Is It Worth It? – The Blue Lagoon: Iceland’s Most Famous Hot Spring

Iceland is known as the land of ice and fire because it has both some of the largest glaciers in Europe and some of the world’s most active volcanoes. Part of having so much geothermal activity from the latter means there’s an abundance of natural hot springs around the country. And The Blue Lagoon is one of those hot springs.

I’d say that it’s Iceland’s most famous since I had heard of it many times before ever visiting the country. It was the only geothermal pool I knew the name of before even arriving. So when my Partner and I were planning this trip with my Mom, we decided to check it out.

My Mom had visited The Blue Lagoon about a decade before during her first trip to Iceland and I was cautiously curious because it appeared that the only reason I had heard of The Blue Lagoon was because they are very good at marketing, which does not always (or even usually in my experience) mean that it’s worth it to visit.

When my Mom visited previously she reserved the highest tier of tickets that The Blue Lagoon offers, which starts at $658 USD total for 2 people and is called “The Retreat Spa”. However, there would be 3 of us visiting this time and this fancy experience can only happen in rooms of two people.

We didn’t want to leave anyone alone or behind so we settled on a lower tier ticket, called “Premium,” which starts at $94 USD per person according to the website, but cost us $112.99 USD each after taxes.

THE TIERS

The entire tier system looks like this:

Comfort

Price: From $74 USD per person

• 1 Drink
• 1 Mask
• Towel

Premium

Price: From $97 USD per person

• 2 Drinks
• 3 Masks
• Towel
• Bathrobe

Signature

Price: From $123 USD per person

• 2 Drinks
• 3 Masks
• Towel
• Bathrobe
• Skincare products to take home (30 ml Silica Mud Mask and 30 ml Mineral Mask)

The Retreat Spa

Price: From $658 USD total for 2 people

• 5 hour exclusive entry to the Retreat Spa for two guests
• Retreat Spa
• Retreat Lagoon
• The Blue Lagoon Ritual
• The Blue Lagoon
• Private changing room (up to two guests)
• Skincare amenities
• A drink of your choice
• Access to the Spa Restaurant
• Access to 8 experience areas

A few days before our ticket date we got an email saying we can check in early online to be able to go through an Express Check-In Line when we arrive. My Mom mentioned that when she visited there were long lines to check in so we thought this might help and filled out the form online.

ARRIVAL

Getting to The Blue Lagoon was a little challenging only because when we bought the tickets Sundhnúkur volcano had just erupted nearby and had taken out the road to the lagoon. It understandably closed until it could get everything in order so people could safely visit again.

However, even almost a year later, Google Maps seems to be behind the times because when I put in the address to go there, it said the road was closed and that I couldn’t go that way.

I checked The Blue Lagoon website and they helpfully had written out directions. That road was closed, but they had built another road that we could use to get to the lagoon from the same direction. Alrighty then.

Near Keflavik (where the main Iceland airport of KEF is located close to Reykjavik) our exit showed something concerning – everything on the exit sign was crossed out like it didn’t lead there anymore 🙂 . At this point it was also helpful that I knew the Icelandic name of The Blue Lagoon (Bláa lónið) because understandably, that’s what was on the first few signs before they started to say the name in English.

We cautiously continued forward and saw that the other cities near the lagoon continued to be crossed out on signs, but not the lagoon. I guess the road they built only goes to the lagoon and nothing else. So we persevered and ended up driving past the fresh lava fields that this volcano had created. It was a wild sight.

We continued following signs to The Blue Lagoon until we arrived at the parking lot.

PARKING

We parked in an empty spot and looked around for the entrance to the lagoon.

It turns out that the entrance is on the left side of parking lot when you enter, next to a shipping container looking structure that’s for people to drop their luggage.

One of The Blue Lagoon’s marketing strategies has been to market to people with airport transfers in KEF and this building is for them to drop their luggage. There are also shuttles that go to and from KEF airport. Nice!

We then got out of the car and followed the high rock wall of lava rocks down a path to the beginning of the lagoon.

EXPRESS CHECK-IN

When we arrived at the entrance building, I was surprised to see that there was no line – anywhere 🙂 .

We still headed to Express Check-In and they scanned a QR code from our online check-in confirmation and then gave us wristbands.

I later realized that the color of these wristbands shows which tier of ticket you have and to the employees within the lagoon how many drinks and masks you receive. Premium tier at the time, received green wristbands and standard tier got gray wristbands. I didn’t notice what color the fancy Retreat Spa people get – maybe solid gold 😉 .

They then had us scan our wristbands at a terminal to enter the lagoon locker room area.

LOCKER ROOMS

We went through a hallway and emerged into a section where you follow signs to lockers rooms. They had women’s locker rooms on the first and second floors and the men’s on the 2nd floor on the opposite side.

In the middle of this fork in the road was a cart with an employee that said “Premium” and she was giving out robes after looking at our green wristbands.

My Mom and I then headed to the women’s locker room upstairs and my Partner headed to the men’s locker room on the opposite side.

When we entered the women’s locker room on the 2nd floor there was a TV at the entrance with all the locker numbers showing which ones are available in green. I saw that there were more open lockers to the right of the TV and a few that looked next to each other there so we headed that way.

However, I learned that lockers that looked next to each other on the TV, such as 255 and 256 are actually on opposite walls because one side is odd numbers and one is even numbers.

We put our stuff in an open locker and then followed the instructions on the locker scanner to close it. Basically you physically close the locker and then scan your wristband at the scanner where it flashes your locker number confirming that it’s linked your specific wristband to your locker. To open it later I just scanned my wristband again.

That part was easy, but one thing we missed that made it difficult to get my Mom’s locker locked, was that in small letters on the scanners it indicates which numbers of lockers it controls. So be sure to check that if you’re there – the scanner closest to your locker might not be the one that controls it. Thank you to the random stranger who helped us out with this!

After we got our lockers sorted we headed into the shower area. The Blue Lagoon (and a lot of natural hot springs) require that you shower naked (without your bathing suit) before getting into the hot spring with a swimsuit on.

There are stalls that you can go into to shower in private, but heads up that the doors don’t lock and often swing open randomly. There is conditioner, shampoo and body wash provided in the showers.

I read in the tips that The Blue Lagoon sent us beforehand that the lagoon has a drying effect on hair and as a result they suggest loading your hair with conditioner and tying it up without washing out the conditioner before you go into the lagoon. I can confirm that this system worked perfectly for me. I saw other bloggers say they got their hair wet in the lagoon and it was like straw for weeks, but mine was as soft as normal. After all that I was ready to enter the lagoon for the first time!

THE LAGOON

Since we were on the second floor we went down the stairs that are past the showers to enter the lagoon. On this floor there was a cafe and a small pool you can use to get into the lagoon slowly as well as big doors that lead outside into the cold – I bet you can guess where I went 🙂 .

Straight into the Icelandic cold baby! I surprisingly didn’t instantly regret that decision. Outside there are places to hang your towels and robes before getting into the pool. Some have numbers to help you remember which is which. You can also leave your flip flops there if you brought any.

My one gripe about this experience so far is that the robes don’t have pockets 🙂 . I of course love to take pictures everywhere I go for memories and to share with y’all if I think it would be helpful and not having pockets in these robes while being surrounded by slippery and wet surfaces ready for a tumble was challenging. So I snapped a few quick pictures and then went back quickly to drop my phone in my locker.

A lot of other people seem to have rented waterproof phone covers for like $30 USD so they could bring their phones in the pool for pictures, but I don’t trust a little plastic case that far and didn’t want to have to hold my phone the whole time (or my GoPro and Floating Handle so I left those in my luggage). Instead I tried to focus on the experience. So please excuse that I don’t have a lot of pictures of what I describe 🙂 .

And now, because I can’t help myself, here are some fun facts about The Blue Lagoon:

• The Blue Lagoon contains 6 million liters of geothermal seawater that naturally renews every 40 hours (which is something I was very curious about given the amount of human bodies in it 🙂 )
• The average temperature of the water is 38°C/100°F (though I did find it to be way hotter near the entry points of the water, which are by the edges of the pool and marked as such. So if you hear a loud “rushing” sound, the hot water is incoming and you might want to back up a bit. I was in that hot rush one time and quickly learned it was way too hot for me 🙂 )
• The water in The Blue Lagoon comes from 1,981 m/6,500 ft below the lagoon (Wowza!)
• The Blue Lagoon is blue because it’s rich in Silica and silica reflects sunlight in a way that makes it appear blue
• The lava around The Blue Lagoon is 800 years old

Alcoves

Overall my favorite part of the lagoon was that there are a lot of little areas that aren’t apparent at first glance. I expected based on pictures that this was just a giant pool filled with people, but that wasn’t the case. I explored the entire area that was open to us (The Retreat has a separate pool to themselves 😉 ) and found a ton of little alcoves with way less people in them. Some were completely empty.

There are 3 of them by the Mask Bar, which also leads to the Sauna, Steam Bath and a Hot Waterfall (I usually think of waterfalls having cold water so that was cool. It was understandably also fed by the hot spring).

There are also alcoves by the Drinks Bar that didn’t have a lot of people but had a lot of hidden benches along those walls where you can sit and relax alone.

Or as alone as you can be in a giant pool with people. My Partner tried to meditate on one bench while I went to grab another mask, and was having a peaceful time until a German man sat right next to him in an otherwise empty area and took a sip of his beer while saying “LiquorLiquorLiquorLiquor!” so that obviously cut his meditation short 🙂 .

Overall though there are way more places to ‘hide’ from the crowd than I expected. One is a declared Quiet Area at the opposite end of the pool as the entrance. It even has an employee enforcing the silence and making sure people aren’t taking their phones in to film loud “ticktacs” or whatever (yes I am very old at 35 😉 ).

Amenities

I mentioned all of the amenities, but let’s dive into them. The Drinks Bar provides two included drinks for Premium members. I had one Gull Beer, which on its own would have cost 1899 ISK ($13.94 USD) and a Sparkling Wine that was listed at 1990 ISK ($14.61 USD).

My Partner had previously gotten a coffee at the cafe inside that counted towards his two drinks. They gave it to him in a to-go cup and surprisingly said he could take it into the lagoon. Then he and my Mom got a Green Smoothie and it was DELICIOUS! So much so that my Mom got it for her second drink as well. Yum!

After we were done with our drinks, we had a bit of a challenge figuring out where to put our glasses. We heard someone say to put them in the trash can, but that sounded wrong to us since they’re glasses. However, that was indeed the correct thing to do.

We saw an employee emptying one of those trash cans with a “Glasses” symbol into a trash bag and also placing the glasses other confused people had piled next to the trash can in with them. So into the trash can/glass recycling thingy they go!

There is also a Mask Bar, which gave us 3 included masks with the Premium ticket. I tried the silica, lava and moisture masks and my Mom tried the silica, lava and algae masks. There was an employee there looking at our wristband colors, asking us what we wanted and recommending different masks based on our skin challenges.

Each mask I tried was different. The Silica Mud Mask one was bright white and we were told it would peel off, but that wasn’t the case for us. Maybe the moisture or heat prevented it from doing so?

No idea, but after we had it on for the amount of time they recommended (I think it was 5-10 minutes, but they tell you when you get the mask and it’s listed on a TV at the Mask Bar for each mask type), we had to scrub it off. We went to a few of the cold fountains that litter the sides of the lagoon to do so and helped each other out since we were far from the mirrors that are near the Mask Bar.

Next up was the Lava Scrub Mask, which was black. We left this one on until it got a little uncomfortable because it started to crack, so we washed it off and found that to be a challenge as well 🙂 .

Lastly, the Moisture Mask for me felt amazing and I was told I didn’t have to take it off. I did rinse it a little because it felt goopy with how much I had on, but I mostly left it on until I washed my face that night.

My Mom’s Algae Mask was fine and fairly easy to take off. She did also end up stealing some of my moisture mask because I had extra and she liked how silky it felt.

After all that mask and drinks excitement, we lounged around in the lagoon for a while and after about 3 hours total in the pool, decided we were ready to head out. We walked out of the lagoon (feeling strangely heavy while doing so 🙂 ), grabbed our robes and went to relax in an area that’s past the women’s locker rooms on the second floor, above the cafe.

There were chairs there and a view of the lagoon. My Mom wanted a snack so after buying it at the cafe, she ate it there and we relaxed a little bit.

LOCKER ROOMS (AGAIN)

After that we headed back to the locker rooms. I’d brought my own bag for my wet swimsuit to the lagoon, but it turns out that wasn’t necessary. They had eco friendly bags available in a wall dispenser outside the showers. Nice! I took a shower, dried off and got dressed before leaving the locker room.

While waiting, I realized that The Blue Lagoon has free Wi-Fi. Nice 🙂 . After my Partner joined me he said that he’d used a little spin dryer that was in the men’s locker room to dry his clothes. WHAT?! I’d missed that and wish I hadn’t – that would have been very helpful. Soon after, my Mom joined us and we headed to check out.

CHECK OUT

Check out is in the same location as check in. You exit by once again scanning your band. If you have no extra charges you can go straight to the front where an employee asks you to scan your band on a little podium and if you get a green arrow you’re good to go.

If you did incur extra charges at the lagoon by buying extra food or drinks like my Mom did, she went to a kiosk on the wall to pay for those charges before being able to get a green arrow at the front. Once all that is done there’s a station to leave your wristbands behind.

I then quickly popped into the bathroom near the entrance and then we were off. Interestingly you have to walk through The Blue Lagoon skin care shop to leave (unless you want to go against the rules and go out the same way you came in despite the arrows, which goes against the fabric of my being 🙂 ). 

And then we were outside! There were walking paths around the lagoon with some sections that people aren’t allowed to swim in, which was cool to see.

After walking some of the paths and gawking at all the cool nature, we headed back up the path towards our rental car.

On the way back to the main road there’s a pull off where you can see the fresh lava fields up close. There are a lot of signs saying to not walk on the fields, but we did see people doing so, which sucks. Overall though it was cool to see ‘fresh’ lava up close.

After we got annoyed at people breaking the rules and possibly endangering themselves for selfies 😉 , we headed back to the car and onto our next journey.

Curiously when I hung up my bikini later that night, I noticed that there were black dots on the white parts of it that wouldn’t come off with a tide pen or soap. Luckily I book Airbnbs with washing machines and those dots came out when I washed it the next day so just a heads up if you have a similar experience and are pre-mourning your favorite bathing suit like I was – it’s going to be ok 🙂 .

Two days later we got an email with a 5 minute survey about our experience at the lagoon, which I filled out…I do love a survey 🙂 . 

WAS IT WORTH IT?

I am surprised to say that yes I do think this experience was worth $112.99 USD each for the Premium ticket. Adding the extra drinks, masks and robe on top of the regular “Comfort” cost seems fair and overall I felt very well taken care of during my stay.

There were staff members everywhere being helpful and directing us where we needed to go. There were also always multiple people cleaning the locker rooms to keep them as slip-free and tidy as possible and the wristband system was impressively seamless.

I also was impressed by all the extras everyone can enjoy, such as the sauna and steambath as well as the fact that these tickets include unlimited time in the lagoon. You can stay as long as you want and relax to your heart’s content. It does seem like a pretty good deal if you have a long layover at the KEF airport for example or are looking for place to just chill.

I was also surprised with the number of people in the lagoon. We arrived at 12pm on a Wednesday and the pool was at maybe 10% capacity. There were entire sections with no one in it – I loved it 🙂 . Also the fog in the lagoon helps in that you can’t see a lot of people even if they are near you 🙂 .

So yeah I think it’s worth it given all of the above, but if you’re looking for a natural hot spring without all the bells and whistles, they do still exist in almost every town for about $4 USD.

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Conclusion

And that was my experience at The Blue Lagoon! I went there originally to humor my Mom, but ended up having a lovely time. They’ve successfully converted me to their marketing 😉 . But seriously, the amount of amenities and different kinds of experiences you can have at The Blue Lagoon paired with wonderful service completely sold me. I’m excited to return the next time I’m in Iceland.

What’s your favorite relaxing experience?