Mývatn Nature Baths vs Forest Lagoon vs GeoSea
Forest Lagoon if you're based in Akureyri, Mývatn Nature Baths on a lake day, GeoSea after whales in Húsavík. Vök only on an east-bound Ring Road trip.
The short version
- Forest Lagoon is five minutes from Akureyri, in woodland across the fjord. The easiest soak in the north.
- Mývatn Nature Baths, now renamed Earth Lagoon, is the milky-blue one above the lake. Check it's open for your dates.
- GeoSea is heated seawater on a clifftop in Húsavík, looking over Skjálfandi Bay. Tickets from €55.
- Vök, near Egilsstaðir, is a day's drive east. On our tours it appears as an optional stop on multi-day Ring Road trips.
- None is better in absolute terms. Pick the one on the road you're already on.
Pick by where you’re sleeping. In Akureyri, go to the Forest Lagoon: it’s five minutes from town, and you can do it on the evening you arrive. On a Mývatn day, soak at the lake. In Húsavík after a whale boat, GeoSea. They’re all good. The mistake is driving an hour to reach one when another is on your way.
Our hot springs guide compares the pools around Reykjavík. This one is only about the north.
Forest Lagoon, Akureyri
The newest of the three, opened in 2022 in Vaðlaskógur, the birch and spruce wood on the far side of Eyjafjörður from Akureyri. Two infinity pools look back across the water at the town. There’s a swim-up bar, a sauna and a cold plunge. It’s built for comfort, and it feels like it: clean, calm, a bit polished.
Its advantage is geography. If you’re in Akureyri without a car, a taxi takes minutes. If you’re on a ship, Star Travel’s Goðafoss and the Forest Lagoon, from €194, pairs it with Goðafoss in four hours with lagoon entry included, which is about as much as a port day needs.
The downside is that it’s the one with the least sense of place. You’re in a forest, not a volcanic landscape.
Mývatn Nature Baths (Earth Lagoon)
The north’s original lagoon, on a hillside at Jarðbaðshólar just east of Reykjahlíð. Milky-blue geothermal water in a pool edged with rough lava, with a view over the lake and the steaming flanks of Námafjall. It’s the one that looks most like the pictures people have in their heads of Iceland.
It has been rebuilt and renamed Earth Lagoon Mývatn. During the works at least one operator was sending groups to the Forest Lagoon instead, so check it’s open on your dates before you plan a day around it.
Two ways to get there on a tour:
- Star Travel’s All in one Mývatn day, from €293, nine hours from Akureyri by minibus. It runs Goðafoss, Mývatn, Dettifoss and Selfoss, with entry to the Earth Lagoon or the Forest Lagoon included. That is a long, full day, not a soak with a view.
- Mývatn Activity’s Bike and Bath, from €138, three hours from the lake. You cycle past the underground bread ovens and an old steam-bath cave, then soak for about an hour. Bike and entry included. The better choice if you’re already staying at Mývatn.
The downside: from Akureyri it’s around 90 minutes each way. Worth it as part of a Mývatn day. Not worth it on its own.
GeoSea, Húsavík
GeoSea is different water. It’s seawater, heated by the ground, in pools built into the headland just north of Húsavík’s harbour. You look west over Skjálfandi Bay to the mountains, and on a clear day the Arctic Circle is out there somewhere on the horizon. The salt makes you float a little. It’s smaller and plainer than the other two, and the view does the work.
You don’t need a tour. The GeoSea ticket, from €55, books a time slot. It fits neatly after a whale-watching boat from Húsavík. Our guide to Húsavík or Eyjafjörður whales covers the boats.
The downside: on a windy day on that headland, getting from the changing room to the water is a real test. Also, Húsavík is an hour from Akureyri. If you’re not going there for the whales, it’s a long way for a bath.
Vök Baths, East Iceland
Vök is on Lake Urriðavatn, a few minutes from Egilsstaðir, with pools that float on the lake itself. It’s the one to pick if you’re driving the Ring Road east from Mývatn and want a soak at the end of that long day. It’s around two hours from the lake by road.
We don’t sell a stand-alone Vök ticket. It appears as an optional activity on multi-day trips such as BusTravel Iceland’s 6 Day Iceland Ring Road, from €1,824 with five nights’ hotels. Vök is extra and optional there, not part of the price.
Our honest take
If you only do one, and you’re based in Akureyri, do the Forest Lagoon. It’s the easiest by a distance and you can go twice. If you have a car and a Mývatn day planned, the lake lagoon is the one we’d choose: the lava, the steam and the view make it feel like the north. GeoSea is for Húsavík days. Vök is for Ring Road drivers heading east.
Don’t try to collect all of them. Each is a two-hour soak and a hot shower. Doing two in a day is mostly driving and drying your hair.
