What to Bring to Icelandic Hot Springs

Eight Things to Actually Pack

This is the real list, not the padded one most packing guides run to twenty items long. Most of it fits in a bag the size of a paperback, and none of it needs buying specially for the trip if you already own a swimsuit. The point of keeping it short is practical, not stylistic: a lighter bag means a faster changing room, and a faster changing room means more time in the water before the last entrance cutoff.

• Swimsuit: the only item you strictly cannot borrow at the door
• A dry bag or plastic bag: keeps the wet suit off everything else on the drive home
• Flip-flops or slides: faster on and off than laced shoes at the shower stalls
• A hair tie: the wind off the Hvítá valley is real, even on a calm day
• Cash or a card for the wristband tab: bars run on a tab, not on-the-spot payment
• Sunglasses: the water reflects hard on a clear day, even in winter
• A phone in a sealed pouch, if you want photos from the infinity edge
• A warm layer for the car park to the door, October through April especially

What You Can Leave in the Car

Towels, and a full wash bag, are the two things visitors over-pack most often. Shampoo, conditioner and shower gel are supplied free in every changing room, so bringing your own is unnecessary unless you have a specific allergy or a preferred brand you don't want to be without. A towel only needs to travel with you if you have booked the Birki tier, which is entry only; Lerki and Ösp both include one, and Birki guests can rent a towel or a swimsuit for ISK 1,200 each at the desk rather than carry one from the hotel.

Hairdryers are the other item people ask about and don't need. There's no dryer at the sink counters, but there's also nowhere warm and windless enough on the drive out for it to matter much; most guests leave with damp hair under a hat rather than fully dry hair, and that's normal here, not a gap in the facilities.

Laugarás Lagoon, Tier by Tier

Prices checked July 2026. The table below breaks down the Laugarás Lagoon admission tiers by what's already in the price, which is the reason most Birki guests still leave with a dry towel: renting one at the desk is often simpler than packing one for a single visit.

How the Other Lagoons Compare on Towels

If your trip also includes a stop at one of the bigger names, the same question comes up there. The Blue Lagoon's Comfort ticket includes a towel and a silica mud mask; Sky Lagoon's Saman pass includes a towel with public changing rooms. Neither requires you to pack one, the same as Lerki and Ösp here.

If you're doing this as part of a full Golden Circle day, Golden Circle tours that stop at the lagoon typically book the Lerki tier for the group, so the towel question is already settled before the bus leaves Reykjavík. The same is true across all three stops on the three-day wellness lagoon tour: pack once, the same list, and every lagoon on the itinerary already has a towel included.

Leave These Behind

The rules here are less about what's banned and more about what the mineral water and the pool culture make pointless to carry in. Rings, watches and chains are the single most common thing left behind by mistake, since silver and other soft metals tarnish quickly once jewellery has spent an hour in mineral water, and the locker exists for exactly this reason.

• Jewellery: silver and other soft metals tarnish in the geothermal water, and there's a locker for exactly this reason
• Glass bottles or glasses: glass is banned poolside across Icelandic pools, drinks at the bars come in plastic
• A full toiletry kit: shampoo, conditioner and shower gel are already in the shower stalls
• A hard-shell suitcase: the lockers are personal-size, meant for a day bag, not luggage
• Your own bathrobe: it will be wet within minutes and there is nowhere to dry it before the drive back

The One Rule That Isn't Optional

The one non-negotiable rule: you shower without swimwear before entering, and staff enforce it the same way at every pool in the country. It isn't about modesty. It's because the water here is chlorine-free, so the whole system depends on guests arriving clean rather than on chemicals doing the work afterward. Skip it, and you'll be sent back to the shower stall before a foot touches the water.

A lot of first-time visitors pack around this rule without realizing there's nothing to pack for it: no special soap, no swim cap, nothing bought in advance changes the routine. What matters is knowing it's coming before you're standing in the changing room working it out in real time.

If the mechanics of that routine, where to leave your clothes, and what actually happens at the shower stall are new to you, we've written the full walkthrough, including exactly which parts of the body the wall chart asks you to wash and in what order, in our guide to pool etiquette in Iceland.

The Water Doesn't Change, the Air Does

The bath itself runs 38 to 40 degrees Celsius in January the same as it does in July. What changes across the year is the walk from the car park and between the upper and lower levels, and that's the part worth packing for. For a full month-by-month breakdown of hours and conditions, see our guide to the best time to visit.

The Hair Question

Visitors who've done the Blue Lagoon before know the hair-conditioner trick against silica buildup: coat your hair before you get in, because the silica clings and dries it out otherwise. It isn't necessary here. Laugarás Lagoon's water is chlorine-free and comes from the Laugarás geothermal field cooled with glacial water from the Hvítá, and it's noticeably gentler on hair than a silica-heavy lagoon. A normal rinse afterward is enough in any season, and there's no need to pack a separate conditioner just for the water, since one is already waiting in the shower stall regardless.

The one seasonal item genuinely worth adding to a bag rather than assuming you'll manage without: a hat or hood for the walk back to the car with wet hair, October through April. The lagoon itself doesn't care what month it is; the ten metres of open air on either side of it do.

One Bag Covers the Whole Year

None of this adds up to much once it's actually packed. A swimsuit, a wet bag, sandals, and a warm layer if you're visiting outside summer, that's the entire seasonal adjustment. Compare that to what a lot of first-time visitors bring on instinct: a full wash kit, a spare towel just in case, a swimsuit and a backup swimsuit. All of it stays dry in the car, because the changing room already covers the toiletries and two of the three tiers already cover the towel.

The honest, complete packing list for Laugarás Lagoon, in every season, from January right through December, is short enough to remember without writing it down twice.