Are the hot springs known as “the Blue Lagoon” truly worth a visit?
Cointainly! If you’ve only got a few hours to spend in Iceland, the Blue Lagoon, located between Reykjavik and the airport, offers the perfect way to recuperate after a trans-Atlantic flight. Although this seriously volcanic country is brimming with hot springs, the Blue Lagoon, ironically enough, isn’t one of them. It’s actually a giant, man-made wading pool and spa situated in a lava field next to the ocean; ingeniously, the heated sea water in the lagoon is piped over from a nearby geothermal power plant. The lagoon itself is huge, consisting of acres of open water, combined with smaller grottoes and inlets set off by islands and reefs of lava rocks, many of which are linked by charming wooden footbridges. The water is uniformly about 4 or 5 feet deep and ranges in temperature — depending on where you stand — somewhere between lukewarm and almost unbearably hot-tub hot. The floor of the lagoon is covered by a soft sandy mud that is reputed to have marvelous therapeutic properties;
