The third of the three geothermal pool reviews! We’re at the tenth pool, east Iceland’s Vök Baths. Vök does have a USP, right up front and centre – Iceland’s only floating infinity pools! It’s a five or ten minute drive from Egilsstaðir, the capital and main town of the region, and it’s set on the side of Urriðavatn, which is a smallish dark blue freshwater lake. The big lake in the area – actually just a bulge in the river – is Lagarfljót, which is not only glacial and thus filled with yellow-grey rock debris, it also has a Loch Ness-like monster called the Lagarfljótsormur. All in all, Urriðavatn was a far better decision for a pair of floating infinity pools.
Vök Baths was the one and only reason I headed for the east. The original plan was to go back north after I’d been to the pools but after some consideration, it made more sense to carry on around the Ring Road. I drove down from Mývatn on Wednesday morning, went to Vök Baths in the evening and then carried on towards Skaftafell on Thursday.
So, what is Vök like? Well, at this point, one set of changing rooms is much like another. Bare concrete walls, electronic lockers with wood-effect doors, low lights and private shower cubicles. A word of warning: I always wash my hair at these places because that’s part of the rules – a poster on the wall says wash here, here and here. But I decided to do a proper hair wash and condition afterwards. Vök supplies Soley shampoo & conditioner, as did Forest Lagoon, Nature Baths and Geosea, I vividly remember from last summer that Fontana does as well and Google says so does Krauma. It’s the luxury home-grown Icelandic brand of choice when it comes to spas and tourist hotspots. You buy it at duty free, not at the local supermarket, that’s what kind of brand it is. And frankly, the conditioner is appalling. You might as well cover your hair in spray paint and then seal it in with two bottles of hairspray. Imagine brushing that the next day. That’s exactly what it felt and sounded like after using that conditioner. And yes, I’m blaming the conditioner because exactly the same thing happened at Fontana last year. I thought it was my fault, thought I hadn’t washed it out so I made sure to really wash it out this time. Will never ever use again. But that’s not really Vök’s fault. As I said, at least six out of the ten geothermal pools supply this brand.
Anyway. You toddle out of the showers, scurry across the cold air and down the ramp into the first pool. This is the coolest of the lot. It also has stepping stones so you can get around the area without having to go in the water, mostly so staff can collect cups. It narrows and in the other half of the pool is the bar, which is actually in the on-site restaurant/cafe. But the highlight of Vök is the floating infinity pools.
Leave the “home pool” by the steps, scurry over the bridge and you’ll come to the first of two hexagonal pools floating in the lake. I’m not 100% sure whether they’re actually floating or whether they’re well and truly pinned down. I didn’t feel any movement, whereas I did feel movement at Allas Sea Pool in Helsinki. It doesn’t really matter. The novelty isn’t in the floating, it’s in being in a hotpot in a cold lake. There are two of these, the further one being a little hotter, and from the decking around them, there are ladders to give you direct access to Urriðavatn.
Mostly people use that for a quick cold dip, accompanied by screams, photos and applause from their own group, but quite a few people went for an actual swim, even if it was only around the side of the hotpots and to the ladder on the other side. I didn’t personally. I did appreciate being able to sit in the hot water with my hand trailing in the cold water, though. I didn’t mind that the wind whipped up little waves in the lake which can splash you if you sit right at the entrance to the hotpots.
But that’s about all there is. None of the pools are big enough to swim in, or really deep enough to keep your shoulders warm. They’re too small for their popularity – you feel like there are too many people in there. Maybe it’s ok early in the morning or in the winter but on a summer evening, you want to either throw half these people out or beg Vök to build a new pair of hotpots, maybe opposite, accessible from the bar end of the pool.
It does have a steam room – all these places have either a steam room or a sauna or occasionally both. The one novelty I did enjoy was the cold mist tunnel, which is just outside the steam room, cold enough to cool down in but not cold enough to shock you. Yeah, more places can have a cold mist, please.
So again, it’s pleasant but it’s not to my particular taste. I’m afraid it’s my least favourite out of the ten – Geosea at least had enough room to paddle around but at Vök you pretty much find a space and cling to it. The floating infinity pools are fun, the view is good, I appreciate that you can swim in the lake – but it’s not for me.