Blue Lagoon, Iceland
Bláa lónið
Interesting facts
- Although nothing disinfects it artificially, the lagoon's water carries no faecal or environmental bacteria, fungi or plants; its chemistry keeps them out.
- Researchers isolated a previously unknown bacterium from the water and named it Silicibacter lacuscaerulensis, Latin for the blue lake it came from.
- In 1981 a young local man with psoriasis noticed his skin improving after repeated baths, which started decades of medical interest in the water.
- A psoriasis clinic opened beside the lagoon in 1994, and studies found that bathing combined with UVB light therapy markedly eased symptoms.
- The fluid that ends up in the lagoon rises from deep underground at about 240 °C and under high pressure before the power plant extracts its heat.
- Silica settling out of the runoff gradually seals the porous lava, so the power plant has to keep digging new ponds to get rid of its water.
- Since 1995 the lagoon's silica, algae and minerals have been turned into a line of skincare products sold under the lagoon's own name.
- Despite its salt and mineral load, the water is close to neutral, with an average pH of about 7.5.
- The lagoon lies at the foot of Mount Þorbjörn, the low mountain that rises just north of the fishing town of Grindavík.
Why it is worth it
The Blue Lagoon is not a lake shaped by nature but an accident of engineering that turned out to be beautiful. When the Svartsengi geothermal power plant began operating on the Reykjanes Peninsula in 1976, its spent brine was released into the surrounding lava field, and within a short time the runoff had gathered into pools. The water was too rich in dissolved silica to seep away through the porous rock, and it settled into an opaque, milky blue that looks unreal against the black, moss-covered lava. People began bathing in it; formal bathing facilities opened in 1987, and the company that runs the lagoon today was set up in 1992.
The colour comes from silica. Suspended particles scatter sunlight so that the water glows pale turquoise on bright days and turns almost chalky under cloud, while the same silica precipitates into a soft white mud on the bottom and along the lava edges, which bathers smear on their faces. The water is roughly as salty as a weak brine, about 2.5 per cent, carries blue-green algae, and is renewed about every two days. In the bathing area it stays at 37–39 °C, so steam drifts off the surface in all weather and the scene is at its most striking in winter, with snow on the lava and the plant's towers breathing in the distance.
The lagoon has become one of the most visited places in Iceland — around 1.3 million people came in 2017 — and it is also a vivid window onto the restless ground of the peninsula. Since late 2023 the Sundhnúkur fissures to the north-east have erupted repeatedly; in November 2024 lava flowed into the car park, and the long earthen barriers built around the site held it back from the pools. Those raw new walls of rock and the fresh lava beside them are now part of the landscape around the lagoon.
Getting there
The lagoon lies in the lava field about 5 km from the fishing town of Grindavík and about 14 km from Reykjanesbær. Keflavík International Airport (KEF) is about 14 km away in a straight line, roughly 20 km by road, which is why many travellers stop here on arrival or departure. There is a car park at the site.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa in southwestern Iceland. The spa is located in a lava field 5 km (3.1 mi) from Grindavík and in front of Mount Þorbjörn on the Reykjanes Peninsula, in a location favourable for geothermal power, and is supplied by water used in the nearby Svartsengi geothermal power station. The Blue Lagoon is approximately 20 km (12 mi) from Keflavík International Airport, and is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Iceland.
Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
63.87920, -22.44552per Wikidata