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Blue Lagoon: Grindavík, Iceland
The country’s economy may have cooled, but at the Blue Lagoon, the phosphorescent, geothermal waters run hot year-round (354-420-8800; admission, $40). Book a room at Reykjavík’s 101 Hotel (354-580-0101; doubles from $459) before boarding one of Reykjavík Excursions’ Blue Lagoon motor coaches that wend for 40 minutes past lava fields painted a vivid green by lichen and moss (354-580-5400; round-trips from $25). Back in Reykjavík, the new Ólafur Elíasson–designed Harpa concert hall, home to both the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Icelandic Opera, is a ten-minute walk from the hotel (Austurbakki 2; 354-528-5050). For a cutting-edge culinary experience, book ahead at Dill, where the locavore menu is in constant flux but regularly includes both reindeer and moss (354-552-1522; three-course dinner, $59).
Average Water Temperature this Month: 100º
What to Wear: As little as possible—the better to expose yourself to the lagoon’s healing waters.
You'll Share the Water with: Large, slow-moving groups of... other people.
Photograph by Bob Strong/Reuters/Corbis
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