Small Group: Golden Circle Tour from Reykjavik Cruise Terminals

This was good tour for first time visitors. It was rainy, but it did not take away from the beautiful sights.

Amazing tour,great guide. Small group mini bus very personal Service and friendly, the places visited were spectacular.

This was the second golden circle tour I’ve taken. The itinerary is great – – enjoyed all the sites we visited. But this was not a guided tour – – and that was disappointing. It was basically a driver taking us from place to place. He spoke very little – – didn’t really tell us much other than where we were going and what time to get back. And his directions were not clear – – we totally misunderstood where we were supposed to meet the group at the first stop. He did occasionally point things out or give us a little bit of additional information— but very little about Iceland or its history, and only basic information about the places we were visiting. He mainly just drove the bus. Also, he was from Italy, and it was very hard to understand him over the mic in the minibus. So while we enjoyed the tour itinerary, we were disappointed in the fact that we had expected a fully guided tour, and it was mainly transportation with some general information provided. Also – – we felt we were really rushed in the last stop at the Gullfoss waterfall. And when we got back to the bus, he said we were headed straight back to town and that it would take 1.5 hours – – which means we would get back a half an hour early – 6 hours instead of 6.5 hours. So we could’ve easily had more time at the waterfall. When I pointed this out to him after we were on the bus, he did make an extra stop to see some Icelandic horses to take up some of the time before we got back. But we would’ve much rather had that half an hour at the waterfall so we didn’t have to rush to get back to the bus (we walked down to the lower viewing area, and it took some time). All of that depends on the driver/guide of course– – someone else’s experience with a different driver/guide would probably not be the same..

This is an EXCELLENT tour. We departed from the cruise port (slight confusion as there were several vendors in the same area and our tour had 3 buses). Our driver/tour guide (Trond - sorry if I misspelled his name) was so good. The itinerary starts out with Thingvellir National Park, followed by a short walk (by Iceland standards) to Öxarárfoss, then onto Geysir, and finally a visit to Gullfoss falls. If you follow this order as most excursions will do then everyone ends up at the same places with massive crowds. However, we had the best driver (he will get the reference) as Trond asked us if we minded if he changed the order to start with Geysir, then Gullfoss Falls to miss the crowds. We agreed with that plan and he did not disappoint us. We were on of 3 buses at each area with only a handful of cars in the parking lots. No need to fight people for great pictures or to watch the Geysirs erupt. I hate crowds so this was heaven to me. When we worked our way back to the National Park we say the huge crowds. We were never rushed at any stop (plenty of time built in). Along the way we learned more about Iceland and Icelanders. While the weather was slightly overcast and occasional showers it did not dampen the excursion (no pun intended). Trond even arranged to meet us at the end of a path rather than making us backtrack to the beginning of each stop which I thought was genius. Anyone who could not hike or walk long distances was able to ride to the other end of the paths/trails so they were able to enjoy much more of the sights than they would have otherwise seen. Great value for our money and the 6 hours went by fast. And for those wondering, there were restrooms at every stop (free at all). Very clean and well maintained. If you bring a water bottle (I highly recommend) you can fill them at many water stations at almost every stop (no charge). Thank you, Nordur Travel for a great ending to our 17 days in Iceland. We will be back. A beautiful country, clean and well maintained.

We did not have a tour guide It was basically the driver, reading a script trying to talk on microphone and drive all at the same time. There were times we felt un safe. One of our fellow passengers decided to sit up front to help out so he could focus on driving. Not good And no commentary the whole trip back

We were able to see the highlights during our cruise port allotted time. Our guide was very passionate and local. We probably wouldn’t have been able to see these amazing areas any other way.

Driver and guide did a very good job of keeping us on track. However, the van’s microphone system was not functioning properly so we missed out on much of what was said. The company needs to leave vans with issues in the garage until fixed. That said, enjoyed all the stops. Great job by our tour guide and driver.

Come prepared for cold and wet weather and bring an umbrella if possible. I had rain gear, but not enough. It was cold and wet. The guide we had needed to be clearer on instructions about when and where to meet and more informative of the sites ... especially the Tectonic plates site. I had no idea what we were there to see until I went into the visitor center to ask.

We did not have a guided tour as promised. The supposed guide was actually just a driver who was told by the tour company to fill in for the guide who didn’t show. The driver was given a script to read with about 1 paragraph per sight. He read as he drove and it was very difficult to understand what he was saying. He kept swerving over the road as he tried to read and drive at the same time. The group was very nervous and one member took the papers and microphone from him and read the script to the group. I sat behind the driver and saw him reading his messages as he was driving. Every member of the group expressed concern about the dangerous driving and disappointment about not getting a real tour. Simply not up to Viator standards.

The tour was fine once we got underway. The guide was not there when we were supposed to meet so passengers were all panicked that we were in the wrong place. Once we got the bus figured out, and were underway, we realized we could not hear the guide on the microphone , and when we could the guides accent was heavy enough that it took a little of work to understand him. It was a rare warm and sunny day, but there was no air in the bus and we got hot and sleepy. Driver cracked the roof window open, but it wasn’t enough. If the blower worked just to circulate air it would have been better. The areas were beautiful, the tour was long but covered a lot of ground. I think if this hadnt been the 3rd day in a row with long touring days it would have been different. All in all the Golden Circle is worth seeing, the tour itinerary was typical.