I am planning a ring road road trip next July. We do not have a lot of wiggle room and would like to spend more time up near Myvatn and the South Coast.
Would it be okay to skip the Golden Circle to save up on drive time given we will be seeing some epic scenery elsewhere? Or is the Golden Circle a must do?
Thanks so much!
Well, nothing is a must-do when you get down to it. It depends on your priorities.
Having said that, I think the Golden Circle can be done in a day, especially since
in July it will be light almost all the time. It's a highlighted item IMO because of
the variety of sights along the way and its relative proximity to Reykjavik.
And if you're on the South Coast, you more or less drive back past it on your way
to Reykjavik (which I assume is where you fly in/out of). Maybe you'll get bored
with seeing what you had planned on and decide you can cleave out a day on
the way back. Otherwise, just enjoy whatever it is you decide to visit.
Thank you!! That's a great idea to add in it at the end. We are ending in Reykjavik so that would work well!
FWIW, the Golden circle is my least favorite area of Iceland. That said, we went there on our first trip and that sold us on Iceland so we keep returning. It has so much to offer, but the entire country does as well. So if you are short on time, you can easily skip this.
I wouldn't necessarily skip it since it is the place in Iceland that the most people will be aware of. My favorite hotel was in the Golden Circle area too ;)
The waterfall and the national park are the two places I'd go for sure. You could skip the geyser and the other places. I think you could do both in 4 hours.
Sidebar, if you do the Golden Circle on your last day, then you don't have to
go back into Reykjavik at all - you can stay in Selfoss or Hveragerdi and then
head to the airport the next day.
If the road along the south coast is back in commission next July, it is a
nice scenic drive back to the airport as well.
I agree with skipping Reykjavík if that was on your itinerary (esp. if you’re a nature/outdoors person). I also agree with skipping Geyser on the circle but walking between two continents was SUPER cool and the giant waterfall is stunning. You can probably do those two things in 4-5 hours max.
My family and I went earlier this summer and I too wanted to spend more time in other areas so did not spend much time at all in the Golden Circle (and totally skipped Reykjavik) and I don't regret it.
However, we did spend our first night in the Golden Circle, seeing several sights, and then saw Thingvellir National Park on our way out the next day. I think seeing Thingvellir and Gullfoss are a bare minimum, and must sees. Staying overnight in the Golden Circle gave us time to soaked in Laugarvatn Fontana which we really enjoyed.
I think the Myvatn/Husavik area is comparable to sights in the Golden Circle, especially with regard to the geysers and hot spots. We had intended to see Dettifoss, but were flooded out (roads and trails closed), so I was thankful we had seen Gullfoss in the Golden Circle.
The problem with the Ring Road is there's not a lot of diversity of landscapes; it's what you stop for that make it worth the trip And if you're trying to get to the North, it seems like you should start in there! To do this, I'd recommend you stay a night or two in the Golden Circle to see Gullfoss and Thingvellir (also Settlement Center if you can...highly recommend), then take a domestic flight from Reykjavik to Akureyri. You can pick up a rental car there and return it at Keflavík. Cut your ring road in half so you can spend time out of the car!
Not sure how much time you have, but we had 11 nights and we stayed 5 nights in the North (Hvammstangi 1 night, Siglufjörður 1 night, Myvatn 1 night, Husavik 2 nights) and side tripped (1 night) to Westman Islands. I was very happy with the time in the North, but doing so as part of the full ring road made it rough (as I had been warned!)
