Thingvellir Tours: Frequently Asked Questions
What a visit costs when there is no ticket, how long each tour gives you in the park, and what Silfra snorkeling asks of you. The park questions are here too: what the Alþing was, where Lögberg stood, how Almannagjá formed, and why coins lie in Peningagjá. To compare fares instead, start with the guided tours of Thingvellir.
You will also find answers on parking at Hakið, the walk to Öxarárfoss, the Golden Circle coaches, and the trout and charr of Þingvallavatn.
Booking and tours
Do you need a tour to visit Thingvellir?
No. The park has no gate and no admission, it lies about 40 km north-east of Reykjavík on Route 36, and if you drive you pay only for parking: 1,000 ISK for a car for the day. A tour earns its price on transport, a guide and the rest of the Golden Circle in the same day. Silfra is the exception most people book, because the snorkel fares bring the guide, the suit and the equipment.
How long do tours spend at Thingvellir?
Anything from a photo stop to four hours. The classic Golden Circle coaches allow 30 minutes, most minibus days 40 to 45, and the Mercury Grail private day an hour. Oak Travel's private half-day spends two hours in the park and Prime Tours' private day four.
Who can snorkel Silfra, and how cold is the water?
Silfra stays at 2–4 °C all year, so snorkelers wear full cold-water protection: a drysuit over a thermal layer, or a thick wetsuit, which the park allows for snorkeling. The minimum age is 12 on the snorkel tours (14 for the adult fare on the Adventure Vikings trip), with a height minimum of 150 cm on DIVE.IS and 135 cm on Troll. Everyone completes a medical screening form, and the park never lets anyone into the water alone.
Should you book a tour in advance?
For Silfra, yes: snorkel groups run at six per guide, and the Troll snorkel carries a likely-to-sell-out flag. Golden Circle coaches carry far larger groups, up to 100 on the Gray Line classic. Every tour refunds in full up to 24 hours ahead, so booking early costs nothing if your plans change.
Do the tours include hotel pickup?
Most Golden Circle days collect from a Reykjavík hotel or a nearby bus stop, or start at Bus Stop 12, Höfðatorg, or the BSÍ Bus Terminal. The DIVE.IS and Troll snorkels meet at the Silfra car park, so you drive there yourself, while Adventure Vikings collects in Reykjavík. Oak Travel's private half-day meets at Harpa, and Pickmeup starts from any address in the capital area.
Can you cancel a tour and get your money back?
Yes, in full, if you cancel at least 24 hours before the start. That applies to every Golden Circle, Silfra, private and multi-day tour featured, so booking early carries no risk if the weather turns. Check the start time rather than the pickup time when you count the 24 hours.
Which Thingvellir tour should I choose?
Decide first how long you want in the park. A Golden Circle coach gives 30 to 45 minutes alongside Geysir and Gullfoss, a Silfra snorkel is the one activity that happens in the park's water, and the private half-days give two to four hours in Thingvellir itself. Multi-day tours treat the park as a stop of 30 minutes to an hour on a longer route.
Can cruise passengers do a Thingvellir tour?
Yes. The Gray Line classic collects from the Skarfabakki cruise port in summer, Reykjavik Excursions adds a port pickup as a booking option, and Back to Iceland and Mercury Grail collect at the harbour too. These days run six and a half to ten hours, so pick one that returns well before your ship sails.
What language are Thingvellir tours in?
English is the language the guided tours state, on the Golden Circle minibuses and coaches and on the Troll Silfra snorkel. The Gray Line and Reykjavik Excursions coaches add an app-based audio guide in several languages. Headphones for it are not included, so bring your own.
Tickets and costs
Is there a Thingvellir ticket?
No. Thingvellir National Park has no gate and charges no admission, so there is nothing to buy to walk into the rift. The park charges for parking (1,000 ISK for a car for the day), for its Heart of Iceland exhibition (1,200 ISK for adults) and for permits for Silfra, camping and fishing. A Golden Circle fare pays for the transport, the guide and the other stops, not for the park.
What do Thingvellir tours cost?
Guided Golden Circle days that stop at Thingvellir start at $85 per person. Silfra snorkels run from $149 to $219 per person, and the certified-diver trip is $349. Private tours start at $470 per person with a minimum of two, and Oak Travel's half-day is $713 for a group of up to three. Multi-day tours that pass through the park run up to $2,724.
How much does parking cost at the park?
1,000 ISK for a car with up to five seats, 1,200 ISK for six to nine seats and 400 ISK for a motorcycle, paid once for the whole day. One payment covers all three paid car parks: P1 at Hakið, P2 at Efri-Vellir below Öxarárfoss, and P5 at Valhöll, nearest the church and Silfra. Cameras read your number plate, and you pay at the machines by the visitor centre, at P2 or P5, or online at Checkit.is.
How much is the Thingvellir exhibition?
Heart of Iceland, in the visitor centre at Hakið, costs 1,200 ISK for adults and 600 ISK for seniors and students, and it is free for anyone 17 and under and for disabled visitors. Groups of ten or more pay 1,000 ISK each, online or on site. It takes about 40 minutes across around ten interactive stations and won two Red Dot design awards in 2019.
Is the Silfra permit included in a snorkel tour?
On both DIVE.IS fares, yes: the snorkel and the dive each list the Silfra permit as included. The park sells the permits at the Leirar service centre and through its online booking. On any other fare, check the inclusions before you pay.
What does a Golden Circle tour fare pay for?
Transport, a guide and the stops, since Thingvellir itself charges no admission. Some fares add entry elsewhere: the Secret Lagoon day includes the lagoon and the Kerið crater, and the BusTravel Blue Lagoon day includes a Blue Lagoon Comfort ticket. Food is extra on nearly every Golden Circle day, so budget for lunch or bring your own.
How are private Thingvellir tours priced?
In two ways. Oak Travel's half-day ($713) and Pickmeup's Golden Circle ($1,650) are priced per group of up to three. Mercury Grail ($470) and BR Tours ($820) are priced per person with a minimum of two, and Prime Tours' four-hour park day is $477 per person.
Is it cheaper to drive to Thingvellir yourself?
For the park alone, usually: a car pays 1,000 ISK to park for the day and there is no admission. You add the car hire and fuel, and the DIVE.IS and Troll snorkels meet at the Silfra car park, so driving and snorkeling combine well. Guided Golden Circle fares start at $85 per person, which covers transport and a guide for the whole loop.
Visiting practically
How far is Thingvellir from Reykjavík?
About 40 km north-east of the city, on Route 36, Þingvallavegur, which leaves the Ring Road just outside Reykjavík. Golden Circle days take six and a half to eleven hours in all because they add Geysir, Gullfoss and other stops. Oak Travel's private tour fits the round trip and two hours in the park into four hours.
Is the national park open all year?
Yes. The park itself has no gate and is open all year. The visitor centre at Hakið opens 09:00–18:00 from April to October and 09:00–17:00 from November to March, with shorter hours over Christmas. Þingvallakirkja, the church, opens from 1 June to 31 August when a ranger is present, commonly 09:00–10:00 and 13:30–17:00.
When is the best time to visit Thingvellir?
June to August gives the longest days, about 21 hours of daylight at the solstice, the warmest weather and the only months the church opens. Autumn turns the birch, willow and heath, and May and July were the driest months on the park's own weather record. Winter works too, but plan around about four hours of daylight in late December.
Is the park worth visiting in winter?
Yes. The park stays open, the visitor centre keeps 09:00–17:00 hours from November to March, and Silfra's water is 2–4 °C whatever the season. Daylight falls to about four hours around 21 December and December averaged −2.3 °C on the park's 1949–1983 record, so check umferdin.is or phone 1777 before you drive. A coach or minibus tour hands the winter driving to someone else.
Is it a good day out with children?
Yes. The Heart of Iceland exhibition is free for anyone 17 and under, and the trails at the assembly site are well signed. The Golden Circle day with a horse-farm visit lets children feed Icelandic horses, and the private tours and the Gray Line and Reykjavik Excursions coaches have infant seats. Silfra is for older children only, with a minimum age of 12 and a height minimum.
What is the weather like at Thingvellir?
Cool and changeable. On the park's own station record, 1949 to 1983, July averaged 10.5 °C with highs near 14.5 °C, and January −2.6 °C. October was the wettest month at 159 mm, and May and July the driest at 80 mm. Recent decades have run warmer than that record, so check the forecast on the day.
What should you wear at Thingvellir?
Layers and a waterproof shell, whatever the month: even July averaged highs of about 14.5 °C on the park's record, and rain falls in every month. Wear walking shoes for the trails. For Silfra, the snorkel operators provide the drysuit and the thermal undersuit that goes beneath it.
Is it easy to drive to Thingvellir?
Route 36, Þingvallavegur, is a primary road from the Ring Road just outside Reykjavík to the park. Iceland requires headlights on at all times, forbids stopping on or beside the road for photos, and sets 50 km/h on single-lane bridges. Check umferdin.is or phone 1777 each morning, and call 112 in an emergency, with 599-0112 as the backup if 112 will not connect.
Is Thingvellir accessible for wheelchair users?
Disabled visitors enter the exhibition free, and a car with a disabled parking permit parks free once its plate is unregistered at Hakið or by email. On a tour, the Gray Line classic coach and the private tours by Mercury Grail, BR Tours, Oak Travel and Prime Tours are wheelchair accessible.
The park itself
Can you see the tectonic plates?
You can walk through the rift between them. Thingvellir lies in a seven-kilometre-wide valley on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and the Almannagjá gorge runs along one of its two boundary faults. The plates are about 5 km apart, so you do not touch both continents at once, even in Silfra. Silfra sits inside the rift zone, between the North American plate and the Hreppar microplate.
Why is Thingvellir important?
The Alþing, Iceland's general assembly, was established here around 930 and met at Thingvellir every summer until 1798. The land was protected by law in 1928 as the property of the Icelandic nation, became a national park in 1930 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. Lögberg is where Iceland's declaration of independence was signed in 1944.
What is Lögberg, the Law Rock?
The hub of the assembly in the Commonwealth period, 930–1262: anyone attending could speak there, the assembly opened and closed there, and rulings and the calendar were announced from it. Its exact spot is debated, between the ledge at the top of the slope Hallurinn, where the flagpole stands now, and a place inside Almannagjá against the higher wall.
What is Silfra?
A fissure in the northern part of Lake Þingvallavatn, one of about 100 in the rift, at most 10 m wide and reaching 60 m deep. Its water is groundwater from the Langjökull glacier that has spent about 30 years underground, and the name, meaning silver, comes from its clarity. It has existed for more than a thousand years and was not formed in 1789.
What is Almannagjá?
The gorge along one of the two faults that bound the Thingvellir rift valley, the other being Heiðargjá. The visitor centre and viewing platform at Hakið sit at its top, by car park P1, and from there you walk down into the gorge. The Sturlunga saga says the Öxará river was diverted into Almannagjá to give the assembly fresh water.
Why do people throw coins into Peningagjá?
The habit began after Nikulásargjá, the eastern branch of the Flosagjá fissure, was bridged in 1907, and the coins gave it a new name, Peningagjá, the Money Fault. Flosagjá's clear water is up to 25 m deep. The lava spit between the two branches, Spöngin, was once taken for the Law Rock.
How big is Lake Þingvallavatn?
About 84 km², which makes it Iceland's largest natural lake, and its deepest point, at 114 m, lies below sea level. About 90% of its water arrives underground, some of it after 20 to 30 years travelling from the Langjökull glacier. Brown trout, three-spined stickleback and four forms of Arctic charr live in it.
Can you go inside Thingvellir church?
In summer. Þingvallakirkja, built in 1859 with a bell tower added in 1907, opens from 1 June to 31 August when a ranger is present, commonly 09:00–10:00 and 13:30–17:00. In winter it is closed except for services, and a church has stood here since about 1017.
Still deciding? Every fare sits side by side on Thingvellir Tours. The prices and hours are on visiting Thingvellir, the car parks and meeting points on the park map, and the longer pieces in the guides.