"Geysir and Surroundings" a Geysir Travel Page by travelfrosch

Our first stop in Iceland was the area around Geysir, the original geothermal fountain which gave its name to other phenomena of its kind around the world. Records appear to indicate this area became active after an earthquake sometime in the 13th Century. The largest pool, the Great Geysir, used to provide stunning performances with gushes of water up to 90 meters (300 feet) in the air. Nowadays, it's become much less active, and visitors must usually content themselves with the smaller pool of Strokkur, which erupts not as spectacularly (sometimes up to 30 meters or 100 feet), but very frequently -- every few minutes, in fact.

While you can give this area a quick visit on one of those "Golden Circle" day tours from Reykjavík, there are a number of activities you won't be able to do if you take this option. One of the most enjoyable ones was to hike up the Bjarnarfell and take in a panorama of the region.

Another fine activity if you have extra time is to walk down the gravel path to Haukadalur, or Hawk Valley. You'll see quite a few birds, as well as an interesting forest (!) and a wooden church in a very scenic location.