2 Hot Springs in Iceland that are Better than the Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon seems to be on everyone’s list when traveling to Iceland – and for good reason! It is a pretty great way to spend an evening. But, with prices at their lowest still being 40 EUR, it is not an inexpensive activity.

Luckily, Iceland is a country with plenty of geothermal activity, which means that there are plenty of other hot springs in Iceland to visit, many of which are natural, and many of which are free!

It was a short trip to Iceland, with only four days to explore in total. After spending the first evening of our trip at the Blue Lagoon, we knew that we wanted to visit more hot springs!

Photos curtesy of Logan Brown.

In addition to visiting the Blue Lagoon, we were able to visit two other natural hot springs during our visit.

Reykjadalur

It’s a bit of a hike to get back to this hot spring… and it’s not a hot spring in the traditional sense, it’s actually a geothermal heated river! Be prepared for a 3km each way, 60-90 minute hike. If the weather is chilly, like it was for us, be sure to bundle up or you might end up with some friends that are a little bit crabby with you!

Photos curtesy of Logan Brown.

Landbrotalaug

The following night we wanted to try to see the Northern Lights. It was the only night that the cloud cover was supposed to be thin enough and activity high enough on any part of the island that was close enough for us to drive to for the evening. Even better, the location lined up well with a hot spring we wanted to visit!

We were lucky enough to see the Northern Lights, but that will be the subject of another post. Even without a chance of seeing the lights, this hot spring is more than worth a visit! The temperature is a little on the high side, so be prepared to jump in and out frequently. It’s also a small little hot pot, so don’t plan on going with more than four people unless you want to rotate your time in the hot spring.

Another tip – arrive early if you want to get in. Because of the small size, if there are already people there you aren’t going to fit. The typical curtesy with this hot spring is that if there’s another car in the parking lot, wait until they leave to go and take over the hot spring.