Pack Your Bathing Suit for Winter in Iceland

If it steams and smells like rotten eggs, cautiously slip in. If it bubbles and regularly spouts in the air, definitely back away. These were a couple of the tips from the locals, as well as advice on how to avoid a dislocated shoulder while traveling during winter in Iceland.

Although my travel destinations often follow the sun and take me toward the equator, when my friend, John, asked me to join him on an adventure to chase the northern lights in Iceland, I didn’t hesitate. As a concession to my need for all things warm and the northern lights’ fickle nature, we adjusted the focus of our March trip toward discovering hike-in hot springs. If the northern lights decided to show themselves while we were there, we’d consider it a bonus.

Armed with the Alltrails app and some basic internet research, I came up with lots of possibilities to ensure my warmth, to satisfy John’s need for adventure, and to keep his beard filled with icicles throughout the trip.

I was first put on notice of Iceland’s harsh weather before we even boarded our flight from Washington DC when Icelandair called us the day before to say that flights would likely be canceled on our travel day because of high winds in Reykjavik. We scrambled, jumped on a flight that evening, and extended our trip by a day.

Yet another warning about the north Atlantic winds came from our pilot, giving the usual pre-landing spiel, when he cautioned, “Get to your destination by 10:00 this morning before the winds come in.” I did a mental check, ski pants, waterproof jacket, face mask, gloves, hiking boots, and bathing suit — all the things I’ll need to brave this weather — and soak in the hot springs. I got this.

We rented a car at the airport. Not something that I would actually recommend to most people traveling the southeast coast of Iceland during the winter. But, John drives a firetruck through downtown DC for a living, so keeping a rental car between the lines in the blowing snow was within his skillset — not mine. We waded through the slush in the rental car parking lot, got the four wheel drive vehicle, and noticed that the gas cap cover was missing. Naturally, we pointed it out before driving away. Again, came the weather warnings. The rental car agent casually says, that’s typical, and oh also make sure to roll down the windows to check the wind direction before opening the car door. One of the big tourist injuries this time of year in Iceland is having your shoulder pulled out of joint when you hold on to the car door, and the wind catches it. Okay, I can do that — no problem.

It’s a snowy trek upriver but worth it

After settling into a comfortable day of jet lag recovery — it was a bonus day after all — melting into the hotel sauna and then exploring the capital city on foot, we started our hiking adventures on day two and decided to check out the popular Reykjadalu River hot springs trail. When you Google hot springs hikes near Reykjavik, this is seriously the first one that comes up, but on a snowy day in March the parking lot at the starting point was empty. Given all the warning signs and the fact that no one else was brave enough — come on, let’s just be honest and say foolish enough — to be here, we suited up including shoe spikes and hiking poles, and sent our destination and timing to a more responsible friend who could trigger the alert if we didn’t return.

This is a 5 mile loop up the river valley, passing by bubbling mud and steaming pools along the way. About halfway up the trail we came to a set of wooden platforms along the riverbank, and steam rising from the river itself. This is where the hot springs flow into the clear, cold river water, creating a series of pools where you can move up or downstream to adjust your soaking temperature. Swim, crawl, wade or walk up river toward the hot water source and the temperature is well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. A nice contrast to the blowing, snowing air temperatures well below 20 degrees F on this day.

Although we saw a few other people post-holing through the snow to get here, we were only joined in the river by two others who had just been trail riding on the adorable, furry Icelandic horses at a stable nearby. As it is, whenever you’re sharing a warm refuge from harsh weather with fellow travelers, we exchanged our stories while soaking neck deep in the warm water. Isla was the German who came to Iceland for work as a horseback guide and stayed because of her love of the Icelandic horses and the people. Mariam was a Canadian tourist, and the sole member of her tour group who was adventurous enough to stick around and hike to the hot springs that morning. Our conversation drifted from past travels to recommendations for future hikes, and eventually into relaxing sighs as we settled into the magical scene of snow falling around us, warm water rolling over rock ledges, and steam drifting up the river valley.

As you may have guessed though, the only way to return to our car was to eventually get out of this oasis and back into our hiking clothes. The trick with cold weather soaking is to keep your clothes dry, not so easy with the snow piling up steadily. But it had to happen, so with my core warmed by the river, and my clothes bundled inside my waterproof jacket and pants, it wasn’t too traumatic re-entering the windswept world and trekking back to our starting point.

For the love of waffles

I really cannot emphasize enough how delicious a post-hike waffle is. I didn’t even know it’s what I needed, but our hotel did. Every afternoon between 3:00–4:00, the Northern Lights hotel serves warm waffles with jam, cream, and other delicious accompaniments in their lobby. Apparently, it’s a national addiction, and one I’m completely in favor of.

After several days exploring the hikes and waterfalls near the southern peninsula region, we left this comfortable lodge to head along the south coast toward Hella. Winter driving in Iceland is like an adrenaline sport of its own. After passing quite a few cars, trucks, and tourist vans off the road and in the snow banks, we decided it was time for John to take a break from the intense steering wheel grip and divert slightly inland to the Secret Lagoon. This was the only commercial hot spring we visited on our trip, and we arrived at the perfect time since there was a tourist bus loading up to leave when we pulled into the parking lot. So, it’s not as secret as the name might imply.

This is more like an ultra-natural warm swimming pool, surrounded by rock walls, bubbling pools, and a spouting geyser compliments of the geo-thermal springs that feed it. Though there were other bathers in this really big pool at times the steam was so thick we couldn’t see beyond a few feet in front of us, and the peaceful quiet made it feel like we had the place to ourselves. That’s really what we were still in search of. A true, solitary hot spring.

When the Secret Lagoon isn’t quite secret enough

So, I turned back to Alltrails, a 21st Century, technological response for finding the perfect, ancient hidden pool. We weren’t under the illusion that we were going to discover the ultimate soaking spot, known only to locals, but we were looking for someplace a little more remote and difficult to find. The description of Seljavallalaug as Iceland’s oldest man-made pool, heated by a natural hot spring, and nestled in an area near the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano, seemed like exactly what we were looking for.

We were encouraged by the frozen road that led us to a rutted turn around with a single track path at its end, and no other cars in sight. The path led us up a steep ravine that crossed back and forth over the cold, boulder strewn stream to an almost 100-year-old, rectangular pool built into the cliffside. The evident history of this simple pool and abandoned looking rock and cement “changing rooms” had us pretty excited. We had found the hidden, private hot springs spot we’d been searching for. Except for the fact that in March, this pool, fed by a single warm water rivulet, felt to be about 50 degrees. No amount of good sportsmanship or sense of adventure was going to get me into that water, particularly with icicles covering the rock walls surrounding us.

But, the ravine was beautiful, and the path continued, so we kept our bathing suits in our packs and wandered further up taking in the picturesque, streamside views until we spotted steam rising from a small ledge about 15 feet up the cliffside. Naturally we scrambled up to explore what possibilities it might have for us. That’s how we found it, truly off the beaten path, above the clear water rushing down this narrow canyon of ice and rock was a little pool created by bathers before us. A few rocks and some moss had been used to add height to the ledge wall and contain enough hot water, flowing out of the cliffside, to create a soaking pool just big enough for two.

Success. This was the spot we had come to Iceland for. Though this trail is probably much busier in the summer when temperatures in the bigger Seljavallalaug pool are tolerable, and this little spot is likely to be found by others, in March we had it all to ourselves. I had fulfilled my need to stay warm while trekking in the land of fire and ice, and John had found all the adventure, beard clinging icicles, and even the northern lights that he’d come for as well.

If you go, some of my recommendations:

Northern Light Inn — https://www.nli.is/

Hotel Ranga — https://hotelranga.is/

Secret Lagoon — https://secretlagoon.is/

Seljavallalau pool — https://guidetoiceland.is/travel-iceland/drive/seljavallalaug

AllTrails — https://alltrails.com/