A Reykjavík resident's guide to wellness - and geothermal pools

Icelanders have long known the secret to a calm life: hot water, cold air, and nowhere else to be. Perhaps it's time you tried it too.

Ask an Icelander why they go to the pool so often and they'll look at you strangely. The water's cheap, it's everywhere, and it works in every season. The habit started a century ago, when compulsory swimming lessons followed too many drownings at sea. It became the place the whole country unwinds. 

Wellness travel is catching up

Cold plunges, hot and cold contrast, digital detox: these are the trends dominating wellness travel right now. Reykjavík never needed a rebrand for any of it. It's been daily infrastructure since the 1930s, costs a few pounds a visit, and nobody here calls it biohacking. We call it going to the pool.

It's a habit, not an outing

Go once and you've had a nice afternoon. Go every week and you understand why locals do it: the pool becomes a fixed point in a day that otherwise has none. Reykjavík has 18 geothermal pools within easy reach, so pick the one nearest your hotel and become a regular.

The naked shower isn't up for debate

Yes, you shower with no swimsuit on, in a room full of strangers, before you're allowed anywhere near the water. It feels absurd for about ninety seconds. Then it stops being a thing, because it's the reason the water stays clean without being loaded with chlorine. Do it properly and nobody will look at you twice.

Hot, then cold, is the whole trick

Heat loosens tight muscles and slows your heart rate. Cold sharpens focus and lifts your mood. The contrast between the two resets you, forcing your body to think about nothing but temperature. For the full version, find a pool with sea access like Nauthólsvík and go straight from the ocean into the communal tub. 

Your phone stays in the locker

Photography isn't allowed in the changing rooms or the pool area, so for an hour you simply cannot check anything. No notifications, no scrolling, nothing to perform for. Most people pay for a digital detox retreat to get this but here, it´s a rule everyone's happy to abide by.

Good alone or together 

Don't wait for company. Half the appeal is sitting in silence with steam rising off the water and nobody expecting anything from you. But the pool is just as natural with a full group in tow: kids in the shallow end, grandparents in the hot pot, everyone drifting between the sauna, the steam room or the cold plunge.  

Strangers will talk to you, and that's fine

Icelanders don't do small talk everywhere, but the hot tub is the exception. Politics, the weather, relationships: it all gets discussed at eye level, in swimwear, where nobody's job title matters. That kind of regular, low-stakes contact with other people is its own quiet form of wellbeing, easy to lose in daily life and easy to find here. Sit down and join in, or don't. Both are acceptable.

UNESCO says this is now a big deal

In late 2025, Iceland's swimming pool culture was added to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage, its first independent entry on the list. The listing recognises that these pools are public spaces where everyone meets as equals, and that this daily ritual is worth protecting, not just enjoying.