One of the most visited and very popular one-day tours from Reykjavik. This tour leads to many of most spectacular touristic attraction of Iceland.
Dates:
If you participate in one of the workcamps you have the possibility to sign up for for this excursion. This will take place in one of the days during the work camp. Your leaders can answer all your questions and will take care to plan it in the schedule.
what you will visit:
1 . Þingvellir – National shire of all Icelanders, UNESCO
The first stop is in Þingvellir National Park. The crew of the HBO television has been filming fourth season of Game of Thrones here.
It is a national park in southwestern Iceland, about 40 km northeast of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík. Þingvellir is a site of historical, cultural, and geological significance, and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland. The park lies in a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates.
What can you visit in the national park?
- Öxarárfoss waterfall
- Almannagja
- The Law Rock
- Silfra
- Flosagjá and Nikulásargjá
- Thingvellir Church and Prime Minister Summerhouse
- Drekingarhylur (The drowning pool)
Remind yourself that we do a stop for 30 min to 45 min, so select in advance what you wanne visit in the national park.
2. Geysir
There could be seen some of the most famous sights of the island, the geysers. The biggest geysers of Haukadalur are Strokkur and Geysir itself, which gave the others their name. Strokkur is very dependable and erupts every 5 to 10 minutes, throwing a white column of water up into the air to a height of 20 30m. In the beginning of 18th century Geysir erupted three times each day. Nowadays the bigger Geysir has been quiet for some time. There are also a lot of other little hot spring nearby.
How do they work?
The Great Geysir erupts very irregularly and today it has almost completely stopped erupting unless it is treated with soap. In 1984 a young pharmacist put 10 pounds of soap in Geysir in order to trigger eruption – to rousing Geysir from its slumber. The Natural way for an eruption to occur is as follows. 3 basic things are needed – plumbing system, hot water and chamber where underground water can be accumulated. It works like steam pot in the kitchen. The boiling starts in the bowl where water can reach temperatures more than 120 °C as deeper in the earth– the hotter the temperature. Then, under the pressure of creating steam, water is pushing via the plumbing system up. When the water and steam will find an open pipe it will surface in the shape of a column. When most of the water is gone, the pipe will starts fill again and a new cycle begins.
Geysers are individual and erupt differently from place to place. The reason for eruptions are still a matter of controversy.
Blesi – is not geyser now but previously did erupt up to 1m height. Small blue lake located up to the Strokkur. The bluish colour is due to silica colloidal solution that scatters light. Blesi is a common Icelandic name for a horse with a light-coloured patch on the forehead. The hot spring is divided into two halves, one is clean and second one blue-green. The dividing bar between two halves is “the blaze” = Blesi.
3. Gullfos
Gullfoss (Gull – gold, foss – waterfall ) is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country. It is the flow of the wide Hvita river rushes southward. The average amount of water running over this waterfall is 140 m³/s in the summertime and 80 m³/s in the wintertime. On a sunny day, rainbows form in the mist clouds from the hammering falls which makes Gullfoss a very special place to see. – During the first half of 20th century, there was an interest to use Hvíta river for generating electricity, which would have changed the waterfall forever. The investor attempts were unsuccessful, partly due to a lack of money.
The Gullfoss features in the music video for the single “Heaven” by the band Live. During the video a young man and a young woman separated by the Hvítá river exchange written messages carried on rocks that they throw to each other over the river and the falls. At the end of the music video, the young man attempts to swim across the Hvítá River downstream from the Gulfoss. His young lady friend is so horrified by seeing him being washed down the Hvítá River that she also jumps into the river in order to help him. They then float down the river holding onto each other.
From the surrounding of a waterfall is possible to see glaciers Langjokull and Hofsjokull.
Price of the excursion:
For this excursion, we ask an extra fee of 60 euro. This is to pay for the fuel, driver, parking, etc.
Nice to know:
Iceland is a place where the weather can change every 5 minutes.
- Hiking boots are recommended because the weather can change very fast its possible it’s muddy in some places.
- Bring a raincoat it can be windy and cold at the waterfall.
- In case of heavy rain or strong wind, the places of interest can be reduced. (The decision is up to the driver’s responsibility.)