Þingvellir Visitor Center
The Þingvellir Visitor Center, known as Hakið, sits on the rim of the Almannagjá fault and serves as the main entry point for Þingvellir National Park on the Golden Circle. It houses a permanent exhibition called The Heart of Iceland, which won two Red Dot Design Awards in 2019 for its ten interactive stations covering the park's geological and parliamentary history. The Hakið viewpoint directly outside the building gives an immediate panoramic view down into the rift valley and across Þingvallavatn lake, and the main walking trails into the park begin from the parking area here.
The Starting Point for Þingvellir National Park, with an Award-Winning Exhibition on Iceland's History and Geology
The visitor center at Hakið is positioned at one of the most dramatic viewpoints in the national park, on the upper edge of Almannagjá gorge where the North American tectonic plate drops away into the rift valley below. The building itself holds a BREEAM environmental certification and was designed to sit sensitively within the protected landscape. Inside, the permanent exhibition The Heart of Iceland uses ten interactive and multimedia stations to tell the story of Þingvellir from two angles: the geological forces that created and continue to shape the rift valley, and the 1,000-year parliamentary history that makes this one of the most significant cultural sites in Iceland. The exhibition won Red Dot Design Awards in 2019 for both information design and interface design, and is considered one of the more thoughtfully produced national park interpretive centres in Scandinavia.
Þingvellir National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that combines two extraordinary distinctions in a single location. Geologically, it sits directly on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart at a rate of about two centimetres per year, producing the wide fissured valley visible from the Hakið viewpoint. Historically, it was the site of the Alþingi, Iceland's national parliament, first convened here in 930 AD and meeting continuously until 1798, making it one of the oldest parliaments in the world. On 17 June 1944 Iceland's independence from Denmark was proclaimed here, a deliberate choice of location that connected the new republic to the deepest roots of Icelandic governance. The visitor center exhibition covers both threads and sets up the outdoor experience that follows.
The visitor center is open daily, with longer hours in summer (roughly June to August, 9am to 6pm) and shorter hours in winter. A café is on site. The main parking area, P1, is directly adjacent and charges a daily fee payable via the Parka app or at on-site machines. From the car park, walking trails lead directly down into Almannagjá gorge, to Lögberg (Law Rock), to Öxarárfoss waterfall, and along the lake shore. The park is about 45 kilometres from Reykjavík along Route 36, roughly a 45-minute drive, and is the standard first or last stop on Golden Circle tours.
