Worth Seeing in Iceland (Part 1)

When heading to Iceland, it's worth preparing in advance and planning what's worth seeing. In 7 days you can drive around the whole island and really see a lot.

I'll describe what's worth seeing in Iceland in 3 parts. The first of them will focus on the so-called Golden Circle and a part of southern Iceland.

It's worth planning in advance, more or less, what you want to see, so as to have an idea of where these things are on the island and how to get there.

Geothermal spa – Blue Lagoon

Landing in Reykjavík or Keflavík, it's worth heading to the Blue Lagoon (Bláa Lónið). It's a geothermal spa that offers bathing in hot, mineral-rich water. All-day passes start at around 35–45 euros.

It's one of Iceland's biggest tourist attractions, and on top of that it's located very close to two airports, so you'll always find crowds of people there. You need to take a swimsuit, flip-flops and a towel with you. In the more expensive packages you get towels, bathrobes and even drinks.

Geysir and Gullfoss

The Icelandic geyser — Geysir — is also located fairly close to Reykjavík. It's from this name that the term given to this type of geothermal spring all over the world comes — geyser. The Strokkur geyser is an active geyser and shoots water out regularly, about every 10 minutes, to a height of 35 metres.

This place too is very heavily besieged by tourists. It's worth, though, stopping for a moment and seeing how the geyser shoots hot water into the air. The effect is amazing, especially when it's very cold outside. Nearby there is also the Gullfoss waterfall.

Lying on the river Hvítá, the waterfall consists of two cascades. The first measures 11 metres in height, the second 21. Around 400 cubic metres of water flow over the waterfall per second. Around it there is a national park, and right by the waterfall, viewpoints and hotels have been built.

Initially, the Gullfoss waterfall was to be turned into a hydroelectric plant. Today it is one of Iceland's biggest tourist attractions.

Heading east in Iceland

Heading towards Vík along national road number 1. We'll be travelling along it practically until the very end of the journey. Along the way we pass amazing views. Enormous mountains, volcanoes and volcanic rock covered in very thick moss. It's worth pulling over to the verge for a moment and walking over this moss. It makes an amazing impression.

Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss

Along the way we pass several waterfalls. The first one we come across is Seljalandsfoss. It climbs to a height of 60 metres. Steel stairs have been built by it, on which we can climb high and stand behind the waterfall.

Driving further towards Vík, it's worth stopping at another waterfall, which is Skógafoss. The sight of the masses of water falling from the rocks makes an amazing impression. At 60 metres tall and 25 metres wide, it's one of the bigger waterfalls in Iceland.

The amount of water scattered by the waterfall means we see two or one rainbow forming on the droplets of water. For tourists, stairs have also been built that lead to the very top of the waterfall. It's worth climbing up and seeing the coast from above.

Between the Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss waterfalls, it's worth stopping at the foot of the famous volcano Eyjafjallajökull. It erupted in 2010 and caused aviation chaos across Europe. It's worth visiting the Eyjafjallajökull Visitor Centre. For a few euros we'll be able to see a film projection that shows the life of the people living at the foot of the volcano.

The film shows us what happened to the residents of a farm before, during and after the volcano's eruption. The footage shown in the projection makes a truly amazing impression.