Cheapest here7 hours
7 hGolden Circle, Crater & Horses
★ 4.9 · 45 reviews
- The three main stops plus Kerið crater
- A stop at an Icelandic horse farm
- The cheapest seat on the loop
- Free cancellation
$76$10.86 / hour
Check availability→ Three famous, six worth adding
Golden Circle stops: every attraction on the route, and what each one costs
The Golden Circle has three headline stops and about six more that tours use to tell themselves apart. All three of the famous ones are free to walk into — nobody sells a ticket at Þingvellir, Geysir or Gullfoss. What costs money is the parking, and one crater with a gate on it. Here is every stop on the loop with the real numbers, in the order you meet them.
Quick answer
The short answer. Þingvellir, Geysir and Gullfoss are the Golden Circle. Free entry at all three; parking is 1,000 ISK at Þingvellir, about the same at Geysir and free at Gullfoss. Add Kerið crater (700 ISK) and the Friðheimar greenhouse and you have the day most tours sell.
Golden Circle stops at a glance
- Þingvellir National Park
- Freeparking 1,000 ISK per car
- Geysir geothermal area
- Freeparking about 1,000 ISK
- Gullfoss waterfall
- Freeparking free
- Kerið crater
- 700 ISKper person, at the gate
- Friðheimar greenhouse
- Booking neededtomato soup among the vines
- Brúarfoss
- Freea short walk off the loop
- Faxi waterfall
- Freesmall car park, rarely busy
- Secret Lagoon, Flúðir
- PaidIceland’s oldest pool, opened 1891
- Laugarvatn Fontana
- Paidgeothermal baths and rye bread
- Total loop
- ~230 kmabout 3.5 h of driving
- Realistic day
- 6 – 8 hourswith stops
- Guided tour, from
- $76seat on a coach
The three that matter
Why these particular three
Three sites, three different forces, ninety minutes apart. Nothing about the order is accidental.
The Golden Circle is not an old name. It was invented to sell a route, and the three sites were chosen because they are close together and because each one does something completely different.
Þingvellir is geology and history at once. It is the rift where the North American and Eurasian plates are pulling apart, and it is where Icelanders held their parliament, in the open air, from the year 930 for eight and a half centuries. You walk down into the gap.
Geysir is the geothermal one. The Great Geysir gave every geyser on earth its name and has been dormant since 2003; Strokkur, a hundred metres away, fires every six to ten minutes to fifteen or twenty metres.
Gullfoss is the water. The Hvítá drops thirty-two metres in two steps into a crevice two and a half kilometres long, at about a hundred and forty-one cubic metres a second in summer.
Rift, steam, water. That is the whole logic of the route, and it is a good one.
Every stop
The three headliners and the six add-ons
Fees are the official published rates. Parking is per car unless stated.
- Þingvellir National Park — free, parking 1,000 ISK
A rift valley you walk down into along Almannagjá, between the plate edges. Also a UNESCO World Heritage site for the parliament that met here from 930. One parking payment covers all the main car parks for the whole day, which is worth knowing if you move between them. 1,200 ISK for vehicles with six to nine seats.
- Geysir geothermal area — free, parking about 1,000 ISK
Strokkur is the one that erupts, every six to ten minutes, to fifteen or twenty metres and occasionally forty. The Great Geysir beside it is asleep. Stay behind the ropes: the ground is thin and the water is near boiling.
- Gullfoss — free, and free to park
The only one of the three with no parking charge. Two car parks, upper and lower; the upper gives you the classic view down the canyon, the lower gets you closer to the spray.
- Kerið crater — 700 ISK per person
The one stop on the route with a gate fee, and the official site notes it is open "when the sun is shining". 270 metres across and 55 deep, with a lake in the bottom. Parking is free and it takes about half an hour.
- Friðheimar — booking required
A tomato greenhouse in a lava field, lit and heated geothermally, where you eat soup among the vines. It has become a fixture of the route and it needs booking; several tours include it.
- Brúarfoss — free, and a walk
The bluest water on the route, and it is a short walk from the road rather than a car-park view. Minibus tours reach it; coaches generally do not.
- Faxi — free
A wide, low waterfall on the Tungufljót, minutes from the main road and almost always quiet. The one that makes people wonder why nobody else stopped.
- Secret Lagoon and Laugarvatn Fontana — paid
Two geothermal pools on the loop. The Secret Lagoon at Flúðir opened in 1891 and is the oldest in the country; Fontana at Laugarvatn bakes rye bread in the ground. Either turns a sightseeing day into a good one.
Driving it yourself? Every road number, direction and car park is on one page.
The route and directions→Book direct
Every Golden Circle tour, compared
Twelve trips out of Reykjavík carrying more than forty-two thousand reviews between them. In price order. All of them cover the three headline stops.
27,200 reviewsKerið included
7–8.5 hGolden Circle Full-Day Classic
★ 4.8 · 27200 reviews
- The classic full-day loop from Reykjavík
- Þingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss and Kerið
- More reviews than any other tour in Iceland
- Free cancellation
$86$10.75 / hour
Check availability→ 
Friðheimar8 hours
8 hGolden Circle & Tomato Greenhouse
★ 4.7 · 205 reviews
- The loop plus the tomato greenhouse at Friðheimar
- Soup and bread grown under geothermal light
- The stop people talk about afterwards
- Free cancellation
$103$12.88 / hour
Check availability→ 
Brúarfoss9 hours
9 hGolden Circle, Brúarfoss & Kerið
★ 4.7 · 212 reviews
- Adds Brúarfoss, the bluest waterfall on the route
- Kerið crater as well as the big three
- A longer day, and fewer people at each stop
- Free cancellation
$104$11.56 / hour
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Small group801 reviews
8 hGolden Circle & Kerið Small Group
★ 4.8 · 801 reviews
- A small-group version of the classic loop
- Þingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss and Kerið
- Fewer people, and it stops where a coach cannot
- Free cancellation
$119$14.88 / hour
Check availability→ 
MinibusFriðheimar
9 hGolden Circle, Kerið & Friðheimar
★ 4.8 · 557 reviews
- Minibus round the loop with Kerið and Friðheimar
- Tomatoes grown under lights in a lava field
- Nine hours, and none of it rushed
- Free cancellation
$120$13.33 / hour
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Secret Lagoon6,446 reviews
10 hGolden Circle & Secret Lagoon
★ 4.8 · 6446 reviews
- The loop, Kerið, and a soak in the Secret Lagoon
- Iceland’s oldest swimming pool, opened 1891
- The warmest way to end a cold day out
- Free cancellation
$126$12.60 / hour
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Þingvellir937 reviews
2.5–6 hSilfra Snorkelling
★ 4.8 · 937 reviews
- Snorkelling between two continental plates
- Glacial meltwater filtered through lava for decades
- Visibility over a hundred metres
- Free cancellation
$130$28.89 / hour
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LangjökullFrom Gullfoss
4 hLangjökull Glacier Snowmobile
★ 4.6 · 319 reviews
- Snowmobiling on Langjökull, Iceland’s second glacier
- Meets at Gullfoss, so it slots into the loop
- Suits and helmets supplied
- Free cancellation
$192$48.00 / hour
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Blue Lagoon6,006 reviews
11 hGolden Circle & Blue Lagoon
★ 4.9 · 6006 reviews
- The Golden Circle and the Blue Lagoon in one day
- Kerið crater on the way round
- Eleven hours, and the two things everybody comes for
- Free cancellation
$245$22.27 / hour
Check availability→ 
Our top pick3 days
3 days3-Day Golden Circle & South Coast
★ 4.9 · 173 reviews
- Three days: the loop, the south coast and a glacier
- Jökulsárlón, Reynisfjara and the waterfalls
- Accommodation and a guide the whole way
- Free cancellation
$868$12.06 / hour
Check availability→ 
Ice cave3 days
3 days3-Day Golden Circle & Ice Cave
★ 4.7 · 95 reviews
- Three days with a natural ice cave in winter
- Glacier lagoon, black beach and the loop
- The version for people who want to go inside the ice
- Free cancellation
$919$12.76 / hour
Check availability→ Every trip, current fare
The tours, priced
Twelve trips sorted by price with cost per hour. Worth reading next to the fact that the three main stops cost nothing to enter.
| Tour | Length of day | Price | Added to the loop | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Circle, Crater & HorsesThe cheapest seat on the loop | 7 h | $76 | Kerið and a horse farm | $10.86 | 4.9 · 45 |
| Golden Circle Full-Day ClassicThe most-reviewed tour in Iceland | 7–8.5 h | $86 | Kerið crater | $10.75 | 4.8 · 27,200 |
| Golden Circle & Tomato GreenhouseThe loop plus soup among the tomato vines | 8 h | $103 | Friðheimar greenhouse | $12.88 | 4.7 · 205 |
| Golden Circle, Brúarfoss & KeriðAdds the bluest waterfall on the route | 9 h | $104 | Brúarfoss and Kerið | $11.56 | 4.7 · 212 |
| Golden Circle & Kerið Small GroupThe classic loop in a small group | 8 h | $119 | Kerið, small group | $14.88 | 4.8 · 801 |
| Golden Circle, Kerið & FriðheimarMinibus, Kerið and Friðheimar | 9 h | $120 | Kerið and Friðheimar | $13.33 | 4.8 · 557 |
| Golden Circle & Secret LagoonEnds in a pool that opened in 1891 | 10 h | $126 | Kerið and the Secret Lagoon | $12.60 | 4.8 · 6,446 |
| Silfra SnorkellingSnorkelling between two continents | 2.5–6 h | $130 | Silfra only, at Þingvellir | $28.89 | 4.8 · 937 |
| Langjökull Glacier SnowmobileAn hour on Iceland’s second ice cap | 4 h | $192 | Langjökull, from Gullfoss | $48.00 | 4.6 · 319 |
| Golden Circle & Blue LagoonBoth big-ticket days in one | 11 h | $245 | Kerið and the Blue Lagoon | $22.27 | 4.9 · 6,006 |
| 3-Day Golden Circle & South CoastThe loop, the south coast and a glacier | 3 days | $868 | South coast and glacier lagoon | $12.06 | 4.9 · 173 |
| 3-Day Golden Circle & Ice CaveThree days, with an ice cave in winter | 3 days | $919 | Ice cave and glacier lagoon | $12.76 | 4.7 · 95 |
Month by month
When to go round the loop
The route runs every day of the year and these roads are cleared as a priority. What changes is the daylight you have to fit it into.
Jun – Aug
Midnight sun
Up to twenty-one hours of light, Gullfoss at full summer melt, every side road open. Also the busiest: go before eight or after two and the stops are different places.
Sep – Oct
Autumn light
The best photographs of the year, low sun down the Hvítá canyon, and the crowds thinning fast. Still ten to twelve hours of daylight.
Mar – May
Spring
Daylight climbing back past twelve hours, snow still on the highlands behind Gullfoss, and lower prices than summer. Roads can ice overnight.
Nov – Feb
Short days
Four to six hours of usable light in December. Gullfoss drops to about 80 cubic metres a second and can partly freeze. Wind, not snow, is what closes roads.
Common questions
Golden Circle stops, answered
What are the stops on the Golden Circle?
Three headline sites — Þingvellir National Park, the Geysir geothermal area and Gullfoss waterfall — plus a handful of common additions: Kerið crater, the Friðheimar tomato greenhouse, Brúarfoss, Faxi, and a geothermal pool such as the Secret Lagoon or Laugarvatn Fontana.
How many stops are on the Golden Circle?
Three that define the route and about six more that tours use to differentiate themselves. A classic full-day tour does the three plus Kerið; longer tours add a greenhouse, a waterfall or a hot pool.
Do you have to pay to visit the Golden Circle?
Not to enter the three main sites — they are free. Parking is 1,000 ISK per car at Þingvellir (1,200 ISK for six to nine seats), about the same at Geysir, and free at Gullfoss. Kerið crater charges 700 ISK per person.
Which Golden Circle stop is the best?
Gullfoss for most people, because the scale of it is genuinely hard to prepare for. Þingvellir is the one that stays with you afterwards once you understand what you were standing in. Strokkur is the one everybody photographs.
How long do you need at each stop?
About forty-five minutes at Þingvellir, thirty at Geysir if you want two or three eruptions, and thirty to forty-five at Gullfoss. Kerið takes half an hour. That is roughly two and a half hours of stopping in a six-to-eight-hour day.
Can you add the Blue Lagoon to the Golden Circle?
Yes, and several tours do it in one eleven-hour day with Kerið on the way round. It is a long day and it removes the hardest piece of Iceland logistics, which is fitting the lagoon around a flight.
Go deeper
More on the Golden Circle
Gullfoss
Gullfoss waterfall
Two drops, 32 metres, 141 cubic metres a second, and the woman who saved it.
KeriðKerið crater
270 metres across, 55 deep, and the only stop on the route with a gate fee.
The other twoÞingvellir and Geysir
A rift between two continents, and the geyser that is asleep next to the one that is not.
RouteThe route and directions
230 km, which roads, which direction, and every car park with its fee.
ItineraryA one-day itinerary
Hour by hour from Reykjavík and back, in the order that misses the coaches.
PricesWhat a tour costs
Twelve tours priced against each other and against driving it yourself.
