All you need is a band of gold - the Golden Circle Tour, Rekyavic, Iceland (Golden Circle (Iceland))

Member Name: andyk910

Product:	Golden Circle (Iceland)
Date:	08/03/09 (173 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Get a real flavour the place

Disadvantages: Long day on and off a coach

**Introduction**
At about £55 per person, this is not a cheap day out but at 7 - 8 hours duration, neither is it a short one. On balance, I certainly enjoyed this day, felt I had value for money, was pleased to see more of Iceland than just Reykjavik (which I did not find particularly exciting) and felt I had more of a handle on the place: And by the way, the part of Iceland you get to see if really very beautiful.

**The day**
The day started with our being collected about 8.30am by mini-bus from our central Reykjavik Hotel (see my review on the Radisson SAS 1919 Hotel, Reykjavik for more details) and taken a couple of miles to the main bus station, where you connect to the coach for the day trip. This is a sensible option, because it means that there are not lots of full size coaches all moving through the streets of downtown, stopping outside all the hotels and each picking up a couple of people each.

The mini-buses drop people off and you go in and purchase your ticket for the excursion inside the bus terminal. My reservation was made by the Hotel front desk, although you can make the reservation yourself (see www.re.is for more details).
The tour left on time, a modern and comfortable 50 seat coach with a driver and a guide.

**The tour**
Travelling out of the (not very interesting) urban sprawl of Reykjavik, the guide gave us the usual stats and figures about Iceland, told us a few folk stories, a bit of history and (somewhat surprisingly) sang us a song. Hmm.
**Stop 1**
First stop was the greenhouse village of Hveragerði, about 45 minutes out of town. Iceland is making the most of the geothermal energy and uses some to grow vegetables, fruit and flowers in greenhouses. This not only improves the diet of the residents but also cuts the imports. They grow lots of sweet peppers, tomatoes and the like and surprisingly exotic flowers. This stop, which was also a coffee/loo break, did also allow you to buy (rather tiresome) souvenirs, food/drinks and plants - although I am not sure how you could expect to get them home again! If you are familiar with tours abroad, I would say that this took the place of the visit to the carpet factory/papyrus factory/pottery centre/wood carving centre/substitute local sales opportunity to suit. At least we did not stay too long there and the loo was clean...

**Stop 2**
We drove on through a pretty area (after a skiing area) where lots of locals have holiday homes, some of which are for hire. You would regret it if you arrived and only then realised you have forgotten the milk (long way to the nearest shop) but it did look nice in a getting-away-from-it-all manner). Next stop another 40 minutes or so later was the Kerið volcanic crater. What can I tell you? It is a volcanic crater. It is part full of water. It was pretty. There will be a photo of me standing at the top of it further down the page. Two visitors got lost here (how??) and kept the rest of waiting 20 minutes (grrr). We left and moved on and the guide told us some more stuff and sang another song (hmmm).
**Stop 3**
Third stop was the spectacular Gullfoss waterfall, the largest waterfall in Europe. Not huge by certain African or North American standards, this is still a substantial waterfall and you can get very close to it. The water falls in a couple of stages over about 12 meters and it is noisy and damp with stray and exciting and spectacular, especially if the sun comes out. You can climb the cliff above the waterfall to take some photos and walk alongside it in part. Definitely worth seeing.

**Stop 4 and lunch**
Next stop was the geyser hot spring area. Actually, the geyser called 'Geysir' (the one that all geysers are named after) is currently more or less inactive (it does still do its thing, but entirely unpredictably and infrequently) so you are watching other geysers perform. The most spectacular, still significant, erupts (if that is the word) every three minutes or so, not too long to wait to test the patience of the waiting crowds. Everyone tries to take a photo of this (see my efforts below). More surprising is that many tourists each year get scalds from putting their hands in the boiling water just ejected at pressure from the earth in front of them to see if it is hot - come on guys, take a wild guess?
This was also the lunch stop, with the option of a full three course meal if you were called wealthy enough or a snack from the café for the rest of us (food was not included in the price and I had not taken up the option of the lunchbox from my hotel, at £15 for a sandwich!!). The food was uninspired but did the job - cauliflower soup and a flaccid hot dog, anyone?

**Stop 5**
Back on the bus after lunch and geysers, a total stop of about 30 minutes, and on to the Þingvellir National Park area. This is a stunning rift valley, where the European and North American tectonic plates meet. These plates are moving slowly apart, so Iceland gets about 1.5cm bigger every year. There are cliffs on both sides and about 7km of land between them right now. The coach dropped us in the valley and we walked up a path through part of the valley and up a cliff path (fairly easy walk) to meet the coach again at the top. This is really very beautiful and would have validated the day for me on its own, although I did also enjoy Gullfoss and the geysers. I have put in a couple of photos - this was good stuff, I thought. This valley is the site of the meeting of the ancient Iceland Parliament from about the 10th centaury onwards until really quite recently. There is much to learn about it, if you are keen, the Prime Minister of Iceland has a summer home here and there is even a hotel.
**Home to Reykjavik**
Someone had obviously told the guide that she had a great voice: It wasn't me. She sang us another song, an Icelandic lullaby this time, singing impressively in Icelandic, English, French and German, although sadly not in tune. I don't wish to be rude, she was informative and I did tip her and the driver at the end. I learnt things from her and was able to ask for some extra information, which was good for me.

Irritatingly, despite having a good distribution system worked out (they picked us all up in mini-buses) they decided to take us all back to our hotels in this huge coach. My hotel was about the 9th stop after visiting more of Reykjavik than I wanted or intended to and I said my good-byes.
**Conclusions**
A good trip, good enough value and recommended. Reykjavik Excursions are not the only company to offer this trip, so shop around for variations which might suit you better.

**Word of warning**
There was lots of getting on and off the coach and some walking/clambering to be done. This would not have been easy for someone with a mobility impairment, I think it would impossible for someone in a wheel chair and damn difficult with a push chair.

Summary: Shame to come this far and not to see it, so do go