The Golden Circle highlights

The Golden Circle of Iceland is a famous 190-mile looped tourist route from Reykjavik that is often done as a day trip. There are three primary must-see stops, and we visit two this afternoon and one tomorrow morning on our route to Skaftafell.

The first is Thingvellir National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as it was the birthplace of the Icelandic Parliament in 930 AD, when 30 clan leaders came together to create a unified nation after years of fighting. It is also of geological interest because the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet here, with a portion of Iceland on each,meaning that you can cross between two continents here. We have a lovely walk between our pick-up points via the Oxarafoss Waterfall.

We stop off at the Solheimer Eco-village for coffee en route to the Geysir Geothermal Area, the second must-see stop. Located in the Haikadalud Valley, this area features bubbling mud pools and the Strokkur Geyser (known as "the butter churn"), which erupts every 5-10 minutes throwing boiling water up to 130 ft in the air.

We then drive to the Gullfoss Hotel ready for the third must-see stop of the Golden Circle; the Gullfoss Falls. This is fed by the Havita glacial river and is a spectacular two-tiered waterfall that drops 32 m (105 ft) into a rugged canyon. The name translates to "Golden Falls," giving the Golden Circle its name. We see the sculpture of "Sigridur of Brattholt", a farmer's daughter whose activism helped preserve the Gullfoss Falls, preventing them from being industrialised.

We set off for Skaftafell via Highway 1, the ring road around Iceland.Read more