Iceland’s Ring Road and Geotourism: Tourist Reviews, Field Observations and Sustainability Challenges

The aim of this article is to demonstrate the significance of Iceland’s Ring Road as a key route providing access to geotourism attractions and to discuss its role in shaping visitor traffic in the context of tourist feedback and the principles of sustainable tourism development. The study is based on an analysis of 223 online reviews concerning the Ring Road, supplemented by the author’s own field observations from travelling around Iceland. Opinions relating to natural and anthropogenic assets, tourist infrastructure, transport accessibility, travel safety, visitor concentration and the interpretation of geological heritage were analysed. The results indicate that the Ring Road is highly rated by tourists, primarily because of the exceptional natural assets located along and near the route. At the same time, the analysis revealed challenges related to traffic concentration at the most recognisable attractions, the uneven quality of tourist infrastructure, high costs, travel safety and the limited use of the educational potential of geosites. The findings show that online reviews, when combined with field observations, can serve as a useful source of knowledge about the practical conditions for the sustainable use of geotourism attractions in popular natural destinations.