Why Stop at the Showers?

Iceland: The least likely place on earth to perfect your all-over tan.

Almost a year and a half ago we warned you about the nude bathing requirements at Reykjavík’s swimming pools. The inquiries from terrified travellers were overwhelming.

Do I really have to get, like, all the way undressed?

Are there any pools with private showers?

I’m circumcised… will that be a problem?

It seems that most people who visit Iceland haven’t been naked in public since the nurse slapped on their first diaper.

But we fear that we may have created a monster. Apparently some of you are becoming so comfortable with yourselves that the establishment has been forced to act. Notices prohibiting women from doing any ”personal grooming” in the showers have sprung up on changing room walls, and now this story appears in an Icelandic newspaper.

The article describes the rising popularity of topless sunbathing at public pools in Iceland and notes that, in most cases, while airing your lady lumps may get the attention of the 14-year-old boys swimming nearby, the pool staff couldn’t care less. At least they won’t kick you out for it.

In a poll of our Iceland Express office, nobody reports noticing an increase in nipple slips at public pools (although our Content Editor excitedly claims to have seen Páll Óskar lose his bottoms on the water slide at Sundlaug Vesturbaejar).

But closet exhibitionists rejoice - the weather is warming up, the sun is shining, and the tourists are on their way.