Drive the Golden Circle Yourself, or Take a Tour?

You can drive the Golden Circle yourself. The loop from Reykjavik City Hall to Thingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss and Kerið and back is 241 km by road, and the fees on the way are small: 1,000 ISK to park a car at Thingvellir and 700 ISK a person at Kerið (kerid.is). A tour earns its price in winter, when ice and four hours of daylight decide the day, or when nobody in your party wants to drive. Then BusTravel Iceland’s Reykjavik: Golden Circle Full-Day Tour with Kerid Crater, from US$92 a person (checked November 2026), covers the same stops with a guide.

This site does not sell car hire. The calendar above is the bus day, cancellable free until 24 hours before.

The loop, leg by leg

Distances by road, starting from Reykjavik City Hall:

Leave out Kerið and drive from Gullfoss straight back, and the loop is 234.3 km. These are road distances, not driving times; the weather sets those.

A car lets you add what the buses skip. The Faxi falls are 19.2 km by road from Gullfoss on the way down to Kerið, and the baths at Laugarvatn Fontana are 31.9 km from Hakið, between Thingvellir and Geysir.

What you pay on the way

• Thingvellir parking: 1,000 ISK for a car with five seats or fewer, 1,200 ISK for six to nine seats, 400 ISK for a motorcycle. One payment covers the day in the park’s car parks P1 Hakið, P2 Efri-Vellir and P5 Valhöll, and drivers with a disabled parking permit do not pay (Thingvellir National Park, checked November 2026).
• Kerið: 700 ISK a person, by card or cash at the entrance, with free parking (kerid.is); Arctic Adventures’ page gives 600 ISK with children under 12 free (both checked November 2026). Arctic Adventures also sells the Kerið Volcanic Crater Admission Ticket on GetYourGuide, from US$5 (checked November 2026).
• Gullfoss: free, at any hour (gullfoss.is, checked November 2026).
• A swim, if you stop: the Secret Lagoon is 4,500 ISK for an adult and Fontana 7,490 ISK (the lagoons’ own prices, checked November 2026).

In September 2026 the government put out for consultation a draft law that would charge adults without tax residence in Iceland ISK 4,500 for a one-year certificate covering Geysir, Gullfoss and Thingvellir; it is a draft, not law (Government of Iceland, 22 September 2026, checked November 2026).

Roads and light

The Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration sends drivers to umferdin.is for road closures and weather alerts, and to its traffic service on 1777; it warns that roads have been known to close without warning when severe storms hit (checked November 2026). Check the day’s conditions before you set out, and again before the drive home.

Daylight is the other limit. On 15 December the sun is up in Reykjavik from 11:16 to 15:29, and on 1 February from 10:08 to 17:14 (computed for Reykjavik). In midwinter, a self-drive loop means some of the 241 km in the dark. The Golden Circle in winter has the table by month.

What a tour changes

A car gives you your own timings and the stops the buses skip. A tour takes away the driving, the parking and the road checks, and adds a guide. On BusTravel Iceland’s day the times are set for you, 45 minutes at Gullfoss, 80 at Geysir with the lunch stop and 45 at Thingvellir, and you are back in Reykjavik without having looked at a road map.

For a summer visit with a confident driver, the car is the freer day. From November to March, or if you have never driven on ice, the tour is the easier one, and that is when to book it.

Check dates for the bus day