Geysir

Geysir gave English the word geyser, from the Icelandic verb geysa, "to go quickly forward". It is also the one thing in the valley that hardly ever performs. Eruptions at Geysir are infrequent now, and in the past they have stopped altogether for years at a time. The geyser in most of the photographs is Strokkur, about 50 metres to the south, which throws water up to 35 metres every few minutes. Around thirty smaller geysers and hot pools lie in the same field, including Litli Geysir, and thermal mapping has counted 364 separate hot areas. The whole place smells of sulphur.

• Geysir itself rarely erupts. Its eruptions have stopped for years at a time. Strokkur, 50 metres south, is the one that goes off every few minutes.
• The water is at boiling point. Geysir's conduit runs at 85–95 °C near the top and about 120 °C deeper down. Stay on the walkways.
• The field smells of sulphur. The smell comes from the geothermal water and is part of the visit.
• There is a large car park, a coffee house, a restaurant and a souvenir shop.
• A footpath climbs the hill above the field to a view over the valley.

Geysir lies in the Haukadalur valley in South Iceland, on the Golden Circle route with Þingvellir and Gullfoss, and most people arrive by car or on a coach tour. There is a large car park at the site. From there, walkways run out into the geothermal field; Strokkur is about 50 metres south of the Geysir vent, so both are reached on the same circuit. A footpath climbs the hill above the field to a view over the valley.

Better: a summer evening. Setting out around 20:00 leaves the field almost empty, and in Icelandic summer there is still full daylight.

Avoid: building the visit around Geysir itself. It erupts rarely, and time spent waiting for it is time not spent on Strokkur, which goes off every few minutes.

Geysir is a fixed stop on the Golden Circle and coach groups call here, so the walkways are busiest when the tours are running.