I Am A Polar Bear

Why not follow a best pools post with a completely different best pools post? Today I’m in Iceland and I want to talk about the best swimming pools in Reykjavik. I’m not talking about the likes of the Blue Lagoon and the Sky Lagoon, fine as they are. I’m talking about public pools, the kind that cost £8 and are used by ordinary people living their ordinary lives, rather than tourists. Iceland’s pool culture is somewhat akin to the UK’s pub culture – this is the place where people come with their friends, or maybe even with their colleagues, to relax, to catch up, to gossip etc.

There are eight swimming pools in Reykjavik – Klébergslaug is right out on the other side of the bay, a good drive away; another four are far enough from downtown Reykjavik that it’s very unlikely any tourist is going to stray that far out, not when there are three good pools pretty central plus the likes of the spa-type in easy shuttle bus reach. So I’m going to talk about the three convenient ones: Vesturbæjarlaug, Sundhöllin and Laugardalslaug.

Vesturbæjarlaug

This is my least favourite of these three pools and that’s mostly because it’s a bit hard to get to. It shouldn’t – if you take the area between Austurvöllur, Tjörnin and Harpa as downtown, Vesturbæjarlaug is only as far as Sundhöllin, which I’m inclined to regard as “the one in the heart of downtown”. I’ve always gone on the bus but there’s a one-way system around it, so the bus stop you arrive on is a couple of minutes’ walk down a couple of streets and the one you depart from is somewhere else entirely. I’ve popped them both on the map above.

Anyway, all ordinary swimming pools are the kind of quiet-ish place where locals outnumber tourists but this one is just far enough out that you’re going to be hugely outnumbered – which isn’t a bad thing. Don’t we want to go where the locals go rather than follow the tourist crowd? Vesturbæjarlaug has, perhaps, some quite old-fashioned changing rooms and showers but outside you’ve got two sunken hotpots and a sunken cold plunge pool, a geothermal outdoor 25m lane pool joined to a play pool, a sauna and steam room and a raised wading pool, which I think is maybe the best generic term for a large but shallow warm pool where people laze and gossip. You might think it’s the kiddy pool and it is, but adults always outnumber the kids.

It’s a perfectly nice pool, it’s just a little tricky to get at and you wouldn’t bother when you’ve got other pools just as good, if not better, and much easier to get at.

Sundhöllin

So, Sundhöllin is the one “in the heart of downtown”. It’s just off Snorralaug, on the side of the hill below Hallgrímskirkja and it’s also Reykjavik’s oldest pool. The original 25m indoor pool is in a big square white Art Deco building and it’s very picturesque but for swimming, I personally prefer the outdoor pool in the 2017 garden extension.

The extension has a shallow wading pool with a large and small mushroom fountain, a long trough-like hotpot, outdoor changing facilities with space to sunbathe on the roof, a steam room and a cold plunge pool. If you go in the door and up the stairs, you’ll come to the door into the old building and the indoor pool or to the rooftop sauna opposite – that’s not as picturesque as it sounds. It’s a little wooden shed squeezed in at the top of the steps but it’s very popular. You can’t just go in it when you fancy; you have to wait until there’s space. And last, follow the last couple of steps up and you’ll find the rooftop hotpots. These have increased in temperature in recent months, according to a local – where they were 38° and 40°, they’re now about 42° and 44° respectively. In my opinion, the temperature hasn’t changed a bit, just the signs because I’ve always found those two pools uncomfortably hot. They’re surrounded by thick frosted glass panels and you used to be able to peek between them at life going past on Snorrabraut but now they’re building a new block of flats opposite which blocks the view. Because you’re peering between glass panels, by the way, street traffic can’t see you up there.

I really like Sundhöllin. I like how convenient it is, how it’s in easy walking distance from downtown, I like the warm lane pool and the wading pool and I tend to go there either when I’ve got an empty evening in Reykjavik or when I need to be on the airport bus by lunchtime and don’t have time to do anything bigger. If you’re after some geothermal water but the price of the Blue Lagoon is offputting, this is a really good budget option.

Laugardalslaug

Ah, Laugardalslaug! Now, if you want budget hot water, this is the theme park of your municipal pool dreams! I admit, it’s a bit of a trek from downtown. I take the bus – number 14 towards Verzló and jump off at Laugardalslaug, which is very handily the name of the bus stop. This is also Reykjavik’s campsite and sports centre, so if you’re after football or ice skating, this is the stop for you.

It’s not actually a theme park, it’s just another swimming pool but it’s bigger and better than the others. It has a 50m outdoor geothermal pool attached to a large play pool with slides. Opposite is a wading pool with things of various sizes to sit on, depending on how much of you you want immersed in the hot water. Down the side of the lane pool are three sunken hotpots and a sunken cold plunge pool (this used to be a box under the lifeguard tower and the fourth sunken pot was hot too). They have their temperature marked next to them. At the end is a mineral-rich seawater spa – a raised, tiled salty hotpot. There’s a steam room under the stands here too. Oddly, there’s no sauna. There’s also another 50m pool inside, divided semi-permanently into two smaller pools. You’ll often find this is closed for school swimming lessons during the day.

Oh, I love this pool! I mean, I love a 50m pool anyway – I love the novelty of swimming lengths in an Olympic-size pool and this one is heated and outside. Back in December, I swam in a snowstorm at both Laugardalslaug and Sundhöllin so I can confirm both are warm enough for that. The wading pools and hotpots are definitely warm enough. In fact, although it’s been twelve years since I’ve been in Reykjavik in the summer, I would say outdoor hot water is probably even more pleasant in winter than in summer. Not that Iceland’s summers are exactly tropical. It’s less pleasant scurrying from door to pool and Laugardalslaug loses over Sundhöllin there because they grit their pathways and that’s spectacularly unpleasant to stand on. I see why they do it – a permanent haze of steam condensing onto the ground and freezing can potentially turn outdoor pools into a liability but Sundhöllin seems to get on ok. It’s better if you’re coming from the women’s changing rooms because it’s about three steps to the wading pool, whereas the men come from the old building and have to scurry to the hotpot or upstairs to the rooftop in a few more than three steps.

Anyway, back to the subject: Laugardalslaug costs about £8 for an adult ticket, you get all that included – indoor and outdoor pools, hotpots, steam room etc and you can stay as long as you like. My own local pool cost £5.85 for a swim last week, which included one (1) hour in the main pool, no access to the baby pool or jacuzzi (not sure that works; haven’t seen it bubbling since I was a teenager) or the tiny sauna cabin. Iceland’s local pools are an absolute bargain. I had three trips to Sundhöllin last month and one to Laugardalslaug and I never stayed less than two hours, and that short one was only because I went along later in the evening than I’d intended to.

Besides Reykjavik, anywhere in the country with more than about ten inhabitants has a geothermal swimming pool. I admit, it’s 50/50 on whether it’ll be outdoor or indoor but if you want to sample Iceland’s famous hot water, a swimming pool is going to be fun and it’s going to be a very affordable way to do it. And if you are in Reykjavik, all three of its most local pools are a good option and I especially like Laugardalslaug.