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By Monika

Diamond Circle in Northern Iceland – a Perfect Day Trip Itinerary.

Diamond Circle is an incredibly scenic sightseeing loop in Northern Iceland, connecting 4 unique destinations:

• Goðafoss waterfall
• Dettifoss waterfall
• Ásbyrgi Canyon
• Húsavík (a fishing village)

Similar to the Golden Circle in South Iceland, you can visit all the attractions of the Diamond Circle during a day trip, especially if you take advantage of the extra-long Icelandic summer days.

This guide will give you all the information you need to plan a perfect itinerary for this epic route!

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How to visit Diamond Circle?

The route is about 250 km (155 miles) long and you can either self-drive or join a tour to explore its top highlights.

By car

That is, in my opinion, the best way to explore this fabulous route. It gives you the flexibility to spend as much time as you want in each spot and also to explore some extra locations that tour buses may not take you to (more on that later in this post).

Do you need a 4×4 vehicle? 

You do not, unless you’re planning to visit the east side of Dettifoss (details in the next section), where you need to tackle the rough unpaved rt. 864.

The rest of the loop is located along paved roads (rt. 1, rt. 862 and rt. 85) 

Helpful hint: the fastest way to reach the Diamond Circle attractions from Akureyri is through the Vaðlaheiði Tunnel. It’s 7.5 km (4.7 miles) long and as far as I am aware, it is the only PAID tunnel in Iceland. The cost per car is 1990 ISK one way and you can easily pay it online.

You can also bypass the tunnel by taking additional 10 minutes to drive through the scenic Víkurskarð Mountain Passage (Víkurskarðsvegur – marked in blue on the map below). It should only be attempted in the summer months, in good weather and you should always check road conditions before you travel. 

For driving directions without the tunnel, check the box to “avoid tolls” in the route options.

With a tour

The closest major town to the Diamond Circle, located on the Ring Road, is Akureyri, and that’s where most tours depart from.

Here is a couple of tour options for visiting Iceland’s Diamond Circle:

• From Akureyri: Diamond Circle Guided Day Trip with Lunch – this tour covers top Diamond Circle destinations, and a packed lunch is included.
• Diamond Circle Day Tour from Akureyri – this tour will also take you to GeoSea, a beutiful geathermal spa in Húsavík (read more later in the post)
• North Iceland Waterfalls and Nature Baths Small Group Tour – this small group tour combines all the main attractions of the Diamond Circle with other highlights of the Lake Myvatn area.

Which direction should you travel the Diamond Circle? Clockwise or counterclockwise?

It all depends on where you’re arriving from. We were based in Akureyri, which is one of the most convenient starting points for this destination, therefore it made sense for us to travel the loop counterclockwise, starting with Goðafoss.

If you’re driving the Ring Road counterclockwise, arriving from Egilsstaðir, it probably makes sense to travel the Diamond Circle route clockwise, with Dettifoss as your first stop.

Best time of the year to visit the Diamond Circle

Most Diamond Circle attractions are located along the paved roads and are accessible year-round, as these roads are usually well maintained.

However, North Iceland does get a lot of snow, sometimes as late as May or a random snowfall in June, so you should always check the weather forecast and road conditions before you travel.

More remote sites, to which you have to drive on unpaved gravel roads, like the Dettifoss East parking lot, are typically closed in the winter months.

Our experience traveling the Diamond Circle:

Goðafoss waterfall

As I mentioned earlier the first stop for us was Goðafoss.

Goðafoss, also called a “Waterfall of the Gods”, is located only about 35 km from the town of Akureyri.

It’s a stunning waterfall nestled inside a horseshoe-shaped canyon, sitting among the Bárðardalur lava fields. 

Even though at 11 meters (40 ft) tall and just over 100 meters (370 ft) wide, it’s not as big as some of the other waterfalls in Iceland, it is gorgeous and absolutely worth a stop. 

It took us about 35 minutes to get there.

There are two parking lots at Goðafoss: east and west, situated on either side of a pedestrian bridge.

Arriving from Akureyri you’ll get to the west side first.

Park your car and follow the path along the river, to the waterfall viewpoint.

This side offers some amazing views of Goðafoss and the surrounding area from the top of the path.

When you’re ready to switch sides, you can either drive to the east parking lot (it’s about a 2-minute drive) or leave your car in the west lot and simply cross the pedestrian bridge.

On the east side you have a path to go down towards the base of the canyon and an opportunity to admire this beautiful waterfall from up close.

Across the street you have a café, restrooms and a gift shop. 

How much time do you need at Goðafoss?

I’d say 1 -1.5 hours is a safe estimate. That gives you enough time to visit both sides of the waterfall, take plenty of photos and even stop by the gift shop.

Dettifoss waterfall

Our second stop on the Diamond Circle route was Dettifoss waterfall.

You may think “another waterfall ????” Is it worth it? Yes! Do not skip Dettifoss!

Detifoss is the most powerful waterfall in Iceland and the second most powerfull waterfall in Europe.

Like Goðafoss, it’s shaped like a wide horseshoe and even though it’s not as tall as some of the other well-known waterfalls in Iceland (about 44m), it’s famous for dropping massive amounts of water per second (about 190 liters, which is just over 50 gallons) down its sheer cliffs.

And just like Goðafoss, Detifoss also has two parking lots – east (for the more rugged side) and west (the main lot).

Dettifoss west

It takes about 100 km (1 hour 20 minute) drive from Goðafoss to the Dettifoss West parking lot. That’s the main official parking lot for this waterfall, located along the fully paved, easily accessible rt. 862.

Be prepared – this parking lot is huge but can get super busy! We had a hard time finding a spot, but after a few minutes we found one. Please don’t let that discourage you from visiting this impressive waterfall. And this lot has restrooms!

Note: About halfway through the drive, you’ll see a turn for Mývatn Nature Baths, and you’ll pass by Hverir Geothermal Area (you’ll see the steam from the distance). We didn’t stop there as we knew it was part of our plan for the next day of our road trip but it’s there if you want to stop. I personally would advise against it, since just driving the full Diamond Circle route can be a lot for a single day. It’s best to schedule a whole another day for visiting Lake Mývatn attractions. 

It’s a 1 km walk from the parking lot to the waterfall.

The path is rocky and gets wet as you get closer to the water.

As I mentioned earlier, Dettifoss very powerful and the huge amount of water crushing rapidly into the canyon creates a ton of mist, visible over the falls from quite a distance. It will also get you wet, so be prepared with some serious rain gear when visiting this spectacular natural wonder. 

You can walk the path along the canyon edge to get different views of the waterfall, eventually reaching an observation deck.

From that viewing platform you can see the horseshoe of Dettifoss and also the rocky east side of the waterfall (more about the east side below)

Dettifoss is also known for double rainbows forming in the plume on sunny days. Our day was sadly not sunny at all, so no rainbows, but the whole experience was amazing anyway. 

Sample the power of Dettifoss here:

After you’ve had your fill of the views you can retrace your steps back towards the parking lot. As you walk, you’ll see a sign on the left for another waterfall, Selfoss, visible in the distance from the path.

It’s about a 15-minute walk one way to reach it.

Full disclosure – we didn’t do it and I have to say, in hindsight, I regret it. I just wasn’t sure that we had enough time to do it all as we had a packed schedule. We also didn’t start our day as early as we shouldn’t due to some travel complications. So my advice? Start early and do take a walk to Selfoss! We just peeked at it…

Dettifoss east

From the west side path, you can see people walking on the rocks on the east side of Dettifoss, scary close to the top of the waterfall.

This side of Dettifoss was made famous in the opening scene of the movie “Prometheus” so it became more popular in recent years.  It looks like it should be so close! Well, it is not… There is no shortcut or bridge connecting the two sides.

You have to make a loop either north or south of the west side and drive for about an hour to reach the east side. That’s also the part of Diamond Circle where you need a 4×4 vehicle to drive on the gravel road and get there safely. Which route you choose will depend on road conditions and your plan for the rest of the day on the Diamond Circle.

Note: If you choose the northern loop you’ll pass by the third Diamond Circle attraction, Ásbyrgi Canyon Visitor Center, Gljúfrastofa, at about a halfway point on the map above. You can stop there on your way to the east side or get to it later.

We did not get to the east side of Dettifoss for the same reasons we didn’t do the quick Selfoss hike. Again, I regret that we didn’t and of course, it will be added as a must-do list for our next visit to Iceland!

How much time do you need at Dettifoss?

About 3-4 hours should be enough if you’re planning to visit both sides of Dettifoss and take the hike to Selfoss waterfall. About 2-3 hours if you’re sticking to the West side only. 

Ásbyrgi Canyon

Ásbyrgi Canyon is a massive lush green horseshoe-shaped canyon, also known as the “Shelter of Gods”.  It’s 3.5 km long from north to south and about 1 km wide. The cliffs are about 100m deep. 

You should start your visit to Ásbyrgi at the Gljúfrastofa Visitor Center where you can get a map and information about the walking trails and trail conditions.

Popular hiking trails at Ásbyrgi Canyon

Botnstjörn Pond

This is probably the easiest trail to complete. To get to the pond you just continue driving on rt. 861, the entire 3.5 km length of the canyon till you reach a small parking lot.  The drive takes less than 10 minutes. From there it’s an easy walk to the Botnstjörn Pond, with a viewing platform.

Eyjan Trail:

To reach the trailhead you just drive .5 km to the Ásbyrgi Campsite parking lot and follow the sign for Eyjan trail.

It’s a relatively easy hike along the upper edge of the canyon. You have to climb some wooden steps to get to the path along the canyon edge but the trail itself is pretty flat and easy.  If you go all the way to the edge of the cliff you get a nice view of the canyon.

There are other longer trails available for avid hikers (each 7-9 km long), marked as challenging on the maps, like Klappir and Áshöfdi Circle. I won’t go into details here as I have no experience with these trails and also, they would not fit into the Diamond Circle in a day plan.

What we did in Asbyrgi Canyon

We opted for the Eyjan tail first, since I read that it’s really pretty, and then we planned to possibly drive to the Botnstjörn Pond afterwards.

The beginning of the hike was very nice, along the canyon wall, and the stairs were fun to climb.

BUT – once we started on the path at the top of the canyon, I have to say it was a bit underwhelming. I guess I expected more of a spectacular dramatic view and instead – for us – it was just nice. 

Once we got back to the car, we were tired and hungry, so we decided to skip the drive to the pond. By then we didn’t expect too much from it since the Eyjan hike was a bit of a disappointment for us. 

Should we have driven to the Botnstjörn Pond? Yes! I researched it more when we got back from our trip, and – as you saw in the photo earlier – it actually looks like a really beautiful spot …

So is visiting Ásbyrgi Canyon worth it? I still say yes, even though for us it wasn’t as impressive as just about anything else we’ve seen in Iceland. I am glad we visited, but here is my advice if you’re short on time:

Use your time to take the short hike to Selfoss from Dettifoss, take a drive to the east side of Dettifoss if you have a 4×4 car, and in Ásbyrgi , just drive to the Botnstjörn Pond. If you have to skip something I’d probably choose the Eyjan hike. You can also start the hike and sample the views to decide if you’d like to complete the trail or maybe just do a portion of it. 

Húsavík

The last stop on the Diamond Circle route is Húsavík. 

Húsavík is an adorable fishing village, known primarily for the whale watching tours it offers. It is even called “Iceland’s Whale Watching Capital”.

It was a perfect place to stop for us on the way back to Akureyri after visiting all the other Diamond Circle attractions. It was about a 50-minute drive from Ásbyrgi.

We had some really delicious fish’n’chips from a small take-out window by the water called exactly that, “Fish and Chips”! The freshest we’ve ever had!

We walked around the town and the harbor, which offers spectacular views of the fjord.

We even managed to hit a gift shop just before it closed, but the main draw for us was… the Eurovision Exhibition at the Húsavík Cape Hotel! You see, we are diehard Eurovision Song Contest fans and saw the “Eurovision Song Contest – The Story of Fire Saga” movie a few times.

So going into the “Jaja Ding Dong Bar” and watching all the Eurovision memorabilia inside was a real treat! My kids waited for this all day! 

For my fellow Eurovision fanatics – here is the link to the official exhibition website. 😊

Check out the adorable elf houses on the lawn next to the Jaja Ding Dong bar!

Make sure to stop by the pretty wooden church that also appears in the movie.

If you have the time, take advantage of the GeoSea Geothermal Sea Baths – a fairly new geothermal spa, with hot pools looking right into the ocean.

Definitely a unique experience and we loved it. We were there at the end of the day and the sunset was spectacular!

We didn’t go on a whale watching tour this time, but here are tours we will definitely consider for next time:

• Húsavík: Whale Watching Tour with Guide
• From Húsavík: Traditional Whale Watching Tour
• Húsavík: Responsible Whale Watching Tour

With Husavik being so close to the arctic circle, you have a good chance of spotting different species of whale on your tour.

All of the above tours are on a traditional oak boat – and bonus! The boarding pass from the tour gives you discounts to other local attractions, like the Whale Museum, GeoSea and local restaurants.

As you can see, driving the entire Diamond Circle route makes for a very long day but it’s filled with so many amazing natural wonders that it’s definitely worth incorporating into your trip plan.

Diamond Circle and the Lake Mývatn area are in my opinion the absolute highlights of North Iceland.  

Where to stay on the Diamond Circle?

For us Akureyri was a perfect starting point to explore Northern Iceland (we stayed in Saga Apartments – wonderful!), but there are other towns nearby that are also very convenient for visiting this region, like Laugar, Húsavík or Mývatn.

For a unique overnight stay nearby check out Möðrudalur – the highest inhabited farm in Iceland and a truly magical place!

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