Þingvellir is a stunning national park in Southwest Iceland, about 45 minutes from Reykjavik, that sits in a rift valley caused by the separation of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. Crowds of tourists flock to this attraction every year to walk between the two continents, see the beautiful Öxarárfoss waterfall, go snorkeling at Silfra and hike out to the abandoned farms of Skógarkot.
Note: Always check trail status and weather conditions before visiting
Þingvellir National Park is the closest attraction to Reykjavík along the Golden Circle, so it is naturally a widely popular attraction for anyone who visits Iceland. Due to this, there are tour buses that drop hundreds of tourists off on a daily basis starting in the morning. We would highly recommend getting here between 8-9am if you visit in the morning before the masses descend on the park. You could also save this attraction towards the end of the day when most of the tours have finished.
There is a $9 / 1,000 ISK parking fee and you pay at the visitors center, which is only a few minutes walk from the parking lot. Don’t forget to write down your license plate number before you leave your car, since that is what’s used to pay for parking.
Follow the map found within this post to hike out to Skógarkot and back. The trail is a flat, easy hike that gets you away from the crowds and offers some interesting sights along the way.
NOTE: We wouldn’t recommend hiking any further than Skógarkot since the trails aren’t well maintained – turn around and walk back on the other path that leads more towards Silfra.
Parking: $9 / 1,000 ISK
This is one of, if not the most, popular attraction in Iceland that brings in tour buses full of visitors, so there is plenty of room to park.
For those of you who are interested in taking the hike out to Skógarkot during your visit, we’d recommend taking a look at the map below to follow in our footsteps! Start at the i and WC logos on the bottom left part of the map (which is where the parking lot is located) and follow the red paths north. Then head east on the map where it reads 362 along the red path that has the people and horse logos. Once you reach Skógarkot, take the diagonal brown path back labeled Gönguvegur that leads towards the ⌘ logo to stop at Silfra, and then head back to where you parked.
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