Iceland: Blue Lagoon & Peninsula

About 15 minutes away from the airport, you will be able to see the peninsula, light house, and Gunnuhver.  We realized that in Iceland, everyone is very bad at giving directions.  The rental car person told us we could not get lost, well we did.

As you head towards Reykjavik for about 10 minutes from the airport, you will see 3 cylinder shaped water towers that are red and white similar to candy canes on your right.  Turn right when you see it.  Follow the road and you will see a sign towards the hot spring.

If you see a Subway, Okran Gas Station, and Bonus Grocery Store on your left, you have gone too far.

Peninsula

This is the view from the peninsula and how we look after just hopping off the plane.  The hike up to the top gave a great view of the ocean and you can see black sand as well.

The Lighthouse

Gunnuhver

This was the first geyser we saw.  We were able to get so close that you can feel the heat, which was nice especially considering it was really cold at 5 AM.

Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon is about 15 minutes from the airport.  You will see signs that point you towards the lagoon.

This was Lisa’s favorite activity.  The Blue Lagoon gets extremely busy due to tourists coming in, so make sure to make a reservation.  We went on a busy day and they give priority to those who have booked a time and for those who didn’t book in advance, we were told there was 0% chance of getting in.

The Blue Lagoon is extremely relaxing. The cost is about $40 USD and you can either rent a towel there or bring your own.  Once in the lagoon, wander around the area because the heat varies in different places.

There are boxes with the algae mask throughout the lagoon for free. All you have to do is put a thin layer on your face and let it dry for about 10 minutes.  Lisa and I went a little overboard to try to look like the picture and one of the workers laughed and told us it is really unnecessary to put such a thick layer, oh well it looks better in pictures.

I would allocate about 4-5 hours to spend there.

Here is the end result and Lisa and I were trying to take a selfie, when we got photobombed. These gentlemen saw us later with their buddies and told them we were their new friends.  They even asked for another picture, but Lisa’s phone was dead. One of them asked if he could nurse the phone back to health.  At that point, we walked away for the extremely horrible pick-up line.

Next door to The Blue Lagoon, there is a geothermal plant, which is how the Blue Lagoon was created.  The geothermal plant sits on top of lava rocks and spilled onto the land.  The algae that we use for our face-mask actually ended up acting like a seal and prevented the water from draining.

Tip: Bring your own shampoo.  They have an algae conditioner there that the cashier told us we had to try, but it ruined our hair.  The conditioner made our hair feel like straw.