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 The
Golden Waterfalls in the glacial river Hvita count among the world’s
most beautiful waterfalls. One of the many stories connected with the
falls tells about the fight early in the 20th century for their
existence, when a foreign enterprise managed to
contracted the rights to harness them for electrical production. The
spouting hot spring Geysir was claimed to be
the biggest one in the world. Its fame spread and other spouting hot
springs elsewhere were
consequently named Geysir or geyser. The old Geysir has been in
retirement for decades, but when it was active its eruptions reached
the height of at least 80 m. All around the old Geysir are more
spouting hot springs, such as the ever lively Strokkur (the
butter Churn),
which erupts every 3-5 minutes. Just east of
the Geysir Area is one of the many centres of the Forestry
Service and its forest, which has been expanding for decades.
A Norwegian started the planting and left a considerable fund for the
Icelanders to continue his admirable pioneering work. A
very nice hotel and restaurant are in the Geysir Area and an outdoor
swimming pool.
Many travel agencies and bus companies offer daily tours to the Golden
Waterfalls and the Geysir Area.
The distance from the capital is about 117 km.
Reykholt
24 km <Gullfoss>
Laugarvatn 38 km,
Selfoss via
Skeid 71 km.
Hvitarnes
on the Kjolur
road, 45 km.
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