Located near the airport most people visit the
Blue Lagoon upon arrival or just before departure. Since we arrived late at night and were leaving on an early morning flight we bundled up and boarded a Reykjavik Excursions bus for the one hour drive through flat, wide expanses of lava fields to the Blue Lagoon on our second day in Reykjavik.
Reykjavik Excursions is the main tour outfit in the city. With a large fleet of buses they are seen all around town day and night, picking up and dropping off visitors for Blue Lagoon, Golden Circle or Northern Lights tours. They are punctual, accommodating and knowledgeable.
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| on several occasions Sofia wanted to make sure someone held onto her so she wouldn't blow away! |
The girls were not thrilled with an hour long drive, through rain, snow and hail, but were suitably impressed when they saw the light blue water surrounded by the black lava stones.
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| arriving at the Blue Lagoon during a snow storm |
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| Blue Lagoon entrance |
The Blue Lagoon has a lot of visitors but it doesn't feel crowded. Upon entry you are given a wristband that is used to charge your purchases (food, drink, towels, etc.) while visiting and lets you lock/unlock lockers. There is a nice, sit-down restaurant or a little cafe for a quick lunch. The cafe has smoothies, sandwiches, paninis, chips, snack mix, fruit, beer and wine.
After a quick lunch we changed, showered and made a mad dash from the building to the warm water. At first Sofia said she was not going to swim... partly because children under nine years old must wear arm floaties (provided). We gave her the option of sitting inside by herself or freezing outside while we were in the warm water... within minutes she was laughing and enjoying the water. The water is opaque due to the minerals, you can't see your hand just below the water's surface (the reason for floaties on younger children). This is the first pool I've been to where the lifeguards are wearing parkas!
The lagoon is man-made, 3-5 foot deep geothermal spa. We spent most of our time crouched down with our heads just out of the water. We drifted around the lagoon finding hot spots and mud stations where we smeared our faces with mineral rich mud... it was too cold to leave any other body part exposed. Visitors are advised to put their hair up to keep it from getting wet and freezing but that's pretty hard to avoid. There is one swim-up bar serving smoothies, green juices, beer, wine and algae 'ice cubes' to further enhance youthful skin.
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| view of the bathing lagoon from the cafe |
We spent about an hour and a half in the pool before catching the bus
back to Reykjavik (Reykjavik Excursion buses leave the Blue Lagoon at 15
minutes after every hour.)
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| leaving the Blue Lagoon... same day |
Later that night Richard, Jayne, Annabel, Simon and I boarded the bus at 10pm to hunt for Northern Lights. After an hour long drive we stopped somewhere in the middle of the darkness, stood with 200 or so other souls who were crazy enough to be out in the cold in the middle of the night watching the night sky. We waited and watched, cameras poised, for an hour and tried not to be annoyed by people using flashlights and flashes in the dark before returning bleary eyed to Reykjavik and our warm beds.
At 5pm every evening Reykjavik Excursions makes the call based on weather and Northern Light forecasts whether the hunt will go on. Hotels and guests who have made tour reservations are notified by email. If an evening hunt has been canceled registered guests are welcome to sign up for the next outing. Our first night was canceled but the second night we got lucky. There was not a big show and it was not considered a sighting so we are eligible for another trip within the next year.
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| the best photo I got using a 30 second exposure |
