The Golden Circle Lodge - Luxurious villa with Sauna

Overall very nice, clean convenient place to stay close to national park. We throughly enjoyed after stay. In our next visit we will stay here again. Needs better instruction for usage and directions. Signage from the gate to the property will help navigate.

My wife and I along with my two brother in laws and their spouses stayed at this beautiful house in the Golden Circle. We wanted to be centrally located for our trip so we could be close enough to all of the places we wanted to visit. As well as being able to stay somewhere that if we didn't go anywhere, it was relaxing. This house checked all of the boxes in regards to our needs and wants. While the rest of the family wanted to see everything possible my wife and I just stayed at the house two of the days out of the week we were there just to relax and appreciate the beautiful scenery that was just outside the living room space. With a fire going and a book in each of our hands. We were really able to relax and enjoy the quiet of the lake side home. If you want a quiet place to stay with a lot of character and a decent amount of space I highly recommend you stay here. The only things I would be aware of is that the house is more setup for two couples and kids then three couples at least in the bed situation. We didn't have any major issues per se but it's something to be aware of. Also we were hoping the jacuzzi/spa would be available but we were made aware that it would probably not be available due to how cold it would be. We ended up not using the sauna because we went to the blue lagoon but it was definitely a positive having it available. The house has smart lighting so if your not tech savvy this could be an issue but otherwise would highly recommend!!!

I will start that in the email that was sent to me just before checking in did not disclose that there is a gate at a top of hill and you have to call the property management to get in. Additionally, the link in their maps took us to a field close to the property but not the actual property. We found the gate information buried in their website which was frustrating because it would of been nice to have that information in the email they sent and not having to dig through a website for that. The additional thing with the gate is that every time you wanted to come back on the property you had to call the number for management to open the gate. Annoying but overall not that bad. Aside from the announce of the gate and having to call to get let in every time you leave the property, the location is PHENOMEANL!!!! Having the lake views from the back patio and having the Northern Lights every night over head made up for the calling and the gate. The home is beautiful, clean and welcoming. We loved the location of the property due to it being in the National Park and there were not many people around. There are so many things to do or see within just a 12 minute drive or even a little further down the road. The drive into Reykjavik was easy too and that was only 40 minutes. We thank you the property group for opening this home to us and we enjoyed the home very much.

What a beautiful property & stunning location. We had the most amazing time. Thank you!

The home was awesome! Its location on the Golden Circle was an ideal base to explore this most beautiful region. We will be back.

There is plenty that is good, so I will start with that. The location is amazing. 3-minute walk to the lake beach. Close to a lot of activities in the Golden Circle. Hot tub was fantastic and sauna was easily started with provided wood. Unit is two buildings and was well stocked with supplies. We were 7 guys celebrating our 50th birthdays and had tons of space. Saw the northern lights on both clear nights. Bad - 1) Getting into the gated community is annoying. Other reviews have mentioned this, but you need to call the management company on your phone every time you want to get in. Make sure you have their numbers during office hours and after hours. There should be some way to fix this with a remote control left in the unit. The other homes there have remotes to get in. When leaving the gate opens automatically. 2) We also had a stopped kitchen sink and had to come up with a workaround to get the dishwasher to work (jam door closed with a mop handle). They fixed the sink within a day, but still they had to know this was an issue prior to us. 3) Trash and recycling are a pain, you have to take it a few miles down the road into a small dump. Unacceptable - They forgot to tell us that the place had an alarm. There was no mention about an alarm in any of the brochures or instructions they sent about how to get access. So the first 5 minutes of our vacation we had a screetching alarm going off. This is ridiculous and was a tough way to start a fun stay.

There is a lot to like about this house. The house itself is a lovely bit of architecture - we loved the high ceilings and the Scandinavian design. The location is also superb - quiet, private, and beautiful views. Some minor annoyances: - The doors need new locks - the existing ones require lots of fumbling to work. - The house was FREEZING when we got there, and didn't warm up for ~24 hours. - No microwave. Not a big deal. - Laundry takes ~6 hours. As I understand it, this is quite normal in Iceland. - The light switches made no sense at all, but they would eventually work through trial and error. And the real reason for a lukewarm review of this property? To gain access to the house, one has to call the management company, and they will remotely trigger a gate that lets you in. If you can't get through the gate, it's about a quarter mile walk. The management company told us that the house would have a phone that we could use to call while we were staying there, so we didn't pick one up at the airport. When we arrived at the house, the phone there was broken. We spent a fare portion of our vacation trying various stores to find a phone that would work, but every store was sold out. The management company was accommodating. A very nice gentleman came out to the place on the second evening to help with the heating issue. He also offered to let us through the gate for the night. Unfortunately, when we got to the top of the hill, the management company themselves were unable to remotely trigger the gate. The rest is a long story - to his credit, the gentleman from the company stuck with it for about 35 minutes, eventually getting a neighbor to let us in. I really appreciated that - I'm sure he wanted to get home too! - but by the time I got back to the VRBO, my wife was worried sick that something had happened to me. The hassle of getting through that gate everyday was a real bummer. In the end, we had to haul our luggage, trash, and groceries about a quarter mile uphill on the day that we checked out. Had I been camping, that would have been fine, but we paid luxury prices to rent this particular VRBO. So would I recommend it? For European travelers. whose phones will work in Iceland, yes. For travelers from the United States, no (unless you are certain that you will have a working phone in Iceland).

So beautiful, both the view and the home

Beautiful home, very well equipped, as advertised, two inconveniences, first was calling to get access to the property every time we returned and the second was a power outage left us with no way to drive to the property, if it wasn’t for a friendly neighbor who helped us hike down to the property without our vehicle checking in would not have happened. A big thanks to him for saving the day.

Beautiful property with immaculate attention to detail.