Reykjavík Grapevine - jun 2021, Qupperneq 30

I am the luckiest girl in the world.
It was those eight words that came
into my head the moment I first sub-
merged myself into the waters of Sky
Lagoon, Reykjavík’s newest luxury
pool. The spa revolves around what
they call “The Ritual”—a seven step
relaxation process that begins with a
soak in the lagoon, followed by a cold
plunge, sauna, cool mist, exfoliat-
ing scrub, steam bath and a gentle
shower. It may seem like a lot of steps
toward relaxation, but it’s delightful.
I was lucky enough to visit the La-
goon pre-opening, which meant that
I—the aforementioned luckiest girl
in the world—got the entire pool to
myself. This, I daresay, will only ever
occur again in my wildest dreams, so
I made sure to savour every moment.
Because, let’s be fair, if you’re going
to enjoy a spa in absolute, total, medi-
tative solitude, there’s none better
than this locale, hidden in the depths
of Kópavogur, far removed from the
hustle and noise of the city.
Rewind… let’s enter the
lagoon!
The interior of the Sky Lagoon is cosy.
Bathed in soft mood lighting, you’re
treated to individual pods in the dress-
ing room, which allow you to change
and shower in seclusion. When you’re
used to other Icelandic pools, which
often involve many people showering
in the same area, this feels extremely
luxurious. Immediately, I loved this
place—who doesn’t want to feel this
special?
Exiting the dressing rooms, you stroll
into a small outside enclave with stairs
that lead down into the azure waters
of the lagoon. The whole experience so
far was so meticulously designed that I
already felt like I had left my normal life
as my toes touched down into the water.
Usually, I’m more of a calm mosey-about
swimmer, but the swirling toasty waves
of the lagoon were so inviting that I im-
mediately relaxed and dunked my head
beneath the surface.
The pool is massive, I came to find.
There’s a little waterfall, ample seat-
ing areas, a bar, lots of open water and,
of course, its infamous view over the
ocean, which, due to smart design, de-
scends smoothly from the Lagoon’s wa-
ters straight into the horizon, so you re-
ally do feel like you’re swimming down
into the Atlantic—despite being toasty
warm.
I spent my time luxuriating in all the
little nooks and grottos of the Lagoon.
The weather was perfect; the sun shined
bright and there was almost no wind. In
between my floats around, I took two
dunks into the cold plunge (step two of
The Ritual), causing any remaining ten-
sion in my body to completely evaporate.
I did decide at one point that—were I to
pull a ‘Where The Heart Is’ heist and live
in secret somewhere for the rest of my
life—it’d be the Sky Lagoon.
Welcome to the Turf
On the far end of the pool is a large
turf house, which is where the other
Ritual’s actions are performed. The
first (or third step of The Ritual) is
the sauna, which has a view that, to be
frank, rivals that of the pool.
Built into the side of the house, the
large sauna looks right out over the
sea. Basically, imagine the sky cells
from ‘Game Of Thrones’ except hot,
gorgeous and calming instead of
cold, windy and terrifying. The view
stopped me in my tracks and I took my
time inside, staring out at the waves
and cloudy sky as the dry heat cleaned
out my skin of any stress and worry.
Being alone meant I could really be
present and I took advantage of the
silence to just breathe and be mindful.
Step four is a cold mist, which takes
the form of a rectangular room with
high ceilings from which descend cold
droplets that swirl down and around
you like a tropical rainforest. I had nev-
er experienced anything like it before
and, while it wasn’t my favourite step
in the process, I enjoyed it all the same.
After that, I was given the Sky La-
goon’s special scrub (step five), which
one rubs all over themselves before
entering the steam room (step six). I’ve
been in many stream rooms before, but
this was truly a full-on experience. Se-
riously—you can barely see the hands
in front of your face when you sit in
the misty box—I could feel my body
softening as the scrub combined with
the steam. Next, you rinse off the rest
of the scrub (and any remaining wor-
ries) with a gentle shower in the turf
house, afterwhich you’re allowed to
journey back into the Lagoon.
I took advantage of this and spent
my time meandering around the oasis
until it was time to return to real life.
And it was only as I was journeying
back to the dressing rooms that the
first patrons of the day began to enter
the pool, looking just as excited and
hopeful as I had an hour previously.
Of course, I had already completed
The Ritual but was still anxiously wait-
ing for when I could return. Whatev-
er religion created The Ritual, I’d be
lucky—no, ecstatic—to convert.
Travel distance
from Reykjavík:
6.6 km
Experience
provided by:
skylagoon.com
This Is A Story About
A Girl Named Lucky (And A Pool)
...or the time I completed The Ritual at the Sky La!oon
Words: Hannah Jane Cohen Photos: Art Bicnick
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