Right now, the Blue Lagoon is closed because massive tectonic activity only a couple of miles away is threatening an eruption that could pour lava into its blue waters within minutes of breaking through. Initially, it was just for seven days, and due to reopen on Thursday. Bearing in mind the beyond-massive activity on Friday and the number of road closures in the area, I absolutely wouldn’t be expecting it to reopen just yet although it’s looking like the intrusion has moved well away by now. Follow the action with RUV’s liveblog here.
So this post about “Which is the best lagoon?” which was planned months ago for today, has been renamed. Since the Blue Lagoon is closed, where’s the best place to go instead to get my Icelandic geothermal fix? Which is the best geothermal lagoon to visit in Iceland while the Blue Lagoon is closed?
As far as I know – and new ones do keep popping up – there are nine other geothermal spas, lagoons or experiences designed to separate tourists from their money in Iceland, ranging from Myvatn Nature Baths, the Blue Lagoon’s wild northern cousin which opened in 2004, right the way through to beachside Hvammsvik, which is barely eighteen months old. In the last year and a half, I’ve visited all of them and I’m going to go through the pros and cons of each, including the price, and decide which is the best. I did this last year but I’ve been to three new spas since then, so it’s time for a big and – as it turns out, a well-timed – update.
So, let’s jump in. I’ve taken out most of the changing facility points since last time. You don’t need to take a coin for your locker for any of them. They all provide shampoo and conditioner. The only thing I’ve left in is whether or not there are private shower facilities – yes, that does mean there are some that don’t have that!
I think I’m going to do this in age order, starting from the oldest and working through to the newest. I’ve had another think about the criteria I use but we’re going a lot more on “vibes”, which means a huge part of my criteria is “how much did I like it?”. I’ve scored everything but I’ve blacked out the final total because I want to be surprised.
The way I’ve dealt with price is that they fall into five rough price bands. There’s a big obvious one right at the bottom which scores -5. There are two that are around half that price which score -3. There are three that sit around 1500kr less, which score -1. There are another two around 500kr less which scores zero. Then there’s another 1000kr less which gets our first positive score of 1 point and the last one, the cheapest by another 1500kr gets 2 points. Prices range from 3,300kr up to 14,490kr which is a range of 11,190kr which is a lot. That’s why I didn’t just want to score 1-10. That cheapest isn’t worth 10 points in itself, it would probably double that pool’s score and that didn’t feel fair. So I opted for this scale of -5 up to 2 and when I see the results, we’ll see whether they work.
I’m also going to put a link to a previous blog post on each pool so you can read more about it.
Blue Lagoon
Yes, like last time we start with the old favourite, the big daddy, the undisputed king of the hot pools. But how does it really stack up?
Elephant in the room, this is the expensive one. All prices are cheapest basic adult daytime entry on September 28th and the Blue Lagoon is right at the bottom at 14,490kr, which is nearly £87. Five points lost already.
It does have private showers. They’re frosted glass and they don’t lock but they are private. It’s accessible to tourists without a hire car in that every tour company does a transfer bus but it’s not on public transport as far as I can see, so half a point for accessibility. Two points for those two.
Facilities. Yes to being swimmable. It’s a lagoon. It’s not very deep and you can’t do lengths but you can stretch your legs and swim. No to hotpots. Yes to both sauna and steam room, yes to waterfalls and yes to extras in the form of face masks. One, the white one, included in basic entry. Two more included if you upgrade your package. That comes to five more points.
Experience: Yes to in-water drinks. You pay using your wristband, which is also your locker key. No to fun extras. Two points for free towels which means no points for towels to hire. But a point for robes for hire and two points for the view, which is over a black and green lava field and a space-age geothermal power station. That’s another six points.
And finally, I give it 2 out 3 vibe points. There’s no real rhyme or reason to this, it’s how I personally feel about each pool.
Totals at the end!
Blue Lagoon website
The Icelandic Guidebook: The Blue Lagoon
Myvatn Nature Baths
This is the Blue Lagoon’s smaller, wilder, northern cousin and one of my favourites. It’s also having some major construction work so everything I’m about to say could change if I go back next summer.
The Nature Baths fall into the -1 point for price, with a basic admission costing 6,490kr, around £39. See how much that has fallen from the Blue Lagoon’s basic price?
I believe I saw a private shower cubicle so a point for that. No points for public transport – the only way to get here without your own car is on a day tour in the region or by hiking the 4km or so up from the middle of Reykjahlíð. One point in this section.
Facilities: it’s swimmable because it’s a lagoon. It does have a hotpot. Feels a bit industrial but it’s there. No sauna but there is a steam room and there’s also a waterfall. No fun extras. Four points in this section.
Experience: 0.5 points for in-water drinks. There’s an in-water bar but there’s no way of paying for it unless you either have a pre-purchased drinks paper wristband – which limits you anyway to what you’ve prepaid for – or you take your wallet into the water. But still, it’s there so half a point. Not that I’m doing points for locking lockers but it’s a key on an elastic band here. No fun extras, no free towels but you can hire both a towel and a robe so a point each there. And the view gets 3/3. It’s on the side of an active volcano overlooking a huge lake! It’s got great views! So that’s 5.5 points in that section.
Vibe: 3/3. I really like this place.
Myvatn Nature Baths’ website
I love Myvatn Nature Baths
Laugavatn Fontana
A rare tiled pool-like place right on the Golden Circle, fed by hot springs around the lake.
We have our first point scored on price! Fontana is the second-cheapest of the lot at 4,990kr, £30, and therefore gets a point on price. Loses it on public transport, though. There are a few tours which include it but it’s not really accessible unless you have a car. So one point in that section.
Facilities: Yes, it’s swimmable. It’s four pools and one is a small swimming pool. It has a hotpot, that’s another of the four pools. It has both sauna and steam room, fed by the aforementioned hot springs, so they stink to high heaven. There’s a waterfall – more of an oversized tap but I suppose that’s pretty much what Nature Baths’ is. And it has extras, it has the lake. In theory, the lake is warm because of those hot springs. In practice, I found it freezing. Six points.
Experience: In-water drinks, check but half a point again. I’m not 100% sure how it works but there’s a window at the changing rooms end of Sæla which opens into the main bar & cafe. No electronic wristbands, so presumably go and get your wallet. Fun extras, check – there are kids’ pool toys in the water and you can borrow pool shoes for the lake. Towels are not provided but you can hire them and also robes. The view gets 3/3 because it overlooks the lake and the mountains and it’s a great view. That’s six and a half in that section.
Vibe: This gets another 3/3. It feels a lot cleaner than most of the others, although they’re all perfectly clean. It’s also smaller and quieter. The tourists don’t tend to end up here as readily as they end up at the others.
Laugarvatn Fontana’s webite
The A-Z of Iceland: F for Fontana
Secret Lagoon
The Secret Lagoon is known in Icelandic as the Old Pool. It’s a smallish rectangular pool once on somebody’s farm, fed by small geysers around the edge and it’s pretty much back-to-basics, authentic Icelandic bathing.
It gets two points for price because this is our cheapest! The Secret Lagoon’s basic entry is 3,300kr, less than £20.
But… no private showers because it prides itself on this Icelandic authenticity whereby no one has anything to hide and it’s not accessible by public transport except on tours, usually included at the end of a Golden Circle tour. No points!
Facilities: pretty basic. Yes, it’s swimmable, it’s just a pool. No hotpot, sauna, steam room, waterfall or extras so just one point.
Experience: there are in-water drinks in that you get your wallet, go in the back door of the cafe/reception and buy something which you’re allowed to bring back in, so half a point. Locker key on elastic band again. There are fun extras here in the form of pool noodles. No free towels but you can hire them. No mention of robes. The view… not much view. It’s in someone’s back field. It gets a 1/3 for me. That’s 3.5 points in that section.
And the vibes? I give it a 2/3 because I like it, I like how unpretentious it is, how it’s not really doing anything to exploit tourists other than existing.
Secret Lagoon’s website
The Golden Circle and the Secret Lagoon | Iceland 2022
Krauma
We’re heading up to the west now and to the geothermal experience I looked forward to for the longest – I discovered it was being built in 2016 but I didn’t get there until 2022.
Price: Neutral, no points. It’s 5,900kr, around £35.
I don’t remember there being private showers and it’s not accessible by public transport. I’m not 100% sure it even features on any tours. You need a car. No points.
Facilities: It’s not swimmable. It’s a collection of shiny black hotpots of various sizes, depths and temperatures. So yes to hotpots. Yes to both sauna and steam room but no to waterfall. It does have extra facilities – it has a relax room with comfy chairs and a log fire, even in the summer – not that summer means much in Iceland. That comes to four points.
Experience: In-water drinks, kind of. You flag down a waiter and request your drink which you then have to pay for when you leave. It’s a very imperfect system but you can get a drink so 0.5 points. Locker key on elastic band again. There are no fun extras. No free towels, I can’t see mention of towel or robe hire on the website and the view… well, the view is over Europe’s biggest hot spring, which means a view over a big cloud of steam on the edge of a large gravel parking area. I’m giving it 1/3 even though I really appreciate that the whole place has been designed to overlook the spring. That’s just 1.5 points in this section.
Vibe: I’m dithering. I don’t think it deserves just 1 point because it’s kind of fun and interesting but I don’t think it quite merits the full two so 1.5 here.
Krauma’s website
Is Krauma overpriced and overrated?
Geosea
I finally visited it this summer and Geosea is the first of the three that prompted me to do this updated post. Geosea is on the north coast, at Husavik, Iceland’s self-proclaimed whale-watching capital.
It scores nothing on price, being 5,990kr, £35, just like Krauma.
I don’t remember private showers and although it’s in town, I don’t think it’s particularly accessible by public transport – it’s a good stiff walk north of the town and up to the height of the cliffs. I think you’d need a car to get to this one. Zero points again.
Facilities: it’s not really swimmable. It’s halfway between a lagoon and an overgrown hotpot without being either so it scores nothing on either. It doesn’t have a sauna but it does have a tiny steam room. No waterfall. No extras. Just one point.
Experience: It does have in-water drinks, although you’ve got to climb out of the main pool and up into the bar pool. But you pay with your wristband and Geosea is only the second pool in the country which offers that – and with it, your electronic locker key! No fun extras, no free towels but you can hire both towel and robe. And it gets a solid 3/3 for views, overlooking the open end of the fjord, the open sea, the mountains opposite and the cliff below.
Vibe: another dither. I’m not madly in love with Geosea. I found myself getting bored. I’m reluctant to give it 1/3 but that’s what I’m going to do.
Geosea’s website
Visiting Geosea
Vök Baths
I’m half-tempted to dock Vök of half a point for the umlaut, forcing me to google it every time rather than faff around creating the dots. Anyway, it’s out east, about 20 minutes north of Egilsstaðir, the only geothermal experience within about a four hour drive.
Vök loses a point on price. It’s 6,490lr for basic admission, £39.
It does have private showers – they’re a bit dark but they’re private enough that I filmed myself washing my hair for a vlog this summer. It’s not accessible by public transport as far as I can see but a Grayline bus did arrive to pick up a load of people so it’s on some tour or other. Quite which tour runs in the east of Iceland, I have no idea. That’s one point here.
Facilities: is it swimmable? It’s like Geosea, neither lagoon nor hotpot and therefore no points. No sauna but there is a steam room. No waterfall but it gets a point for extras, which are the mist run, a couple of cold mist showers in an open corridor for cooling off after your steam, and the cold lake. That makes two points.
Experience: In-water drinks payable with combi locker key-payment card wristband, yes. Fun extras, no. Towels provided, no, but you can hire them, and a robe. And the view gets a 2 from me. It’s in the middle of a lake. It’s nice and rural, despite the visible Ring Road. But the Ring Road is quieter than you might expect, especially out this way so it’s not very disruptive.
Vibe: again, I’m reluctantly handing out a 1. I just don’t love Vök like I love some of the others. The floating pools are fun but you can only sit on the edges which means most of the middle is fairly unusable while you’re sitting pressed shoulder-to-shoulder with a stranger. And you have to run over the bridge to them, which is freezing even on a warm summer day.
Vök Baths’ website
Relaxing at Vök Baths
Sky Lagoon
Yes, the Sky Lagoon is this far down. It’s pretty new, not yet at its third birthday.
Minus three on price. The basic admission is 7,900kr, £47.24 and that’s not including the Ritual. I’ll get onto that. It’s still half the price of the Blue Lagoon but it’s quite a bit more than some of the others and although it’s got a certain shiny confidence to it, that’s a lot.
Yes, it has private showers. It feels like walking into a stable, actually. Doors on every shower, covering most people from mid-shin to neck. And this is the only one that’s accessible by public transport! It’s still a 10-15 minute walk from the nearest bus stop and it’s two buses to get back to central Reykjavik but this is the only one of the ten pools where this is even a possibility! Of course, tour companies run shuttle buses and it’s included as parts of tours. And it’s only 10-15 minutes from downtown Reykjavik so it’s not wildly expensive for a taxi. Two whole points here!
Facilities: This is a bit tricky. Yes, it’s swimmable, it’s a lagoon. It doesn’t have a hotpot. It does have sauna and steam room and extras in the shape of a mist room and its own body scrub but… you have to pay for them all and you only get to use them once. That’s the big thing about the Sky Lagoon that annoys me. 0.5 for each of those three because they are there. Great waterfall. That makes 3.5 points here.
Experience: In-water drinks, yes. Again, on your dual-purpose credit card/locker key electronic wristband. Fun extras, no. Towels provided free, yes! Help yourself as you return to the changing room! Two points! Which means zero points for hiring towels, of course. No mention of robes but I guess you’d literally only want them for three steps between the showers and the entrance to the lagoon. And a firm 3/3 for the view – it’s an infinity pool overlooking the bay and facing west for optimum sunset views.
And last, vibes. I kind of like it. I don’t like that they charge for what’s usually a basic but I do like that there are no children allowed. And I didn’t like how busy it was that evening in February. So 2/3.
Sky Lagoon’s website
Iceland’s newest spa: The Sky Lagoon | Iceland April 2022
Forest Lagoon
Another one up north, this one in Akureyri.
The Forest Lagoon gets a -1 on points. 6,590kr, £39, is quite a lot. Still less than half the Blue Lagoon, though.
I don’t remember private showers but we get half a point for public transport. The Forest Lagoon runs a shuttle minibus between the lagoon and the city, so you can leave the car behind. It’s not too far to walk, at a push. But no, you can get here without hiring a car! Half a point.
Facilities: again, it’s a lagoon so a point for being swimmable. No hotpots but there is a sauna. No steam room, no waterfall, extras in the form of a freezing plunge pool. Three points.
Experience: In-water drinks, absolutely. In fact, there’s a bar at each end. Little fun sustainable touch: Forest Lagoon’s blue plastic electronic bracelets were previously seen at the Blue Lagoon before they upgraded to the pastel silicone ones. No fun extras. No free towels but you can hire towels. No mention of robes. The view is pretty much non-existent but that’s by design. This is the Forest Lagoon. It’s surrounded by trees. You can get glimpses of the fjord, the airport and Iceland’s second city between them but mostly you’re screened from the outside world. That makes three points here.
Vibes: two out of three. I don’t adore it but I don’t have anything to complain about either. It’s good. It’s nice.
Forest Lagoon’s website
What’s Akureyri’s Forest Lagoon like?
Hvammsvik
The newest and definitely one of my top favourites, Hvammsvik is on the southern edge of the Whale Fjord, just an hour and a half from Reykjavik.
It scores -3 on price. It’s ludicrously expensive. Basic admission is 7,900kr, or £47, which feels a lot for somewhere so wild.
A point for private showers – I thought there were two public ones but when I started to think, I realised they have Wild West saloon-style doors on them. And half a point for a transfer bus, even if it’s only twice a day. One and a half points here.
Facilities: It’s not swimmable, it’s a collection of natural-style hotpots on the beach. Which means a point for hotpots. No points for sauna but yes to a steam room – and a weirdly sweet-smelling one at that. There’s no waterfall but there’s extra in the form of the fjord and the hotpot in the shallows, which gets surrounded by and occasionally filled up by a high tide.
Experience: Yes to in-water drinks, again with the wristbands which also lock your locker. Yes to fun extras – they run yoga and Wim Hof sessions here, as well as paddleboarding in the fjord and sea swims. No free towels but you can hire one. No evidence of hiring robes but as an aside, you can hire shoes to run around on the pebbles. And the view is a 3/3. Can’t beat a fjord and steep-sided mountains.
Vibes: 3/3. I don’t think I make any secret of the fact that I love Hvammsvik.
Hvammsvik’s website
A snowy morning at Hvammsvík
And now it’s time for the big reveal. I’ve got an idea of one or two that have scored pretty poorly and one or two that have scored well but even now, I have no real idea how this is going to go. So I’m going to reveal the final scores one by one.
Blue Lagoon: 9.5. No idea how that’s going to compare but this is our baseline.
Myvatn Nature Baths: 12.5. Well, clearly the Blue Lagoon took a big hit with the price. I’m surprised Myvatn scores a full third higher than its famous sibling, though.
Laugavatn Fontana: 17.5. That one scored well last time, so this doesn’t surprise me so much although I’m surprised by how much higher it is.
Secret Lagoon: 8.5. This was one that I’d realised wasn’t scoring much as I went along but I’m surprised how close it is to the Blue Lagoon.
Krauma: 7. Really?? Lowest so far? I quite liked Krauma, in a minimalist sort of way.
Geosea: 8. Still a bit surprised. I didn’t love Geosea so much but that doesn’t mean I expected it to score so low.
Vök Baths: 8. Again, surprised by the points but I’m not entirely surprised it ties with Geosea, at least.
Sky Lagoon: 10.5. Hmm. I was expecting the Sky Lagoon to be a high scorer but I guess the price drags it down, as does the paid Ritual.
Forest Lagoon: 7.5. I think that’s a bit low. I liked the Forest Lagoon more than several on this list.
Hvammsvik: 10.5. Actually, a bit higher than I was expecting, despite my bias towards it. I’m acutely aware of the price and that it’s otherwise fairly… rustic, so I wasn’t expecting this one to do so well.
Let’s rearrange those so we can see the results.
1st place with 17.5 points, Laugavatn Fontana.
2nd place with 12.5 points, Myvatn Nature Baths
Tied 3rd place with 10.5 points, Hvammsvik and the Sky Lagoon
4th place with 9.5 points, the Blue Lagoon
5th place with 8.5 points, the Secret Lagoon
Tied 6th place with 8 points, Vök Baths and Geosea
7th place with 7.5 points, the Forest Lagoon
8th place with just 7 points, Krauma
I’m surprised. I’m honestly surprised. Is Krauma really objectively the worst? Is the Forest Lagoon as low as that? Is Fontana really the best? I’m ok with the Nature Baths, Hvammsvik, the Sky Lagoon and the Blue Lagoon ending up where they did. I’m a bit surprised about most of the others. But you saw how I scored it, so I guess that’s the 2023 official ultimate best geothermal pools in Iceland for you and if you haven’t exactly got an answer to “which geothermal pool should I go to while the Blue Lagoon is closed?” you’ve at least got some ideas.
Quick bonus at the end: my own preferred unscientific and entirely subjective order:
1) Hvammsvik – I just really like it
2) Myvatn Nature Baths – big, wild and beautiful
3) Fontana – quieter, with great views
4) Forest Lagoon – I like how green it is
5) Sky Lagoon – it’s a gorgeous lagoon, it’s just expensive and doesn’t give you what it should
6) Blue Lagoon – can’t fault it, it’s a great place
7) Krauma – could do with a lagoon but otherwise nice
8) Secret Lagoon – very basic but authentic
9) Vök Baths – nice theory but too small for its own popularity
10) Geosea – nothing wrong with it, I just like something about all the others a bit more