Hreppslaug: Soaking in a 1928 Heritage Pool in Andakíll

Guests at The Hvítá Inn often ask where the locals actually swim, away from the busier Blue Lagoon-style spots. The honest answer, roughly 15 minutes down the road, is Hreppslaug: a plain concrete country pool in Andakíll, fed by warm springs and looked after by the same community that built it nearly a century ago.

A pool built by hand in 1928

Hreppslaug was built in 1928 by the local youth association Ungmennafélagið Íslendingur, largely through volunteer work, and it is preserved today as a cultural heritage site. The pool is often attributed to Sigurður Björnsson, the engineer behind the old Hvítá bridge nearby, which gives it a direct tie to the same Borgarfjörður building history you pass on the drive from the inn.

What you get is refreshingly unpolished: a rectangular main pool, two hot tubs, a sauna, an outdoor shower and a cold plunge. Warm water arrives from streams and springs in the hillside above, rather than a boiler room, so this is bathing that runs on the land itself. A new service house was added before the summer of 2023, so the changing facilities are modern even if the pool is not.

Where it sits, and why the drive matters

Hreppslaug lies in Andakíll, at the mouth of Skorradalur, one of Iceland’s few forested valleys. That location is the reason to combine it with an evening drive: soak first, then follow the road along Skorradalsvatn, the long lake that fills the valley floor, with the peak Skessuhorn reflected in still water on a calm night. It is a short, low-effort loop back to Borgarfjörður rather than a full-day expedition.

Practical details

• Getting there: Roughly 15 minutes by car from The Hvítá Inn, staying within Borgarfjörður toward Andakíll and the mouth of Skorradalur.
• How long to allow: About 1 to 2 hours for a proper soak, sauna and cold plunge; add 30 to 45 minutes if you drive the Skorradalsvatn loop afterward.
• When to go: This is a seasonal pool, open roughly May into early November with reduced weekend-only hours at the shoulders and daily opening in high summer. Hours are limited and can change, so check current times on west.is or sundlaugar.is before setting out.
• What to bring: Swimwear, a towel and coins or a card for entry; as at every Icelandic pool, shower without swimwear before you get in. An extra layer and headlamp are worth having for an evening drive back.

Where to Stay

The Hvítá Inn (The Hvítá Inn) sits on the bank of the Hvítá river at Hvítárbakki, about 75 minutes from Reykjavík and only a short drive from Andakíll, which makes an after-dinner soak at Hreppslaug and a slow loop through Skorradalur an easy evening rather than a planned outing. Rooms have private bathrooms, handy after an open-air swim. Book direct on Ourhotels.is for the best rate.

Photo: Rémih via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.