Toilets on the Golden Circle
Carry a pack of tissues. The facilities on the loop are decent, but at the busiest hour they do run out of toilet paper, and there is no attendant standing by to fix it.
The gap between stops is what matters. Reykjavík to Þingvellir is about an hour with nothing in between, and Þingvellir to Geysir is another 61 km. No coach on this loop carries a toilet, so the schedule is the plumbing: use the facilities at each stop even if you do not think you need to, because the next chance is the far end of a 45-minute drive.
Tours that break at Hveragirði on the way out do it partly for this reason, which is why the full-day coach schedules 15 minutes there before anything else happens. Amber wrote of the afternoon tour that there were “plenty of amenities and opportunities to use restrooms”, and Didier mentioned “break times that respect everyone”. That is a small thing to read a review for and a large thing on a six-hour day.
Some facilities on the loop charge a small coin fee and some are free with a purchase; the cafés at Geysir and Gullfoss are the reliable ones. If you are driving yourself and travelling with children, plan the stops rather than the kilometres — more on that in the Golden Circle with kids, and the full stop list is on the stops page.
Frequently asked questions
Are there toilets at Þingvellir, Geysir and Gullfoss?
Yes, at all three: the Þingvellir visitor centre, the Geysir Centre across the road from Strokkur, and the Gullfoss café. There are also toilets at the Kerið kiosk.
Do Golden Circle tour buses have toilets?
No. The stops are the breaks, and the longest gap is the hour from Reykjavík to Þingvellir, and the second longest is the 61 km from there to Geysir.
Should I bring toilet paper to Iceland?
A pack of tissues in your bag is enough. The facilities are clean, but busy ones run out during the mid-morning coach wave — one reason to look at what time to leave.