Blue Lagoon, Reykjavík Region

1 more image

Geothermal spa are rich with blue-green algae, minerals and silica mud which are all really good for your skin and gives the water an odd colour. The water is constantly around 38 degrees celsius, some parts are extremely hot! When you get there you pay and you can rent towels and robes which come in handy when you need to dash from the pool to the building in just your bikini and it's minus something degrees outside! Bizarre feeling when your in really hot water and you've got freezing wind beating in your face. Once your in, there are tubs of silica mud (also found at the bottom of the pool, you'll feel it underfoot - very sludgey!!) that you can scoop out to put on your face. Truely surreal experiance, especially if you're there early enough to watch the sun come up.

1 more image

Pretty much every organized tour in Iceland will take you there, but if you're travelling on your own, make sure you don't miss this! The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa which was seemingly built in the middle of nowhere (actually, it was built right next to the original, natural blue lagoon where locals used to bathe): if you take time to walk around the pool, you will see volcanic rock all around you. It's a fantastic setting for a fantastic place. Since it's not far from Keflavík Airport, you can even go there between connecting flights with Reykjavík Excursions (visit www.re.is or call 580-5400), a local travel agency.

If you get hungry between dips, there is an indoor café as well as an upmarket restaurant specializing in Asian dishes.

Blue Lagoon is open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., with slightly longer hours from mid-May to the end of August (9 a.m. to 9 p.m.). Swimsuits, towels and robes can be rented on-site, but to save money, bring your own.

4 more images

The Blue Lagoon is perhaps the most supernatural looking body of water on Earth. Descriptions of its waters range everywhere from “the same color as the new Gatorade drink” to “frosty blue.”
The temperature averages about 40C (104F), and the soothing, mineral-rich water is rumored to have curative powers.
Though the lagoon looks like something born from Iceland’s otherworldly landscape, it is actually man made. It was created by run-off from the Svartsengi power plant, which pumps up the geothermally heated water from a full mile below the surface. After being used to generate both heat and electricity, the excess (which is absolutely clean) is ejected into the lagoon.

You can have a professional massage and spa treatmetns at the Blue Lagoon. They offer 14 varieties/treatments and most of it seemed great. However, I'd leave out the pregancy massage from my "things-to-do" at the SPA. There is also a chance of children 6-11 to have a massage here - 15 minutes. For prebooking, ordering, enqiry, try the web site and email address.

4 more images

Everybody told me to go here before I went to Iceland - and such uniform advice makes me doubt the advice... So it took me a few days and a very dusty and sweaty day touring Reykanes to finally succumb to pressure and go.
I am now among those thousands recommending the place! The commercial profile is very low key, and the entry fee (ISK 1500) is well worth it. There are no water slides, toy things or anything to do apart from SPA sort of treatment, a post-soak cafe or restaurant and a souvenir shop and skin treatment shop - you basically wade around and soak. You can swim, but it is not deep enough for diving in from the sides, it's all wading deep. You can wade to a place where you find a temperature that suits you. Essentially it is a massive hot tub.
There are so may reviews of the place that I will only tell you the how-to:
Take a designated bus from Keflavik or the city to the Blue Lagoon (everybody can advice you from where and when) and return the same way, or do it in transit upon arrival Keflavik or just before departure. A taxi from the city would set you back some ISK 8000. Much less from Keflavik. By rental car you can sweep in here after a day's journeying and coming back from the south or east.

Now, see tip no 2) on the Blue Lagoon.

This is a nice diversion from the hectic life in Reykjavik. Where you can swim in not so deep water that is feed by the power plant that you can see across the water as it hisses out steam into the air.
In the past few years there has been a visitors center added as well as sectioned off pools to swim in. When I first went to the Lagoon it was an interesting experience. There was a changing room and you went out the back to the pool where there was a rope showing the limits where it was safe to swim. you had to swim through cold then to hot water where it was being pumped out of the plant. That was cool. Sort of free style adventure.

2 more images

I guess you could go to the Blue Lagoon in the summer time and still enjoy the full pleasure of a soothing mineral bath. The mud will still feel good on your face, the waterfall will give your body a therapeutic pounding, the water will still be warmer than the air. But - come on, you really don't experience the FULL Blue Lagoon treatment unless you visit in the winter, preferably on a cold and sleety day. YOU KNOW you really want to.

The water temperature: around 100 Fahrenheit. The air temperature: 38 Fahrenheit. The skies cloudy, with intermittent sleet providing a cooling shower.

Nothing in my recent travel history was more RELAXING, more HEALTHFUL, more RE-ENERGIZING than my visit to the Blue Lagoon pools and spa in Iceland. This was the perfect way to end my (short) visit to Iceland, and to prepare my return to the daily and ordinary world of work and household chores and the daily grind. There's something wonderfully egalitarian and democratic about the Blue Lagoon, too. Everybody is equal in the pool, it's not about beauty or looks or age. You'll hear voices from all over the world, you'll see all body types and sizes, you'll be with a global community of water worshippers. I thought it was practically a religious experience - I felt somehow spiritual being immersed in the hot waters of Iceland. (Maybe it's different in the summer months.)

The Blue Lagoon is an incredible natural phenomenon! This geothermal heated outdoor seawater pool is known for it's healing power. A small portion of the pool is enclosed and connected to the dressing area so visitors can enter and exit to the outdoor water from the warmth and comfort of the inside. It is so relaxing to sit in the warm water and enjoy the beauty and serenity of the surrounds. There is an indoor cafe as well as gift shop. There are a wide variety of spa treatments available.