Þingvellir

Þingvellir is the first stop on the Golden Circle and the one closest to Reykjavík, about 45 minutes on route 36. On a route plan it is where you decide the direction of the loop: Þingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss and back by Selfoss is the usual clockwise day, and doing it in that order means arriving here early, before the coaches.

How long: an hour walks you from the Hakið car park down the Almannagjá rift to the law rock and Öxarárfoss and back up; three hours adds the lake shore and the church. Quietest before 09:30 and after 17:00; the Silfra snorkelling groups use P5 all day.

The practical line, from the park's parking page today: the fee "authorizes parking for the day-of-payment in all parking lots within Þingvellir National Park (P1, P2 and P5)" and is 1,000 ISK for a car up to five seats, 1,200 for six to nine, 400 for a motorcycle. Hakið reads number plates by camera; pay at the machines at the visitor centre, the toilet building beside it, P2 and P5, or online via Checkit.is. Disabled-permit holders are exempt but must unregister the plate at the visitor centre. Toilets at the visitor centre and P5; a café at Hakið. No fuel in the park; the nearest is at Laugarvatn eastbound or back towards the city.

Safety: the rift paths are fenced where they are undercut and the rock is loose; keep to the gravel. In winter the Mosfellsheiði road from Reykjavík is the first part of the Circle to drift; check umferdin.is. Phone signal is good.