Hot springs beyond the Blue Lagoon — Secret Lagoon, Fontana, Mývatn and Krauma
Four geothermal pools that aren't the Blue Lagoon, which tour gets you to each, and which one we'd actually pick for a Golden Circle or North Iceland day.
The Blue Lagoon is a good pool that everyone has heard of. It’s also one of the most expensive soaks in the country and the busiest. Iceland has geothermal water almost everywhere, and four other pools are worth building a day around. Here’s which one suits which trip.
Secret Lagoon, Flúðir
The oldest swimming pool in Iceland, from 1891, in the village of Flúðir just south of the Golden Circle. One big natural pool at around 38–40°C, with a small geyser bubbling beside it. Plain changing rooms, no swim-up bar, no silica masks. That’s the point.
It slots onto a Golden Circle day without a detour. BusTravel Iceland’s Golden Circle & Secret Lagoon Tour is ten hours from €114 with the pool stop included; Arctic Adventures runs a nine-hour version from €135.
The downside: it’s popular with the same coaches you’re on, so mid-afternoon it can be busy. And the pool is one temperature — no cold plunge, no steam.
Fontana, Laugarvatn
Also on the Golden Circle, on the lake at Laugarvatn. Fontana is a built spa: several pools at different temperatures, steam rooms sitting over a natural hot spring so the steam rises through the floor, and a cold lake to jump into. They bake rye bread in the hot sand on the shore. Arctic Adventures’ Golden Circle & Laugarvatn Fontana small-group tour is eight and a half hours from €170.
The downside: dearer than Secret Lagoon and less wild. It’s a spa with a lake view, not a pool in a field.
Mývatn Nature Baths, North Iceland
The north’s answer to the Blue Lagoon: a milky-blue lagoon on a hillside above Lake Mývatn, with a view over the lake and lava fields. Smaller, quieter and cheaper than the Blue Lagoon. You need to be in the north — Akureyri is the base. BusTravel Iceland’s Mývatn, Waterfall, Hot Springs & Volcanoes tour from Akureyri is six hours from €156 and builds the soak into a loop with Goðafoss and the volcanic ground around the lake.
The downside: it’s a long way from Reykjavík. It only makes sense on a Ring Road trip or if you’re flying north.
Krauma, West Iceland
Krauma sits beside Deildartunguhver in Borgarfjörður, a hot spring that pushes out more water than any other in Europe. Small, modern, several pools plus a cold tub and a quiet room with a fire. We don’t currently list a tour that stops there — it works best from a rental car on the way to or from Snæfellsnes. If you want a guided West Iceland bathing day, Arctic Adventures’ Silver Circle & Húsafell Canyon Baths is ten hours from €199 and puts you in a canyon pool near Húsafell instead.
Our honest take
Doing the Golden Circle anyway? Add Secret Lagoon if you want cheap and simple, Fontana if you want steam rooms and a cold lake. We’d pick Fontana — the range of temperatures makes a soak last longer. Heading north? Mývatn Nature Baths is the one; skip the Blue Lagoon and put the money there. Krauma is for self-drivers only. The tradeoff with all four is that none is near the airport. The Blue Lagoon’s real advantage is that it’s twenty minutes from Keflavík, and if your only free hours are between landing and hotel check-in, it still wins on logistics.
