Reykjaböð Hot Springs opens in Iceland

Reykjaböð Hot Springs, a new natural geothermal wellness retreat, has opened in Iceland.

Located in the Reykjadalur Valley in Hveragerði, the retreat combines natural geothermal hot springs and a Nordic bathhouse, set within the dramatic Icelandic landscape.

The vision of international spa and wellness consultant Katherine Connolly, Reykjaböð offers an outdoor ritual area with hot spring lagoons, an event sauna by KLAFS and a purpose-built cold plunge and Kneipp pool.

Indoors in the bathhouse there is a purpose-built herbal pool, a sauna and a steam bath by KLAFS, as well as experience showers.

These are complemented by a float pool, a fire pit and a Snowroom by TechnoAlpin Indoor, to make natural cold accessible year-round as part of the contrast bathing journey.

Softness vs strength

Reykjaböð draws from one of Iceland’s most powerful qualities: contrast.

“Iceland has one of the clearest expressions of natural contrast I have ever experienced,” said Katherine Connolly, spa consultant at Beauty Compass. “Beautiful design is now expected; what distinguishes a destination is whether the experience feels rooted, coherent and worth remembering.

“Heat rising from the ground, cold air on the skin, open expanses of land, water, stone, mist, snow – there is a constant dialogue between softness and strength. That became the emotional and sensory logic of the project.

“After warmth, steam or the herbal pool, the crisp Snowroom completes the thermal narrative – a slower, more tactile expression of cold that creates a complete change in mood.”

From feature to feeling

The bathhouse was designed as a journey through temperature, atmosphere and ritual, while the lagoon opens the experience towards nature.

The indoor spaces create a rhythm of warmth, coolness, steam, scent, sound, snow and rest. In the Bathhouse, guests can experience massages and body rituals in partnership with Icelandic product house Soley Organics.

Treatments include the Glacial Drift and Lava Flow massages, the former offering cooling, restorative bodywork and the latter, a targeted warmth focused massage.

“The Bathhouse is particularly close to my heart. A journey rather than a series of separate facilities, it adds another layer of discovery,” explained Connolly.

“My aim was to create an experience that gently changes your state as you move through it – one that feels restorative, but also quietly awakening.

“Temperature gives a bathing journey rhythm. Without contrast, a spa can become very passive; with it, the experience gains movement, choice and a stronger sense of progression.”

Owners Binni Baldursson and Valgarð Sorensen added:  “Reykjaböð’s bathhouse is the first of its kind in Iceland – a fully curated thermal journey that brings together heat, cold, steam, snow, scent and stillness in one experience.

“This is not simply about bathing; it is about how people feel when they leave, restored, reconnected and profoundly changed.”

Wellness as a whole

“Binni and Valgarð were ambitious in the best sense,” said Connolly. “They did not want to create just another lagoon; they were open to pushing the experience further, allowing the bathhouse to become a distinct part of the project.

“Today’s wellness guests want to understand how a place makes them feel. They are less interested in a checklist of facilities and more in whether the whole experience has been intelligently composed.

“They are also looking for choice. The best wellness spaces do not tell every guest to take the same route; they create a journey with enough range that people can engage in different ways, depending on their energy and mood.

“That is one of the reasons Reykjaböð feels so timely. It has a layered experience that is emotionally compelling, operationally considered and very much in step with where modern wellness travel is heading.”

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