Iceland’s Golden Circle (Part One)

Have you ever heard of the Golden Triangle in India? It includes three cities: Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. What about Thailand’s Golden Triangle? This is where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet. Now, what about Iceland’s Golden Circle? It seems that, when it comes to tourism and geography, we do like geometry and gold. Let me tell you about this particular golden route.

What is Iceland’s Golden Circle?

Depending on the sources, the Golden Circle can include more or less places. I did this trail twice: once with a tour guide and a bus during Winter in December 2014 and another time with a friend during Summer in June 2017. The second time, we were doing a road-trip, so we pretty much stopped every time we saw something nice. Our Golden Circle route was bigger than the one I did with the bus and the guide.

Anyway, the three main places that constitute Iceland’s Golden Circle are the Geysir Geothermal Area, the Gullfoss Waterfall and Þingvellir National Park (it is sometimes called Golden Triangle). But if you want to see more, you can add the Kerið crater, Friðheimar greenhouse, the Skálholt cathedral, some secret lagoons… Iceland is a stunning country and there is a lot to see!

I absolutely didn’t mind doing it twice because it doesn’t look at all the same in the different seasons.

Golden Circle – Stop 1: Kerið Crater

In this article and the following one, I will introduce the places in the order we visited them with Beatrice, in June 2017, but you can create your own path, depending on what you want to see first.

So the first place we saw was Kerið crater. Approximately 3,000 years old, this volcanic crater lake is very beautiful because of the contrast between the green grass and water and the red volcanic rock. Kerið’s caldera (the technical term for the hole) is about 55 m (180 ft) deep, 170 m (560 ft) wide and 270 m (890 ft) across.

This is a great spot for taking pictures, doing a hike or even going for a swim. We didn’t, but some people did. Notice that, even if it was June, it was still pretty cold. We ate a lot of soup during this trip, because after most of our hikes, we would be very cold. Don’t assume that, because it is Summer, the weather will be warm.

Iceland’s Golden Circle – Stop 2: Skálholt Cathedral

Even though the cathedral doesn’t impress much, it is important because of its history. For more than 700 years, it was the centre of ecclesiastic power in Iceland and it was also a place of pilgrimage during medieval times. If the cathedral looks pretty modern, it’s because it’s not the original one. In reality, this is the 10th church built on exactly the same site. The current cathedral was consecrated in 1963. Inside, it also looks modern, despite some ancient pieces.

To be honest, I liked this stop because the surroundings are beautiful and very peaceful, and also because there are little houses around it that resemble hobbit houses. This is not a must-see location in my opinion, but it’s nice and on the path.

Stop 3: Friðheimar Greenhouse

What does a greenhouse have to do in a Golden Circle? Well, this one looks pretty magical during Winter and is very pleasant to visit during Summer as well. Imagine: it’s early morning, you’re in the dark, it’s cold and there is snow everywhere around you… Would you expect to suddenly arrive in a greenhouse that grows tomatoes? Well, that’s what Friðheimar greenhouse does. Once inside, you can opt for tomato soup with freshly made bread or for a Bloody Mary!

What I found particularly interesting is the way Friðheimar approaches horticulture: they meet high eco-friendly standards. As I mentioned, the tomatoes are grown all year, even in December. How do they do that? In the greenhouse, a guide explains that, to heat the greenhouses, the farm uses one of Iceland’s natural resources: geothermal water. Also, to deal with pests, they don’t use pesticides, they use bugs! For instance, the Macrolophus pygmaeus eats all the main pests that can attack tomato plants. A good example, to follow, no?

When we went there during Summer, there were also other places around to buy fruits and we bought some delicious raspberries. They were even of different colours: shades of pink and even orange.

Stop 4: Geysir

Now, that’s a self-explanatory name! Well, there’s a reason for that: Geysir is the first geyser known to modern Europeans and it gave its name to all of its brothers. The name Geysir comes from the Icelandic verb geysa (“to gush”).

This location is beautiful in Summer with all the flowers around and in Winter, with the low sun rays piercing the mist.

In the next article, I will show you the rest of Iceland’s Golden Circle.

To see more photos of Iceland, you can visit the gallery Iceland.