The story of Blue Lagoon

This famous lagoon began as a power plant's runoff. The nearby Svartsengi geothermal power station draws superheated water from the ground to run turbines and heat homes, and the used water is then fed into the lagoon, which is man-made. Shortly after the plant opened in 1976, runoff had formed pools, and in 1981 a psoriasis patient bathed here and noticed that his symptoms eased.

Bathing facilities opened in 1987, and studies in the 1990s confirmed the benefit for psoriasis. The milky blue colour comes from silica, which also forms the soft white mud that bathers rub on their skin. The water averages 37 to 39 °C and renews every two days.

The ground here is restless: in 2023 and 2024 the lagoon closed several times because of earthquakes and eruptions, and on 22 November 2024 lava reached it, destroying the car park, while protective barriers kept the lagoon itself intact. It lies in a lava field 5 km from Grindavík.