How crowded are Iceland's main sites during summer?
score:7
(Note to readers: some of the following answer is based on my personal experience in July 2018, things may have changed over time.)
How many tourists are there?
According to this report from Icelandic Tourist Board (page 11), there are roughly 200k-250k visits to Iceland (more specifically, departures from KEF) in June 2017, where roughly 50-60% of them went to main attractions on the Golden Circle including Geysir/Gullfoss and Þingvellir (based on a 2015 survey, page 18).
The number above translates to 3-5k tourists visiting a main attraction at any given day, assuming a tourist only visits a attraction once and disregarding variations within the month. That can lead to a huge crowd squeezing through narrow footpaths at times.
Are there any way to avoid the crowd?
The good news is, the crowding is heavily time-dependent. The peak hours for these attractions is roughly between 10am-6pm from my observations, which coincides with the time a local tour / guided tour is active covering various attractions on the Golden Circle. If you can avoid these hours, the attractions can feel pretty natural (read: empty). To give you an idea, I arrived at Gullfoss at nearly 11am, and there were 100 people max. around there. Two hours later the number shoots up to nearly a thousand.
The crowding is also location-dependent. The length of the Golden Circle is around 300km. If we spread the 5k tourists of the day evenly along the route, you will probably see a minibus-worth of people every kilometre. Given the majority of the tourists will only visit the handful of main attractions, this means the rest of the Golden Circle is pretty empty. Focusing your visit on minor attractions (or visiting them during peak hours and do the main ones at off-peak) will also make your visit more pleasant.
Given you are heading to Iceland in mid-June, where the sun rises at ~2:45am and sets at around midnight (but the sky does not go dark), and sleeping in a tent at camp sites, it should be easy to beat the crowd if you have a car (you didn't mention if you are renting one) and wanted to do so.
Upvote:3
As of June 2019, the answer is that you can completely avoid overcrowding by simply arriving to all the tourist sights after 5PM. In June and July the sky is always bright so there's no reason why you couldn't enjoy the beauty of Gullfoss at 11pm and then watch the Geiser explode at 1am.
I've started my days at 4pm while I was in Iceland so unfortunately I can't comment on how busy things get during business hours.
More post
- 📝 Flights Arriving TO (not From!) an Airport
- 📝 Is free wifi easy to find in the centre of Brisbane?
- 📝 How are business travel expenses usually reported when using the Dutch public transport system?
- 📝 A German visiting Mexico from the US
- 📝 Cancelling a Prepaid Contract (US) from Germany
- 📝 How to get from Istanbul Ataturk Airport to Yenikapi Ferry Terminal by public transport?
- 📝 Travelling to UK for tourism purpose with family
- 📝 Can I book an international flight with my national ID number?
- 📝 Why do only some long-distance trains in the UK serve refreshments on-board?
- 📝 Australian with P2 license hiring car in Spain
- 📝 How to apply for an Irish visa if we don't have a copy of previous visa refusal letter?
- 📝 Self-transfer at Amsterdam Schiphol airport with checked baggage
- 📝 Travelling to China, wondering what diseases/infections they are screening for?
- 📝 Do you tip airport wheelchair assistants at US airports
- 📝 American renting a car in Europe - what's different compared to domestic rentals?
- 📝 How reliable is Denmark's post restante service? How much does it cost?
- 📝 Traveling with visa in my old passport
- 📝 Do you need to have credit card when checking-in in hotel
- 📝 RoC travel authorisation certificate
- 📝 Iquitos or Puerto Maldonado, for jungle adventures in Peru?
- 📝 What if one family member doesn't have a photo ID for domestic air travel in India?
- 📝 Connection from Mexico through Dallas onto Canada
- 📝 Duration outside the UK
- 📝 Can I apply for schengen visa from a country other than my country of residence.?
- 📝 Apply UK VIsa without passport details
- 📝 Public Transportation, cheapest route from Newburgh, to Potsdam, NY?
- 📝 Immigration clearance in Canada
- 📝 Can airlines deny boarding for passengers who are visibly very sick or have disturbing body odour? Like they do with very overweight passengers?
- 📝 Can I board an Alaskan cruise?
- 📝 Does the route NRT - SIN fly through the East China Sea ADIZ China declared by China in November of 2013?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How crowded are Iceland's main sites during summer?
- 📝 Are many sites closed during New Years Day in Milan?
- 📝 How can I rent a mobile WiFi hotspot during my five-week trip to the UK?
- 📝 How significant are advance purchase discounts on Dutch and Belgian railways?
- 📝 How to get to Tokyo downtown from Narita airport, with a bag, during rush hours?
- 📝 How can I determine if it is possible to check luggage during a layover?
- 📝 How are Scottish hiking trails marked?
- 📝 How late are restaurants open until in Italy? (Bologna specifically)
- 📝 How many people are refused entry by the CBP?
- 📝 Are most places open in Barcelona during Día de la Hispanidad?
- 📝 How to enter the UK during a layover as a Filipino citizen?
- 📝 How do I find out if cars are allowed to drive on a particular off-road track in the UK?
- 📝 Are there any museums or sites in Ireland honouring Lord Kelvin (William Thomson)?
- 📝 How common are campground bans on single travellers?
- 📝 How can I show that I have enough funds to support myself during my stay?
- 📝 How do I find if a specific train (RE60) carries bicycles during morning rush hour?
- 📝 How reliable are hotels' information on their websites?
- 📝 How can I check if tour services are reliable?
- 📝 How close to the animals are the walking trails at San Diego Zoo Safari Park?
- 📝 I am planning on a sight seeing trip in China during this summer, How can I keep my passport, wallet, and phone safe without overheating?
- 📝 I am flying overseas and returning with my fiancee. How do I coordinate the flights so that we are together on the return leg?
- 📝 During a SNCF strike, how can I check what trains will run without going to the station?
- 📝 How are different ethnicities discriminated against in Japan?
- 📝 How to get to Debre Libanos in Ethiopia? What are the possible dangers?
- 📝 How safe are Patzcuaro and Paracho in Michoacan, Mexico?
- 📝 How do I make a transfer in Dublin airport if my two flights are on separate tickets?
- 📝 How big are the luggage lockers at Oslo's central railway station?
- 📝 How free nights are redeemed at hotels.com?
- 📝 How to visit Edinburgh during a layover at Edinburgh Airport?
- 📝 Are unofficial sites outranking official websites in English a common problem in China?