Iceland Roadtrip Day 2: Reykjavík to Selfoss — Tour of the Golden Circle

We began day-two of our Iceland trip with an early morning run along Reykjavík’s Atlantic coast, and a hearty breakfast at the hotel made special by our very first tasting of the traditional skyr — yogurt-cheese filled with chia, pumpkin seeds and berries.

Immediately after, we were picked up by the Iceland Unlimited staff from whom we had rented a car for our Iceland roadtrip. They took us to their car park and handed us the keys of a squanky 4*4 Skoda Yeti armed with maps, GPS and wifi! Thus all set, we set out on our Iceland odyssey.

Turning east from Reykjavík, we drove, in no time, into the wide countryside laced with rolling hills and streams. The beauty of the bare earth is such that you wish you were walking / cycling and not driving, rushing by. You long to stop by at every viewing point. But remind yourself that you need to keep enough time in hand for the Golden Circle — Thingvellir National Park, Geysir geothermal area, the Gullfoss waterfall and Kerid volcanic crater.

A drive of about 47kms (an hour’s drive) will get you to the Thingvellir National Park. A site of major national importance, it is at Thingvellir that Iceland’s parliament, Althing, held its sessions way back in 930 A.D making it the site of the oldest parliament in the world! The park is a large swathe of tectonic and volcanic land made prominent by a rift valley, many fissures and canyons, river Öxará and its many streams, Þingvallavatn — the largest natural lake of Iceland, Walking / trekking through it can easily take more than two hours. And so, stock up on your snacks, water. And jackets too as it can be very windy here. The information center has free water.

Next, we set out for the Geysir geothermal slopes in the Haukadalur valley, which is a little more than 50kms from the Thingvellir National Park. Took us about an hour, and since it was lunch time by now, we opted for lunch first at Geyser Center, a restaurant-cum-store that has a wide variety of options to choose from.

If the Thingvellir National Park is your first brush with serious geography lessons in Iceland, the Geysir will simply deepen the study. You are awe-struck at how mother earth oozes out constant smoke, and fountains-like hot water from its bosom. Mini eruptions happen all around you, but the site is famous for the Strokkur Geysir that goes up to 30m every 6-7 minutes.

The Gullfoss waterfall is just about 10kms away from Geysir. It is the first waterfall one probably sees in Iceland. And with it starts the foss-saga (foss means waterfall in Icelandic). Formed by the Hvítá river falling into a deep crevice, the waterfall literally starts the Iceland drama – everything is huge, deep, larger than life here. Plan to spend a leisurely 30 minutes here. And carry your rain-proof jackets. For, the foss flies high while falling deep and easily drenches you.

Note: Not much of a stroller-friendly place. Very elderly visitors are advised to carry walking sticks for a good grip while walking down to the waterfall.

Our final destination for the day was the very windy Kerid volcanic crater about 55kms away from the Gullfoss. A 3000-year old crater, a flight of stone stairs leads to the clear lake formed by the crater. Not a place for the elderly’s wheelchair or the baby’s stroller, you have to pay 400 ISK per person to see the crater and its lake.

We retired for the day at Guesthouse Vatnsholt in Selfoss town, about 15kms from the Kerid crater. Set in the middle of huge farmlands, Guesthouse Vatnsholt sits above the lake of Villingarholt with magnificent views of the mountains and Eyjafjall glacier. After freshening up, we turned in for an early dinner of lambs and beef, and hit the bed while the sun was still high up in the sky.

It was past 9.30pm, but the sun wouldn’t go down in another four hours! We promised to wake up for a bit around 2pm to check out the twilight…

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Planning a trip to Iceland? Here is help with the itinerary of a 10-day roadtrip in Iceland