The hot pots
The hot tubs are the real social space, not the swimming pool.
Christian Bickel fingalo — CC BY-SA 2.0 de · Christian Bickel fingalo — CC BY-SA 2.0 de · Magnús Ólafsson — Public domain · Helgi Halldórsson from Reykjavík, Iceland — CC BY-SA 2.0
Iceland's largest public pool, and among the most worthwhile things a visitor can do in Reykjavik — not because it is a pool but because it is the country's central social institution. Public pools in Iceland are not sports facilities but the equivalent of the café in other cultures: a place people meet daily in every season. Almost every town has one, and all are open year-round with geothermal water that is effectively free from the ground. Icelanders swim in winter under falling snow, and this is entirely ordinary. The social heart is not the swimming pool but the hot pots: small hot tubs at varying temperatures where people sit and talk. Politics, weather and news are discussed there. Sitting in one is the closest a visitor gets to Icelandic daily life. A strict rule to know in advance: washing naked with soap before entering the pool is mandatory, without exception, and there are attendants. This is not a courtesy but a requirement, because the water is treated with very little chlorine. Practical points: entry is very cheap. The complex has outdoor and indoor pools, hot pots, a slide and a steam area.
The hot tubs are the real social space, not the swimming pool.
The pool is what the café is elsewhere — a daily meeting in every season.
Geothermal heat makes running pools nearly free all year.
Laugardalur valley, east of central Reykjavik
Because Icelandic pools use very little chlorine compared with international norms, relying instead on cleanliness before entry. Washing with soap without a swimsuit is mandatory, and diagrams show which areas must be washed. Foreign visitors sometimes find this awkward, but it is entirely ordinary locally and nobody is looking.
Entirely different. The Blue Lagoon is a high-priced tourist spa that must be booked ahead and whose appeal is visual. The municipal pool is where Icelanders actually go, at a fraction of the price and without booking. For the genuine social experience, the pool; for the setting and the photographs, the Blue Lagoon.
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