Golden Circle

The old parliament site in the rift between the North American and Eurasian plates, and the reason this loop exists. There is no entry fee — you pay to park. A car with up to five seats is 750 ISK, six to eight seats 1,000 ISK, read automatically off your plate and valid for the whole day at all the car parks: P1 Hakið above the rift, P2 Fossplan by Öxarárfoss and P5 Valhöll.

The Haukadalur field gave the world the word geyser. Great Geysir itself is now largely dormant; Strokkur beside it throws a column of boiling water up every few minutes and does all the work. The crust between the vents is thin and the water is scalding — stay on the marked paths and keep children on a short leash.

The Hvítá drops in two stages into a canyon, protected since 1979 along with the gorge below it. Free to visit and free to park, with a café at the top and a lower path that is roped off whenever it ices over. Stand at the upper viewpoint in a westerly and you will be soaked in a minute.

The rift fissure at Þingvellir, filled with filtered glacial meltwater at 2 to 4°C with over a hundred metres of visibility. Dry suits are compulsory, snorkelling tours start around 19,990 ISK plus a 1,500 ISK national park fee, and it can only be done through a licensed operator. Diving needs a dry-suit certification and a minimum age of 17.

A collapsed volcanic crater with rust-red walls and a green lake in the bottom, on the road between Selfoss and Reykholt. Privately owned: 700 ISK at the gate covers the rim path, the steps to the water, parking and the toilets. The website says it is open when the sun is shining, which is more accurate than it sounds.

The full circle runs roughly 230 to 250 kilometres on paved road and fills a day at a civilised pace. Any hire car will do it. Fuel and three separate parking fees are the real cost, not the sights.

Coach day tours leave Reykjavik every morning, year-round, and work out cheaper than a car for two people. In December and January it is also simply the sane option: four hours of daylight, ice on the road, and someone else's licence on the line.

F35 runs from behind Gullfoss across the interior to the north, but it is a mountain road: 4x4 only, illegal in a two-wheel-drive hire car, closed all winter, and opening on a five-year average of 1 June, with recorded first openings between 30 May and 14 June. Check Vegagerðin before you build a plan on it.

May to September, when the roads are dry, the light is long and Kjölur is open behind Gullfoss.

Late April to mid-May and October: still easily driveable, far fewer coaches, and rooms out at Selfoss and Laugarvatn drop hard.

July and August, when the Geysir car park is full by ten in the morning and every tour bus in Iceland is on the same loop.

Leave Reykjavik early for Þingvellir. Walk down through the Almannagjá rift from Hakið to the Lögberg and on to Öxarárfoss before the coaches land.

On to Haukadalur for Strokkur. Give it fifteen minutes and several eruptions; the first one always catches you looking the wrong way.

Friðheimar, ten minutes away, serves tomato soup inside a working greenhouse — book, because they do not seat walk-ins in season. Otherwise eat at the Geysir centre with everyone else.

Gullfoss, then the southern road back past Kerið, with a stop at Faxi if the light is doing anything.

Soak at the Secret Lagoon in Flúðir — 4,500 ISK, 38 to 40°C, built round the oldest pool in Iceland — then drive home or stay out here.

A greenhouse town built on a steaming hillside 45 minutes from Reykjavik, with a hot river up Reykjadalur about an hour's walk above it that you can sit in for nothing. Take a towel and something to change behind.

Rhyolite mountains in every colour and a warm stream to lie in, at the end of F208. Roughly June to September only: the five-year average opening of the Sigalda stretch is 2 June, it is 4x4 only, and there are rivers to ford. The highland buses from Reykjavik do it without risking your deposit.