Blue Lagoon is famous for a reason, but Sky Lagoon may offer more.
happen upon a turf house , or torfbæir as they ’re call inIcelandic , is a merriment surprisal . The origins of the wooden star sign construction date all the way back to the first Norse settlements in 870 . Some appear like steady houses with gage growing on top ( actually turf packed with volcanic ash tree ) , others are so engraft into the landed estate that you do n’t actualise that they are actual homes until you see the wooden vizor sticking out . blot them without setting and you might think they belong to to elves , or , more appropriately to the country , Huldufólk , orIceland ’s hidden citizenry .
If you want to really wanton in one , you ’re going to want to head toSky Lagoon , the thermal bathtub that opened just outdoors of Reykjavík in 2021 . Here you ’ll not only get a piece of the country ’s prospicient washup custom , but also its cultural heritage .
This August they completed their own sod house as an file name extension of the resort hotel . “ We used an expert called Guðjón S. Kristinsson , ” say Ragnheiður Harpa Haraldsdóttir , Sky Lagoon ’s guest experience and marketing manager , who tells me to call her Heidi . “ He ’s one of the few mass in Iceland that still know the turf house barter . ” Kristinsson sourced his turf from Iceland ’s Reykjanes peninsula , where it contain so much volcanic ash its compact consistence is similar to concrete , provide copious insulation . And the legitimacy extends to the constructor himself . “ He is exactly the way that you would think a person that builds turf sign of the zodiac would be , ” says Heidi . dress in a woolen shirt , with crazy hair , and speak only very harsh Icelandic . ”
Sky Lagoon feels like it blends with the ocean.|Courtesy of Sky Lagoon by Pursuit
While the pandemic was a speculative time for many raw businesses to open , Sky Lagoon ’s opening was almost causeless . People were itching for something newfangled to experience , especially in the out-of-doors . “ Sky Lagoon opened up and became the one fresh affair people could do , ” allege Heidi . “ Everyone had just been in their sweats look on Netflix for geezerhood at that point probably , and when they realized that this was happening , it just became a phenomenon . ”
It open on the last day in April 2021 , and that May was the most sunny month in the story of Mays , she tell me . At the same sentence a volcano started erupting , which you could see from the lagoon . “ So you were literally in the lagoon watch out a vent erupt from a dead safe length with sunny , nice weather outside , after you had just been interlace up in your elbow room , ” she enunciate . “ So you may imagine the experience , and the emotions . ”
In Iceland, Everyone Has a Björk Story
It never feels like you’re far away from Iceland’s most famous resident in Reykjavík, particularly when you’re soaking in its pools and hot tubs.
It also helps that the lagune is arresting . Sky Lagoon was created with the experience of piazza in head . Volcanic boulder were bring in for the construction , create an atmosphere both unreal and natural . There are grottos , a waterfall , and a swim - up bar . The urine itself is vitreous silica clean-cut . But the focal point is the infinity pond , 230 feet along the length , which drop into the ocean , create a seamless transition , making it sense like you ’re soaking on the border of the world . The view is sublime . From the shelf you could spot all mode of seabirds and if you stay long enough , maybe a Navy SEAL .
The turf family is the home of the fresh - unveil Skjól wellness ritual — admit with the price of admission — which incorporates seven wellness step rooted in Icelandic heritage . Acclimate to the lagune , then shock your system with a frigid plunge . Then it ’s on to the Ylur sauna where you ’re encouraged to stay a while — it features the largest individual - pane glass windowpane in Iceland .
After the sauna it ’s onto a cold mist , then a body scrubbing and the steam room . It ’s capped off with an “ elixir ” made from the gloomy - black antioxidant - rich crowberries , which dot the lava fields . Then it ’s back to the lagune where , if you require to undo all of it , you may drown up to the cake and pass the rest period of the fourth dimension soaking with anÚlfrún IPAin bridge player .
The turf house addition.|Courtesy of Sky Lagoon by Pursuit
The advent of artificial lagoons
Heidi likes to say that if your bathing suit obtain ironical while visit Iceland , you ’re not doing it mightily . inebriate in water is implant in the culture . Even more , she order , Icelanders think of entree to unpaid piss as basically a human rightfield . “ If there ’s 150 the great unwashed that go in a Ithiel Town , we will be talking about there needing to be a swimming consortium , ” she says . Children study to splosh around as early as 3 months old — there ’s even a word for it , ungbarnasund , or babe swim . And for adults , chew the fat a pool or washup house is less about wellness than a way of being , originally stem from keeping fond on winter nights , and learning to swim as part of fishing culture . “ washup is like healing for the mind and the body , and it ’s also something that became important to us when people were plainly getting all their food from fish , ” says Heidi . “ love how to drown was very authoritative just for survival of the fittest . ”
In addition to over 100 swim pools for its population of just over 350,000 , Iceland has around 45 natural hot spring . This is the happy final result of sitting on the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates , which meet at the Mid - Atlantic Ridge . Sky Lagoon ’s structure is artificial , with volcanic boulders shipped in , but the water source taps into the island ’s geothermic natural process . The most famous artificial lagoon of them all , however , the Blue Lagoon , is the result of an stroke .
The Blue Lagoon was first describe in the 1970s , its chromaticity the direct upshot of the nearby Svartsengi Geothermal Power Plant . The water from the plant was theorize to seep back through the lava into the volcanic aquifer , but the high compactness of slick silica made drain unmanageable . Soon a body of piddle was created — one rich in silica , algae , and minerals , which quickly get bunch who find not just a sense of calm air , but relievo from conditions like psoriasis .
In 1999 a schematic spa facility opened at the location , the milky blue hue a striking contrast to the surrounding black lava fields . A little over a decennary after National Geographic would call it one of the lifelike wonders of the man . Today there are two hotels on premises for you to spend your days in silica if the whimsey off but , located near to Keflavik Airport it ’s also a best-loved position to overcharge on a stopover . It ’s also earned itself a speckle on our tilt of themost traffic tourist attraction . ( We have it an 8/10 in current vibes . )
As it ’s a given that you ’re going to soak as the Icleanders do on your vacation now the interrogative sentence is , which laguna is respectable for you ? Well , that ’s where we arrive in .
Sky Lagoon vs. Blue Lagoon. Which one is right for me?
Cost
The entry fee for Blue Lagoon crop from $ 73 to $ 121 . The grim tier includes a deglutition and silica mud mask at the Mask Bar , with amenities added on from there .
The entrance fee for Sky Lagoon get in two tiers : $ 76 and $ 98 . Both include the Skjól ritual , while the gamey cost ply admittance to private change suite . For a more Icelandic experience , prefer for the cheaper communal changing rooms . “ The traditional means in Iceland is you just have the male and the distaff rooms , and everyone is kind of naked in front of each other , and no one really trouble oneself , ” says Heidi .
Size and facilities
At 94,000 square feet in size , the Blue Lagoon is monumental . That means more people than Sky Lagoon , but also more room to distribute out . Sky Lagoon is much smaller , but in our persuasion , that create a quieter , more intimate experience . This is also a personal preference , but we also prefer exonerated water to the milky hue . You never bang what ’s go on under there .
Age restrictions
Blue Lagoon allows youngster maturate 2 to 13 gratis of boot . child under 13 are not allowed in Sky Lagoon .
Accommodations
There are no overnight accommodations at Sky Lagoon . The Blue Lagoon has two hotels , the more single Silica hotel , which has its own secret blue lagoon , and 62 - room Retreat . Both have unlimited approach to lagoons .
Food and drink
Both the Blue Lagoon and Sky Lagoon have swim - up bars with a 3 - drink uttermost ( a politics limitation ) . And both have restaurants which you ’ll have to leave the piss of the lagoons to experience .
At the Blue Lagoon there ’s the Spa Restaurant , where you could dine on light transportation like salads and ceviche while enjoying a view of the lagune . There ’s also the Lava Restaurant , with hearty transportation like lamb , beef , and pod .
nutrient at Sky Lagoon include Sky Café for coffee and a quick bite , and Smakk Bar with local Icelandic disk include taste like reindeer , porc and goose dotty game pâté , and pickled herring . Food is all locally source . “ Part of the magic spell of Iceland is not having Starbucks or McDonald ’s and in reality have local companies , ” say Heidi . “ So we take up that quite seriously when choosing our vendors . ”
An aerial view of the Blue Lagoon|John Moore/ Getty Images News
Wellness offerings
Sky Lagoon includes the seven - step Skjol ritual . There ’s also a falls , which you are encouraged to experience for a full - dead body sensory experience .
Silica can damage your hair , so you ’re apprise to keep your head above water at the Blue Lagoon . However everyone gets at least one silica mask at the Mask Bar . In addition , you may opt for excess in - urine massages and air bladder therapy , as well as a massage at The Retreat spa .
Before Sky Lagoon, the vast majority of tourists visiting Iceland passed through the hot springs of the Blue Lagoon.|SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Imags
See if you can spot a seal from the Sky Lagoon sauna.|Courtesy of Sky Lagoon by Pursuit
Sky Lagoon at sunset.|Artur Debat/Moment/Getty Images
