included hat we never even knew about on our own was Faxi Falls. Really impressive and in any other country, would be a destination all on its own. Plus, much less crowded than Gullfoss

LynnCarol, who did you use for your tour?