Nine Tips for Blue Lagoon from the Humble Perspective of Three Jet-Lagged Americans

1.) Pack clarifying shampoo. Laurel, Anna, and I made the mistake of being in vacation mode and going ahead and letting our hair down. We could not get the silica out of our hair for the whole week. It was sticky. It was gooey. It was a rock. We made do and hid our plastered hair under cute beanies.

 2.) Everyone is naked. Do not be alarmed. In the locker rooms anyway. Our prudish American group was initially startled, but we eventually stopped clutching our pearls and prepared for Blue Lagoon.

 3.) You are required to shower before you enter the pool. People are watching. To make sure you hop into a stall and shower, that is. These stalls offer body wash and conditioner. USE THE CONDITIONER before you get into the pool. It is your best chance to avoid statue-like hair the rest of the trip. Especially if you forget Tip #1.

4.) You can enter the pool through the spa area or take the stairs outside into the pool. If it’s freezing and/or hailing, which it usually is, go through the spa area.

5.) Right before you enter the pool, you hang up your robe and/or towel on a hook. The hooks are not in any way labeled, and ALL the towels and robes are white and identical. So how can you tell which one is yours when you come back? Do you enjoy drying off with strangers’ towels? Laurel was resourceful and wrapped her hook with a spare hair tie to differentiate her hook from everyone else’s. Anna and I quickly followed suit.

6.) Always remember that people are wearing white silica masks. If at any point you forget, you will be like Anna who gasped in trepidation thinking that White Walkers were wading towards her. Jet lag, geothermal heat, and wine will only contribute to you accepting that you are part of a storyline from Game of Thrones.

 7.) Skip the sauna. Hell hath no fury like this sauna. The three of us walked in, sat down, and walked right out - my toenails were on fire, and Anna experienced “symptoms of death.” 

8.) Make a reservation for the Lava restaurant. We lingered in the pool for five hours, which is more than enough time to be lingering anywhere. However, we were half an hour early for our reservation, but they still took care of us. Oh, and try the lamb. Iceland does lamb well.

 9.) Many websites we visited ahead of our vacation advised us to do Blue Lagoon as soon as we got out of the airport as it’s on the way to Reykjavik, and we’re glad we did! You should too! There was no better way to recover from being cramped in a plane for hours on end than floating around a geothermal pool and sipping strawberry wine.

P.S.: We went with the Premium option which included one drink, two masks (options include silica, mineral, or lava), and a meal at the Lava restaurant with a complimentary bottle of wine. It’s worth it!

Happy travels!