The Golden Circle

If you look up top attractions in Iceland, the Golden Circle -- a route of some of the country's most beautiful natural wonders -- is bound to be among the favourites listed. Tours from Reykjavik are plenty, but we decided to drive it ourselves, and I felt grateful for that decision the whole day.

First off, we got a much-needed sleep in after the red-eye flight the previous night. After a leisurely breakfast with our Airbnb host, we headed out around 10:45 in the comfort of our rental car, with several hours' worth of music ready to accompany the drive. The landscape along the way was worth admiring in itself, and we stopped several times for pictures.

Þingvellir was the first stop along the way. It was a gorgeous day out -- blue skies, sunny, and not too cold or windy -- and we enjoyed a lovely walk around the main trails of the national park. Alþing, the site of Iceland's parliament pre 1700s, was especially interesting, and the half-frozen terrain was unlike anything I'd seen before.

Not far away came the second stop: the Geysir Geothermal Area, Haukadalur, home to dozens of hot springs, mud pots, and geysers.

We stopped to wait for Strokkur, one of the biggest geysers in the area, to erupt, which it does every 5-10 minutes. It was my first time seeing this amazing phenomenon and was as dramatic as imagined (though unfortunately not pictured).

The traditional last stop on the Golden Circle is the Gullfoss waterfall ("golden waterfall"), which we saw half-frozen and crowned with a rainbow. As we were getting peckish, this one was a short stop before heading to find food.

Friðheimar Greenhouse had been recommended to us just that morning by our host, who raved about the tomato soup. It made for a perfect mid-afternoon snack in a greenhouse setting. This site, responsible for 18% of Iceland's tomato production, was a great add-on to the day's tour.

Finally, we decided to make one final stop at Kerið, a 3000-year old volcanic crater lake (entirely frozen over). This stop isn't one of the main three on the Golden Circle route, but it's right on the way and worth a visit, despite the small entrance fee.

Thanks to our late departure, the sun was setting as we began our hour-long drive back into the city, and we were treated to gorgeous views on the road.

The day ended with some highly recommended foods in Reykjavik: liquorice (still not a fan) and hot dogs from Baejarins Beztu Pylsur (delicious and actually inexpensive). I'm still somewhat stunned by how easy this route was to do on our own, at our own pace, and how lucky we were to have the perfect conditions for it.