Tumbling waterfalls, erupting geysers, and wild landscapes sprawling across 2 separate tectonic plates—there's a reason Iceland's Golden Circle is the country's most iconic tour. Combine a visit to Thingvellir National Park, the Geysir hot springs, and the Gullfoss waterfall with a Northern Lights hunt, escorted by an expert guide.
Departing from Reykjavik, ride off in the direction of Thingvellir National Park. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, this rugged wilderness is famed for its gorgeous rift valley, which has formed as 2 tectonic plates drift gradually apart. Listen to your guide describe how this location was the meeting place of Iceland's first general assembly in the year 930 as you snap photos of the greenery-blanketed rocks and deep blue water.
From there, continue on to Gullfoss, where the wide, rushing waters of the Hvítá glacial river plunge abruptly into a crevasse as if vanishing from the surface of the earth. Listen to the roar of this vast cascade, and feel the icy mist on your face.
Continue on to the geothermal area of Haukadalur, home to the Geysir that named all other geysers. Watch the regular eruptions of Strokkur as the burbling hot spring bursts skyward, and marvel at bubbling mud pots and hissing steam vents ringed with colorful algae and minerals before looping back to Reykjavik where you will have several hours at your own leisure.
In the evening, you will get picked up again for a Northern Lights tour, where you will go searching for this swirling, luminous spectacle.
Your guide leads you on an adventure out of the city, using their expertise to find the best spots for viewing the mysterious Northern Lights. As it shimmers into being in the winter sky overhead, marvel at the magical patterns, and dramatic colors of this natural phenomenon.
Listen to your guide describe the science behind this the marvelous natural event. When solar wind collides with charged particles in the high atmosphere, it manifests in radiating green and faint red lights. Watch the colors shift, intensify, and spin for hours on end as you observe, mesmerized by their shifting patterns.
