Seljavallalaug swimming pool in South Iceland – everything you need to know
Seljavallalaug swimming pool is 1 and a half several hours east of Reykjavik along the Iceland‘s Route 1 ring street that encircles the nation. From there, observe Route 242 to the small auto park that is utilised by visitors to the pool and located just to the south of it. This fairytale place can be found involving Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss waterfalls, which are a 15- and 10-minute push respectively.
Crafted in 1923 by a nearby male in get to train Icelanders how to swim, Seljavallalaug swimming pool is a single the oldest swimming swimming pools in Iceland, but pre-dated by the Key Lagoon in Flúðir which dates again to 1891. It is 25 metres very long and 10 metres wide, which implies it was the major swimming pool in Iceland right up until 1936. It has experienced number of adjustments since its construction 100 a long time back it was loaded with volcanic ash immediately after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption, earning it unusable for a brief interval right up until volunteers cleared it out the following 12 months.
Concealed away in the mountains of south Iceland, it is preferred with Instagrammers for its iconic location but usually ignored in favour of other points of interest in the region this kind of as the aforementioned waterfalls and the airplane wreck, all of which are extremely near.
From the Seljavallalaug vehicle park, it is just a 20-minute wander to the swimming pool. The route is quite obvious, helped in component by next other people today taking the identical route.
If it allows, here’s my Strava recording of our walk to the pool:
It is just under two kilometres just one way and typically on the flat. If you are feeling doubtful on your route, observe that you will not see the swimming pool right up until you get to the every single close of the stroll.
The only marginally difficult section of the stroll is a rocky stream that you are going to need to have to cross. Depending on the time of year, this could be icy overfoot in Winter season, or broader than typical in Summertime.
The pool is fed obviously by geothermally heated drinking water is in a magical setting on private land but there is no admission fee. You enter the pool at your have risk and there are no lifeguards.
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Just just before you attain the pool, you will see a tank and pipe on the left which feeds geothermally heated h2o into the pool at its deepest point.
The mountain sorts a single facet of the swimming pool and the h2o is contained by the other 3 created sides. Although heated geothermally, the water is not that incredibly hot like some of Iceland’s pools – all around 20° to 30°C or 68 to 86°F, that is all. We experienced come armed with swimming issues and towels with the intention of having a dip. The drinking water looked complete of algae, although, and less than thoroughly clean (regardless of a handful of men and women bathing in it), with nominal fresh water flowing in and out of it, so in the finish we chose not to swim. We experienced a peek inside the shifting rooms and they had been very best avoided completely… definitely NOT what you would phone luxurious! The luxurious below is in the exceptional and picturesque landscape that surrounds the pool, and sadly not the amenities themselves. The pool and the transforming rooms are cleaned just at the time a yr and sad to say not appeared just after by what is probably a minority of travelers. If you do pay a visit to, you should be certain to leave no trace – carry all your items and any litter again with you so that the pool can be enjoyed by other people.
Scheduling a trip to Iceland oneself? You can view a video clip from our journey to Iceland in this article:
Disclosure: Our excursion to Iceland was also sponsored by Helly Hansen.