Golden Circle · Where to stay

The only proper town on the route: supermarkets, petrol, a hospital, a bus stop and rooms at every price. It sits on the ring road rather than on the loop, so you drive 50 to 60 kilometres north each morning, but it is the easiest place to restock and the obvious base if you are carrying on along the south coast afterwards.

A lake village of a few hundred people, roughly halfway between Þingvellir and Geysir, with a geothermal pool, the Fontana baths and Efstidalur farm ten minutes up the road. You can be at Strokkur before the coaches. There are only a handful of guesthouses, so it sells out in July and August.

Farm guesthouses and small hotels scattered through the horticultural belt south of Gullfoss, with Friðheimar at Reykholt and the Secret Lagoon at Flúðir. Quiet, dark at night, and you will need the car for absolutely everything including dinner.

The full circle is 230 to 250 kilometres and fits comfortably into a day, so plenty of people never sleep out here at all. That is the sane choice in December and January, when there are four hours of daylight and ice on the road, and it means your evening has somewhere to go. Expect to pay city prices for it.