At least not on the Thermal Beach in Reykjavík.
Of course we realise that people don’t come to Iceland for the beaches. The Blue Lagoon, maybe, but the beach? Hardly.
But should you find yourself on a warm summer’s day in Reykjavík with nothing better to do (and remember that the words “warm,” “summer” and “day” are all relative here), you could do worse than head to the totally pronounceable “Nauthólsvík Ylströnd,” a small thermal beach more or less in the city centre (see map).
As the Icelandic tourist board doesn’t get tired of telling you, Iceland has more geothermal energy than Donald Trump has bad hair days. It’s, like, all over the place. And back in the days, close to where the thermal beach is now, there used to be a little stream with geothermal water running towards the Atlantic ocean. Great for families during the day and skinny–dipping students at night.
Next thing you know, in 2000 somebody decides to set up a little man–made bay, buy some proper beach sand somewhere, and pump a lot of nice warm geothermal water into the freezing Atlantic seawater. And voilà, we have ourselves a beach.
The whole thing is quite popular with locals, and The Guardian has even called it Europe’s Best Exotic Beach. (Just remember: exotic doesn’t always mean you can take off your clothes.)
Related posts on this blog:
It came from the Blue Lagoon
Slimy Little Secret
Reykjavík Swimming Pools: The Naked Truth
Become our friend on Facebook and we might just fly you to Iceland for free.
Along with its Red and Green cousins, the Blue Ópal was born in 1950, when its producer, Nói Sirius, got some fancy new machines to play with.
Boston (Laugavegur 28, first floor, tel +354 517 7816) is what happened when 
Sprengjuhöllin is Iceland’s answer to [insert the name of your favourite arty and melancholy but strangely fun folk rock band here].
The Blue Lagoon is a rather large amorphous body of water in an Icelandic lava field in the middle of nowhere, usually full of pretty hot geothermal water and people like you.
We: Hey Mark. Why are you so obsessed with Icelandic music? Are you weird or something?
On 1 May 2009, we move our London base from Stansted to Gatwick.
Not content with being a huge signpost and a bit of an architectural oddity, That Big Church is also an actual place of worship. But don’t let that stop you from going there.
Grái kötturinn on Hverfisgata 16a is a small basement place (café would obviously not be the right word here) opposite the Culture House. It’s run by 
Seven things that make Christmas in Iceland a little different.
In this first instalment of our guide to Reykjavík eating we explain how being a vegetarian in Iceland is not so much a lifestyle as a constant struggle.
In the past few weeks the Icelandic króna (a.k.a. “funny money”) has been going through a Keith Richards-scale hangover and looking increasingly like the love child of Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty.
A round-up of things to do in Iceland this August, as prepared by your festively inclined editors.
In the first installment of this important new series, we take a closer look at the piscatorial world’s answer to Keith Richards.
With all these elves, trolls and hidden people mucking about, the question isn’t only whether they exist, but also whether people actually believe they exist.
What’s big, burly and grunts a lot… (apart from your grandmother)? An Icelandic Viking of course! For those of you who missed the original Vikings the first time, the town of Hafnarfjörður has brought them back for a best-of reunion tour.
But we’re not going to make a fake video about her.
Icelanders aren’t much for people who whine about what’s wrong in the world, but they sure are excited about Bob Dylan’s concert 26 May. Just like a 
There once was a little gay Viking. This friendly but misunderstood fellow spent all his time braiding horses’ manes and knitting colorful scarves. The village people liked him, until one day he got drunk on 
We’re at it again!
As far as official events go, April is a dead month. Spring is in the air and nobody wants to commit to being anywhere, at any time (except, perhaps, the pool — let’s say Saturday at noon?). So here are some suggestions to keep you busy this month:
Iceland Review
When foreign friends are over we take them to Harrison Ford’s favourite Indian place, Ryan Philippe’s hang out hotel bar, and Damon Albarn’s does-he-still-own-it?-anyway-he-loves-it pub. And every girl you’ll meet here has received a drink or two from this or that chap. Especially this chap. –>
There’s only one man that is an enemy of Iceland – Robbie Williams. When he stepped out of his private jet, and Icelandic news casters bombarded him with questions about what he knew about Iceland, as well as the infamous question How do you like Iceland? his security guards brutally pushed them aside. So Robbie criminally said absolutely nothing about the beauty of Iceland or its women, even though he had been in the country for about 12 minutes. Furthermore, he walked off stage after 20 minutes of playing because someone threw a water bottle on stage. A sworn enemy indeed.
Before 1000 AD, a brewing feud between Pagans and the growing number of Christians in the country threatened to erupt. The two sides each refused to acknowledge the laws of the other. Under the threat of imminent chaos, a decision was made to ask the Pagan Law Speaker Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði—who was known to be a pretty cool guy—to make a decision on behalf of the fledgling nation as to which laws it should uphold.
way was possible back then. And so Þorrablót became inextricably linked to things like cured (read: putrefied) shark, soured ram’s testicles, pickled whale blubber, sheep’s head jelly, soured intestines, and so on…
Tell darkness to “smell it… smell it… 
According to alleged university professor 
Maybe it’s because what little winter light we do have is pretty spectacular. There’s the 
Imagine using your computer in a pub back home; everybody would look at you like you’re barmy… before turning back to the television that’s blaring away in the corner, that is. Nearly all bars in Reykjavik are TV-free, thankfully, but what’s even better is that being a nerd is actually considered cool in Iceland, and you can surf the net in the pub without anybody thinking any the less of you for it.
Careful though, a few bars only offer net access at a price, but these places are money-grabbing tourist-traps which you hopefully wouldn’t be seen dead in anyway. On the other end of the scale, bars like 
IEX: Rebekka, how did all this start?
January is always a time for reflection and change. Throw in raging bonfires, enough fireworks to make a Chinese arsonist crap his pants, and the return of the sun, and there’s nowhere that feels quite as refreshing as Iceland this New Year.
In a country of bizarre traditions, one of the craziest has to be the putrid skate party. Every year on Þorláksmessa (
Supposedly, eating putrid skate originated in Iceland’s 
The northern lights are definitely near the top of sights to see for the majority of tourists that travel to Iceland in the winter. However, frustratingly, they tend to play hard to get. They don’t just appear on command, and there are no guarantees. For one thing, the conditions have to be just right. Obviously, it has to be dark, with an absence of cloud cover. It also has to be cold, preferably below freezing, which - you may be surprised to know - is not always the case in Iceland in winter. In fact, thanks to the country’s marine climate and the close proximity of the Gulf Stream, to say nothing of global warming, it’s far more common for temperatures to be above freezing than below it.
A number of tour operators run northern lights tours, which is probably an excellent bet for those serious about their northern lights viewing. The tour operators keep tabs on conditions at any given time and will head out to locations where the aurora are most likely to appear. This will usually mean heading into the countryside, since light pollution is another major deterrent to successful northern lights viewing. Hence the likelihood of experiencing those swirling, dancing lights increases substantially outside of the capital area.
