Where to Eat on the Golden Circle

Eating on the Golden Circle takes some planning, because the route doesn't work like a normal road trip. There are no convenience stores between the stops and no fallback if you get hungry in the middle. Food is concentrated at the visitor centres and a handful of farm restaurants just off the route — one of which is among the most distinctive places to eat in Iceland.

Friðheimar — The One Worth Planning Around

Where: Route 35 near Reykholt, between Geysir and Þingvellir · Detour: about 5 minutes off the main route · Time: 1–1.5 hours · Cost: roughly 4,000–7,000 ISK per person

Friðheimar is a working tomato greenhouse heated by geothermal energy that doubles as one of Iceland's most unusual restaurants. You eat surrounded by tomato plants growing in volcanic soil, under grow lights, in a warm and slightly surreal green room while the Icelandic weather does whatever it likes outside. The menu is built around the harvest: unlimited tomato soup with fresh-baked bread, pasta dishes, and a Bloody Mary bar that has become a minor institution.

It's also part horse farm. After lunch you can visit the stables and meet the famously friendly Icelandic horses, which makes it an easy win with children.

Other Experiences You Might Enjoy

If the tomato greenhouse sounds like your kind of lunch, a combined Golden Circle tour with a Friðheimar stop covers Þingvellir, Geysir and Gullfoss plus the meal in a single booking from Reykjavik — no reservation scramble required. Other trips pair the loop with the Secret Lagoon or Kerið Crater:

At the Three Main Stops

Gullfosskaffi — Gullfoss

The visitor centre sits beside the upper parking lot and serves hot soups, sandwiches, salads, cakes, traditional Icelandic dishes and coffee. The lamb soup (kjötsúpa) is the standout and the thing to order. There's also a gift shop with Icelandic wool items, crafts and cold-weather essentials like hats and gloves, plus restrooms and an information desk where staff can advise on path closures.

Hours: approximately 9:30 AM to 7:00 PM in summer, shorter in winter. Crucially, hot food service ends roughly an hour before closing, so a late lunch is a gamble worth avoiding.

Geysir Center — Geysir

A food-court–style restaurant serving Icelandic staples: lamb soup, fish stew, sandwiches, pastries and coffee. It's honest tourist-stop food — nothing spectacular, but convenient and reasonably priced by Icelandic standards. The centre also holds restrooms and a large gift shop.

Hotel Geysir Restaurant — Geysir

Directly across the road from the Geysir Center, this is the upscale option: a proper sit-down meal of Icelandic cuisine in a pleasant room. Better food, higher prices, and a good choice if you want the meal to be part of the day rather than a refuelling stop.

Þingvellir

The Hakið visitor centre has a café alongside its restrooms and information desk, but it's the thinnest offering of the three — and most itineraries pass through early, so treat it as a coffee stop rather than lunch.

Worthwhile Detours

Efstidalur Farm

Route 37, near Laugarvatn. A working dairy farm with a restaurant serving homemade ice cream, burgers and fresh dairy — and you can watch cows being milked through a glass window while you eat. Casual, charming and genuinely family-friendly.

Laugarvatn Fontana

Route 37, on the lake at Laugarvatn. Best known as a geothermal spa, but also worth knowing for its geothermal bread-baking — rye bread baked underground using natural heat, served fresh. Check operational status before detouring.

Selfoss

The largest town on the route, on the return leg. Grocery stores (Bónus, Krónan), bakeries and casual restaurants — the practical place to stock up or grab something on the way back to Reykjavík.

The Budget Approach

Restaurant options between Reykjavík and the Golden Circle stops are limited and expensive, at roughly 3,000–5,000 ISK per meal. A sandwich, some fruit, chocolate and a water bottle from a Bónus or Krónan supermarket costs a fraction of that — and it also saves you a 45-minute lunch stop, which on a short winter day is worth as much as the money. Eat in the car or at a scenic pullout; Iceland's roadside views beat any dining room on the route.

• Shop before you go. Stock up in Reykjavík the night before, or in Selfoss if you're driving counterclockwise.
• Bring a thermos. Hot coffee or soup from your accommodation costs nothing and is disproportionately welcome on a cold, windy viewing platform.
• Refill your water bottle. Icelandic tap water is excellent and free — buying bottled water here is money set on fire.
• Pack more snacks than you think you need. There is nothing between stops, and being hungry on the drive to Geysir isn't fun.

What Guided Tours Include

• Standard coach tours: usually no food included, but a 30–45 minute stop at Geysir or Gullfoss where you buy your own.
• Premium and small-group tours: more often bundle a meal, most commonly the Friðheimar greenhouse lunch.
• All tours: build in enough time at the main stops to buy food and use restrooms.

Always check the inclusions before booking — "lunch stop" and "lunch included" mean very different things.

Planning the wider day? See our self-drive itinerary for where these stops fall in the timeline, or the cost guide for full budget figures.