Caves of Laugarvatn

Most Golden Circle stops are scenery you look at from a car park. This one is a room you stand in. The caves were homes, and the guides spend the visit on what that life involved rather than on dates. Kristofer and Alexander, the brothers who reopened the caves, lead tours themselves, and other guides work alongside them. Part of the visit is tasting fermented shark inside the cave, in the same space where families once lived. In wet weather water seeps through the walls, which makes the conditions here easier to grasp than any display panel would.

• No toilets on site. There are no facilities at the caves — plan a stop before you arrive.
• Visits are guided. A guide shows you the caves; this is not a site you wander through on your own.
• It is damp inside. In wet weather water seeps through the cave walls.
• Children are welcome. The site is set up for families, and the history is talked through rather than read off boards.

Visitors reach the caves by car. They lie near Laugarvatn, on the Golden Circle route, and getting to them is straightforward. There is a car park at the site, and the rest of the way to the entrance is on foot. The caves are a stop rather than a destination — most people take them in alongside the larger sights on the same loop.

Best: wet weather. The visit takes place under rock, so rain does not spoil it. Water seeps through the cave walls, and the conditions the families lived in stop being abstract. On a route where every other stop needs clear skies, this one does not.

Avoid: turning up close to closing time. The caves are seen with a guide, not walked through, so you need someone free to take you round.