Day 14 was dedicated to exploration of the Golden Circle, Iceland’s most popular tourist route. We would have preferred to explore the route by self-driving but since it was the dead of winter, it was too dangerous due to the strong winds and icy roads. We chose Iceland Horizon for a number of reasons: they had good reviews on TripAdvisor, they offered the tour on the day we wanted, and they operate in small buses which means more interaction with the guide and a lesser chance for delays.
The minibus picked us up at Siguron’s apartment at 8.30am and headed to our first attraction, Þingvellir National Park, after picking up a few more tourists. Our tour guide, Helga, first took us into the tourist center where there was a model of Iceland and explained how it was formed geographically. Afterwards, she suggested for the group to take a walk to the meeting point downhill where she will have the minibus waiting. It took us about 45 min of careful walking on the ice to get there; I slipped twice en-route (army boots are pretty useless here). We got a little confused as to where the meeting point was but we managed to get to the correct location, one couple wasn’t so lucky though and Helga had to go look for them. When in doubt, follow the crowd!
Our next attraction is Geysir which used to be an active geyser that sends boiling water up into the air every few minutes. Due to tectonic plates movements beneath, the frequent activity has stopped in recent years. Fortunately, Geysir’s neighbour Strokkur functions frequently and reliably. After viewing Strokkur’s amazing display, we went for lunch at the nearby diner. The food was mediocre but the prices was alarming; 25000Íkr for two set consisting of burgers, fries and soup! We were definitely packing our lunch for the remaining tours.
After lunch, we visited Gullfoss! Due to the cold temperatures, much of the viewing platform was covered in ice formed from the spray of the waterfall. It was pretty dangerous with the strong winds and insignificant barriers; we had to slowly shuffle our way around to avoid slipping into certain death. The sound of the cascading waters was deafening and the view of the mighty Gullfoss was simply breathtaking.
Communication with Iceland Horizon prior to the tour was easy as they spoke good English and replied to our questions promptly. No upfront payment was needed, we only confirmed our booking via email and payment was made at the end of the tour. We also emailed them a few days before our arrival to confirm the tour was going ahead.
The tour itself was well-managed and interesting, with Helga keeping us entertained with a steady flow of information about Iceland on the drives to different attractions. Helga also stopped at other locations to allow us to view the less popular but nonetheless beautiful scenery of Iceland. She even stopped by the road so we could have some face-to-face interaction with some friendly Icelandic horses.
Later at night, we went out with Superjeeps to try our luck in viewing the northern lights but we only caught a half-hearted display. Although, we were treated to a different display of lights.
absolute honesty 