Hrunalaug

The Best Natural Hot Pools in Iceland: Hrunalaug Doesn't Make the Cut

Hrunalaug is a small natural hot pool near Flúðir, in the "Golden Circle" area. Here's my review on Hrunalaug in south Iceland.

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Nína Þorkelsdóttir

5. July 2017

My ongoing search for the best natural geothermal hot pools led me to Hrunalaug, a small geothermal hot pool near the town of Flúðir , last weekend.

I had heard some things about the pool being ruined by reckless tourists , so I honestly wasn’t sure whether it had been closed down or not.

An old hut and a hot pool. Hrunalaug is quite small as you can see. Wonderguide/Nína.

Driving to Hrunalaug was, to my surprise, a challenge. I found it on GoogleMaps and drove to the spot where it was supposed to be, according to the map. When I stepped out of the car, I was at the Secret Lagoon – which was not the pool I was looking for.

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I eventually found the real Hrunalaug. Sadly, there was some garbage on the parking lot and a lot of signs telling people not to camp near the pool. I felt sorry for the landowners for having to go through all this trouble because of their pool. Honestly, I felt like I was trespassing.

The pool is rather small and didn't look very clean. The surrounding area wasn't that special either, so I decided not to take a dip and hiked a nearby mountain instead.

A mare with her newborn. I saw this newborn foal while I was hiking in the area. So pretty! Wonderguide/Nína.

When I arrived at the parking lot, after the hike, there was a huge crowd of tourists walking towards the pool and several cars parked on the parking lot. The pool hardly holds more than two persons at a time so I guess they had to wait in a line to enter the pool.

In my opinion, there are loads of natural geothermal pools that are much more worthy of a visit. This might be the only one in the area though, aside from the Secret Lagoon. The Secret Lagoon is a big geothermal pool that has facilities, showers and an entrance fee of about 25$. If you want to go ahead and book a trip to the Secret Lagoon, you can do it here .

If you decide to go to Hrunalaug anyway I advise you to go late in the evening or early in the morning to avoid the crowds and please don’t camp or leave any rubbish behind. The pool is vulnerable, so tread carefully!

To sum it up: I don't really recommend Hrunalaug, mostly because it's too crowded, and more importantly, too small to be able to endure so many visitors.

Directions:

If you are driving from the town of Flúðir, take Hrunavegur and then turn right on Kaldbaksvegur. Turn right on Sólheimar and drive until you reach the parking lot.

If you want to read about other hot pools in Iceland, take a look at Wonderguide.com. I've written about a lot of hot pools and other nice things in Iceland that have remained off the tourist radar, so feel free to browse and save articles that you might find useful :)