Soaking in the Blue Lagoon

When it came time to leave the ION Hotel and head south to the Blue Lagoon (and eventually the airport), the road we took to come from Reykjavik three days earlier was closed due to snow and ice conditions. Fortunately, my trusty driver Maron was able to use an alternate route to come get me and deliver me safely to the next stop on my itinerary. Despite the brilliant blue sky and the fact that it wasn’t snowing, even the “safe road,” was kinda blowy.

My next stop was the Silica Hotel next door to (and owned by) the Blue Lagoon. Both the Blue Lagoon and the hotel are right smack dab in the middle of a lava field, next to the Svartsengi Geothermal Plant. But, of course, you knew that. This might be the strangest situated hotel I have ever stayed at.

A clearing was literally carved into the lava to make room for the hotel. It’s about 1 pm in this photo and you can see by the angle of the sun, it is already starting to set.

Despite the stark setting, there’s an awesome secret to the Silica that I’ll hold until the next post. For now … Blue Lagoon. I dropped my bags at Silica, picked up my entrance ticket to the Blue Lagoon which was part of the package, and headed down the walking path to the Blue Lagoon facility about a 10-minute walk away.

I say “facility” because let’s not pretend I’m going to stumble upon a natural hot spring. Blue Lagoon is a manmade concrete pond along with changing rooms, showers, a gift shop, a fancy dining room, and conference facilities. But you wouldn’t know that following this deserted, snowy path through the lava field. It was brutally cold but then as the sun began to set. I just kept my head down hoping I was really on a path that would take me somewhere very, very warm. Eventually, I did stumble upon a pond of blue water as I approached the lagoon.

And then, eventually, the Blue Lagoon itself! You enter the facility through the front door, pass the gift shop, line up to buy your ticket/exchange your pass and receive a towel, a robe, a pair of flip flops, and a wristband to control your locker and use as a credit card for goodies yet to come. After a mandatory naked shower (I’ll leave that to your imagination), I left everything in my locker and headed to the pool. Well not everything; I put my swimsuit on.

One minor regret of the visit is that I did not bring a waterproof phone case to take in-pool photos of the event. Everyone around me seemed to have done this and I have to agree that it would have been a good idea. The water was warm (some places hot) and milky as a result of the silica and minerals. My entrance package included a drink at the swim up bar, so I made my way over there to order a glass of wine and proceeded to float around on my own.

Honestly, it’s a bit of weird experience on your own. While I enjoy traveling on my own, visiting the Blue Lagoon is probably something you should do with others to truly get a kick out of the experience. Girls’ spa weekend, anyone??

At least where I was, the bottom of the pools appeared to be concrete. And the depth ranged from chest level on me to more shallow areas where it raised up to meet the surrounding lava field. After finishing the wine, I floated over to the “facial booth.” My entrance ticket also included silica and algae masks, but as far as I could see everyone had access to this. A guy in the booth scooped a clump of mud into your hands and you spread it over your face looking like a goof; eventually rinsing it off after ten minutes or so. This is one of those times where it’s gotta be a lot more fun experiencing this with others. Nonetheless, my face felt AWESOME. For days. I would go back for the masks. Enough said. But everyone really should come away from the Blue Lagoon with a selfie of “mask face.” Sadly, I did not.

After an hour or so, I hauled my butt out of the pool and made my way back through the maze of corridors to my locker.  Dried off, got dressed, and headed back to Silica. Stay tuned for the Silica reveal.