Day 2 Highlights:
45 min drive from Reykjavík to Thingvellir National Park
Walk through Thingvellir
Silfra Snorkel between tectonic plates: Adventure Vikings
50 min drive from Thingvellir to Bruarfoss Waterfall
20 min drive from Bruarfoss Waterfall to Strokkur Geysir
10 min drive from Strokkur Geysir to Golfoss Falls
30 min drive Golfoss Falls to Secret Lagoon Hot Springs in Fludir
Night 2: Iceland Air Hotel Fludir
Back to the full 10 Day Iceland Itinerary
Thingvellir National Park:
Thingvellir National Park is huge! With limited time in a busy day, we tried to hit the highlights. On the way from Reykjavik you will pass the Thingvellir Visitor Center on the right-hand side of the road. There’s plenty of parking and a beautiful view from above the lake. Some people park here and hike down, however we opted to continue driving to the Thingvellir Visitor Center, and then down to Parking P5, which is closest to the walking paths and the Silfra Diving site. It’s amazing to see how much the Earth has moved creating dramatic cuts through the ground. Make sure to pay for parking, as all of the lots are patrolled and you may end up with a ticket!
From P5, you’re able to walk through some nice walking paths to view the shifting tectonic plates up close. We found it to be quite crowded with tourists as it’s so close to Reykjavik.
Silfra Diving:
Remaining parked at P5, it’s a short 2-3 minute walk to the diving meeting spot. All of the diving companies meet in the same little parking lot on the way in to P5 (you’ll drive past it on your way in).
Although there’s MANY diving companies that offer the snorkeling tour, all of them provide only dry-suits except for the Adventure Vikings, which gives you the option of using a wet-suit. Although the wet-suit is colder, it allows you to dive down under the water which was truly amazing!
The water here stays around 35 degrees Fahrenheit (2-4 degrees Celsius), but it’s some of the clearest water in the world with more than 100 meters of visibility! Make sure to bring a warm change of clothes, and some towels to dry off. Rachel used the dry-suit and still got a little wet from some water that leaked in. In the end, we were nervous about how cold we may get during this experience, but it was a lot more comfortable than we anticipated and totally worth it - a super memorable experience!
Bruarfoss Waterfall:
This was one of our FAVORITE waterfalls in Iceland. The turquoise water made it very unique. However, over the past couple of years, residents who live near Bruarfoss have made it slightly more difficult to access (you used to be able to drive right up to it, but the roads are not blocked for non-residents with gates). Now, the official parking spot (shown below) gives way to a hike (shown in yellow below) that follows a river to Bruarfoss. When we arrived, the path was too muddy to use, and some people we met in the parking lot attempted turned around after an hour. We ended up parking ~3 minutes down the road, and walking down the gate accessed road to Bruarfoss. The walk only took 20 minutes (shown in red below) and was on a gravel road!
Strokkur Geysir:
A short 20 minute drive from Bruarfoss, you can pull over on the right-hand side of the road to park and walk ~5 minutes to the Strokkur Geysir. We found it to be a little underwhelming with SO many tourists since it’s right on the side of the road. However, it’s pretty interesting to walk through the active geo-thermal area and to watch Strokkur spray up into the air every few minutes.
Golfoss Falls:
10 minutes down the road from Strokkur, you’ll run into Golfoss Falls. There’s both lower level (limited spots) and upper level parking to complete the short walk to view the falls. It was absolutely incredible to see the power and force behind this waterfall!
Secret Lagoon Hot Springs:
30 minutes down the road from Gulfoss is the town of Fludir. While doing our research, many people said the Secret Lagoon Hot Springs rivals the Blue Lagoon! I’m not completely sure I would agree, but it was a REALLY cool experience. It’s quite a bit cheaper and less crowded than the Blue Lagoon… and ended up being the perfect way to wind down after a long day. It costs 3000 ISK ($25 USD) to visit and the price includes a free drink.
After relaxing in the hot springs, we drove to our very nearby hotel - Iceland Air Hotel Fludir for a good night's sleep.