The best way to visit the infamous Blue Lagoon is either when you’re travelling from or to Keflavík International Airport. That’s why my mum an I visited the Blue Lagoon the first moment we arrived on Iceland; with no further ado I’m kicking off my Iceland posts with a description of the geothermal spa.

How to get there?

I already touched upon this subject a little bit. The best way to get there is when you’re travelling from or to Keflavík International Airport. It’s obviously also possible to drive fifty minutes from Reykjavík and return back to Reykjavík. The Blue Lagoon is kind of made for people travelling with their suitcases. Therefore, the first building you enter is to deposit large luggage items.

For those, like us, not renting a car. The best way to get to the Blue Lagoon is by Flybus. Flybus takes you to the Blue Lagoon at certain times & drives from the Blue Lagoon to Reykjavik at certain times. You can tell the driver which hotel you’re staying at and he will drop you off as close as possible.

I booked our entrance ticket for Blue Lagoon when I booked the Flybus ticket, that way you get a bit of discount. This is just the plain vanilla ticket, so if you would like a tower or bathrobe you can pay at the additional cost at the entrance.

What to do when you’re there?

A bit of a silly question maybe, I mean what can you do at a geothermal spa? You just soak.

Upon arrival, we purchased the tower extension and made our way to the small locker / changing rooms. In the blogging community, I read a lot of worried stories about having to undress in public as there are no changing rooms and also that the initial shower should be done in the nude. I don’t have much trouble with undressing in public, what I didn’t like was how tight the rooms with lockers are. If multiple people are undressing, there is no room to leave your stuff. Especially bulky wintery stuff. The same goes for dressing, which is even worse because you’re wet and have to dry off somehow without touching people.

The shower can be done in little cabins; so the nakedness there is limited. A tip from the pros is to put conditioner in your hair because even though the water in Blue Lagoon is good for your body it’s killing for your hair. I simply made sure not to get my hair wet.

You can book massages, go into different sauna rooms, or – as we did – just chill in the main outside pools with a complimentary silica mud mask on our faces. We did silly photo shoots as well with the mud on our faces, unfortunately the photos didn’t come out great. As you can see there was a lot of smoke and mist. Most of my photos are a bit of a fail. Still, they give you a good idea of what it looks like.

What is the Blue Lagoon?

The warm waters of this man-made lagoon are rich in minerals like silica and sulfur and bathing in the Blue Lagoon is reputed to help some people suffering from skin diseases such as psoriasis. The water temperature in the bathing and swimming area of the lagoon averages 37–39 °C. I can tell you, these temperatures feel especially nice in the winter.

This is where things in my mind get a bit iffy. The lagoon is fed by the water output of the nearby geothermal power plant Svartsengi. I just have to keep in mind the water is supposedly really good, the fact that it’s not natural and comes from a plant shouldn’t make a difference.

Conclusion

The Blue Lagoon is a must-visit when coming to Iceland. Especially in winter, when outside temperatures can reach -14 °C. The lagoon is a great way to heat up and to just relax before or after a flight. Next time I visit Iceland, I will try to visit a natural hot spring. I can imagine that would be amazing as well!

Have you ever visited the Blue Lagoon? If not, would you like to?