Is Sky Lagoon Worth It? What to Know Before You Book

What to expect on a Sky Lagoon visit

Sky Lagoon sits on the Kársnes peninsula in Kópavogur, about fifteen minutes from downtown Reykjavík, which makes it much easier to reach than the Blue Lagoon. The water is kept at around 38 to 40°C and the far edge of the pool is an infinity edge that drops towards the North Atlantic. Guests must be at least 12 years old, and on a clear evening the sunset happens in front of you while you are still in the water.

The ticket is admission with the seven-step Skjól ritual, from $120 per person. That covers entry, the ritual, a towel, and the shower products. Sky Lagoon sells this listing itself, so what you are choosing is the pass and the arrival slot. There is no tour company in between.

The calendar below shows which slots still have space on your dates. Sky Lagoon's opening hours change four times a year, and the winter hours of 10am to 9pm run from 21 October to 30 April. The listing currently offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before.

Iceland has geothermal bathing everywhere, from the municipal pools in Reykjavík to the Blue Lagoon out on the Reykjanes peninsula. Sky Lagoon's two main advantages are the short trip from Reykjavík and the ritual included with admission. It scores 4.8 overall. The listing says 90% of English-speaking travellers gave it a perfect score.

Value for money scores a little lower, at 4.5 from more than 5,400 ratings. For this review we checked recent traveller reports, paying particular attention to what people said about the ritual, the busier slots and the cost of everything that isn't in the ticket.

There are four things worth knowing before you book:

• The seven-step ritual runs in one direction. You pass through the sauna, the mist room and the steam room once, and you cannot go back for a second turn.
• Midday slots are the busiest. Reviewers describe a much calmer lagoon at opening and in the evening.
• Food and drinks are extra. The seventh step is a small shot of crowberry juice, and everything else is bought at the bar or the café.
• The Saman and Sér passes differ mainly in the changing facilities.

The details are in the itinerary and the booking notes, but they are easy to miss if you only read the listing summary. The main advantages are the lagoon, the ocean view and the included ritual, and most visits last around two to three hours.

Sky Lagoon, Blue Lagoon or Hvammsvík hot springs?

Three geothermal options are bookable from Reykjavík, and they differ mainly in setting, distance and how freely you can use the facilities.

Sky Lagoon is the closest of the three, with the ocean view and the ritual included in the ticket. The Blue Lagoon Comfort admission is further out, on the Reykjanes peninsula. It is rated 4.6 from more than 6,300 reviews and was $149 per person when we checked, and several reviewers who had visited both preferred it because they could move between the water and the facilities more freely.

Hvammsvík Hot Springs is the quieter, more natural option. Its reviews describe small pools on the shore of Hvalfjörður with far fewer people around. It is rated 4.8 from more than 600 reviews and was $163 per person including the transfer from Reykjavík when we checked. Its lower-rated reviews focus more on the transfer than on the springs themselves. The return time is fixed, some travellers found that left them around an hour and a half in the springs, and the drive runs longer than the half hour a few expected.

For the full comparison of the two big lagoons, see our Sky Lagoon vs Blue Lagoon page.

Five practical things to check before you book

• Book the first slot of the day or an evening one. Recent reviews describe a quieter lagoon at opening and a much busier one by around noon. Several evening visits mention having space at the infinity edge.
• Take your time in the sauna and the steam room. You go through each of them once, so stay as long as you want while you are there.
• Leave enough time at the end. The seven-step ritual closes a full hour before the lagoon's published closing time, and guests are asked to be out of the water thirty minutes before closing. On a late slot in winter that can cut a visit short, so check the hours for your date before you pick a time.
• Budget separately for food and drinks. The ticket covers the lagoon and the ritual only. Drinks are charged to your wristband and settled when you leave.
• Decide between Saman and Sér before you reach the desk. Sér adds private changing and shower cabins with Sky Lagoon's own body products, and typically costs around 3,000 ISK more. A couple of reviewers say they were directed to the shared changing rooms after booking Sér, so confirm your pass at check-in.

How a Sky Lagoon visit works

You arrive at your booked slot, check in, and are given a wristband that opens your locker and carries any purchases. Towels are provided and there are plenty of them. You shower before entering, which is standard at every Icelandic pool, then walk straight out into the lagoon.

Two to three hours is the usual length of a visit, and the ticket is valid for the day with no fixed end time. The ritual itself takes about half an hour to forty-five minutes. Reviewers who planned a full day generally say there is less to fill it with than they expected. There are no separate relaxation rooms or loungers beyond the lagoon and ritual areas.

Check-in is usually quick. A few travellers mention a queue forming in the car park before opening, and one traveller on a November visit was asked to arrive early and then left waiting outside in the cold, so bring a warm layer to wear over your swimwear for the first ten minutes of an early slot.

The lagoon itself

Reviews of the lagoon itself are consistently positive. They describe submerged seating along the infinity edge, a small waterfall, and a view over the water towards Reykjavík and the Atlantic. Visits in rain and low cloud are still rated highly, which is a useful thing to know for an outdoor spa in Iceland: one September reviewer said it was overcast and raining the whole time and it made no real difference.

Two recurring issues are photography queues and noise. Filming and photography are allowed, and a number of reviewers describe waiting for groups to finish at the infinity edge or the waterfall. One traveller reported waiting fourteen minutes to reach the waterfall area. The lagoon also has a bar in it, and people who expected a silent spa sometimes found something closer to a sociable pool. Both are much less of an issue at the quieter slots.

It is a built spa, heated by geothermal energy. Some reviewers expecting a more natural hot-spring setting found it too designed, while most praise the design and the setting.

The seven-step ritual runs one way

The Skjól ritual is what separates this ticket from a plain soak, and it is where many of the lower-rated reviews come from. The seven steps are the lagoon, a cold plunge, the sauna, a cold mist, the Sky Body Scrub, the steam room and a shot of crowberry juice.

The main restriction is that the sequence is one-way. You go through it once, sections are roped off behind you, and there is no returning to the sauna after the steam room. Several travellers describe planning to move back and forth between the hot rooms and the water, as you can at the Blue Lagoon, and finding that the layout does not allow it.

Two other points recur. Guidance is limited: the rooms are dimly lit, signage is easy to miss, and reviewers describe finishing the ritual unsure whether they had missed a step, with the cold plunge at the start the one most often overlooked. Some reviewers also question what counts as one of the seven steps, since the lagoon and a shower are among them and the final step is a drink.

The ritual is still well reviewed overall. The sauna has a floor-to-ceiling window over the ocean and is widely praised, the salt scrub gets good reports, and many reviewers call the ritual the highlight of the visit. Several of the disappointed reviews say they did not expect the one-way sequence. Our 7-step Skjól ritual guide walks through each step in order.

Food, drinks and the wristband

Admission covers the lagoon, the ritual, a towel, and body wash, shampoo and conditioner in the showers. Everything at the swim-up Gelmir Bar, the Keimur Café and the Smakk Bar is extra, and drink prices come up repeatedly in the lower-rated reviews. There is a limit of three alcoholic drinks per adult. Some travellers also found the cocktails weak for the price.

Several travellers went looking for drinking water during the ritual and could not find any. If you are moving between a sauna and a steam room, take a drink of water before you start.

Purchases go on the wristband and are settled when you leave. One traveller reported a substantial card hold being taken at check-in against wristband spending and refunded a few days later, which matters if you are watching a travel card balance.

Common issues to know about

• On very windy days parts of the outdoor ritual area can be closed. One traveller arrived to find only the lagoon open and was offered a reschedule rather than a refund.
• Most reviews of the staff are positive, but some of the lower-rated ones describe staff as unfriendly or disengaged.
• Changing-room cleanliness draws occasional complaints, mostly about the shared facilities at busy times.
• Floors near the sauna can be slippery, and one reviewer slipped on the way out.
• Getting there without a car takes planning. Reviewers put a taxi from the city at roughly $35 to $40 each way, and the public bus works but takes a while.

If the journey is the sticking point, Sky Lagoon admission with transfer bundles a shuttle from central Reykjavík with the same admission. It is rated 4.8 from more than 2,700 reviews at $148 per person, which is about $28 more than the entry ticket on its own, and it removes the taxi at both ends. Our getting to Sky Lagoon page compares every route.

Is Sky Lagoon worth it?

Yes, with the slot chosen carefully. Sky Lagoon is a well-run spa in a good setting, fifteen minutes from the city, and the ritual is included in the $120 price. More than 7,900 reviews average 4.8.

Value for money is the lowest-scoring category, at 4.5. Many of the lower-rated reviews mention the price. A visitor who books an off-peak slot and eats beforehand tends to come away very happy. A visitor who books midday expecting a quiet all-day spa may find the $120 price harder to justify.

Sky Lagoon suits you if you want an oceanfront geothermal spa close to Reykjavík, you like the idea of a structured ritual included in the ticket, and you can take an early or late slot.

The Blue Lagoon may suit you better if you want to move between the hot rooms and the water more freely. Hvammsvík makes more sense if you want a quieter, more natural setting.

If you do book it, check the opening hours for your date and work backwards: the ritual shuts an hour before closing, and guests leave the water half an hour before closing. Our best time to visit Sky Lagoon page has the hours and the sunset times for every month.

How we put this together

Nobody on our team has been to Sky Lagoon. This page is built from recent traveller reports, including the lower-rated ones, and from Sky Lagoon's own published listing and ritual description. The rating, review count and $120 price were checked on 24 October 2026, and the alternatives' prices on 2 October. Prices vary by date and season. Opening hours and the ritual's closing time come from Sky Lagoon's published schedule.

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