Krauma

Bathing and dining next to a giant hot spring

May contain traces of advertisement.*

The hot spring Deildartunguhver is located in Reykholtsdalur valley in West Iceland, nearly 100 km north of Reykjavík, hence an hour and a half drive from Iceland's capital. Deildartunguhver is Europe's most powerful hot spring. Per second it pumps 180 l of boiling hot water out of the earth. This could fill about 72 bathtubs per minute. In fact it is enough to provide Borganes, Akranes and the surrounding area with hot water.

The greenhouses nearby are also heated with hot water from Deildartunguhver.

You can buy in self-service tomatoes grown in the greenhouses from a stand just in front of the hot spring. (We took this photo in autumn 2016. In the background you can already see the construction works for the spa and restaurant.)

In November 2017 a geothermal bath & spa and an adjacent restaurant opened here, only 70 or 80 m away from the hot spring. It's named "Krauma", which means "simmering", "bubbling" or "boiling" - and this name fits as well to the geothermal water in the hot spring and in the spa as to the pots and pans in the restaurant's kitchen.

From both, spa and restaurant, you have an amazing view on the giant hot spring and the green houses.

The spa is newly build, and its design is simply great. The circular pools are of shiny black stone. The whole building is black with large glass fronts and a grass roof. So it integrates itself perfectly into the landscape. My husband got a very warm welcome, when he arrived after a long day, on which he had been hiking to Esja, Reykjavík's local mountain. In that situation a bath in such a spa is really delightful and enjoyable! (I myself had already been travelled back to Germany, unfortuantely. So my husband had to visit Krauma alone, and I missed it.)

The spa offers five hot tubs of different temperatures. The hottest is at about 42 or 43 °C (108 to 109 °F), a temperature, which is hard to stand for a long time. The coolest hot tub is at about 37 to 39 °C (99 to 102 °F). Additionally there is a cold tub of approximately 7 °C (45 °F) to cool down and get blood circulation moving.

The view out of the hot tub directly down to the valley and the giant hot spring is spectacular. You can even hear the bubbling.

The spa has two steambathes and a relaxation room with fireplace and soft music, where you can lie or sit and enjoy the beautiful view through large windows.

Totally relaxed after bathing, my husband could enter the restaurant.

Krauma Restaurant is focussed in Icelandic cuisine with the freshest ingredients from local production. The tomatoes come from the greenhouses just next to the hot spring. Other vegetables come from surrounding farms. The salmon is got from Borganes, the next harbour village only 35 km away.

As starter my husband took the specialty of the house: "Súpa Krauma" - "Tómat- og paprikusalsa og steinseljuolía", soup with tomatoes, sweet peppers and parsley oil. The soup was delicate and pleasantly hot and spicy. The soup was served with fresh bread and butter.

For the main course the cook recommended "pönnusteiktur lax með grænkáli, tómatum og lauk" (pan-fried salmon with kale, tomatoes and onion) from the menu - with a small deviation: Kale was run out and replace by broccoli. Obviously freshness is more important than sticking to the menu. And actually my husband did not miss the kale at all. The broccoli was very tasty, like the whole meal.

A good, fresh dinner, appealingly served, in a nobly designed restaurant with a fantastic view on a giant hot spring - and all of this after a relaxing bath - that was a great experience.

Overview:

The entrance for the spa costs 3.800 ISK (about 30 €, 35.50 $) for adults, half of it for teenagers between 13 and 16 years. Children up to 12 years are free.

The adjacent Krauma Restaurant offers for lunch a range from a small Krauma soup for 1.600 ISK (approx. 12.80 €, 15 $) via salad, burger, steak sandwich and so on up to grilled lamb for 3.800 ISK (approx. 30 €, 35.50 $). For dinner you can get appetizers for 2.460 ISK (approx. 20 €, 23 $) in average, and main courses for 3.200 ISK (approx. 25.50 €, 30 $) in average. For dessert you can choose between carrot cake, strawberries & basil and fruit salad, all of them nobly refined and served with ice cream or sorbet. Each dessert costs at lunch time 1.490 ISK (approx. 12 €, 14 $) and in the evening 1.600 ISK (approx. 12.80 €, 15 $).

In June, spa and restaurant both were quite empty. It's their first season, hence it's not yet very popular. Currently it's still kind of a secret tip. But I'm sure, this will change soon. It seems obious to combine a tour to Reykholt and Hraunfossar with a bath in this spa and a good meal at such an amazing location.

* Legal note: 

Formally this article can be graded as advertisement, since we had been invited for the meal. Anyhow, we have chosen only restaurants, which we had heard good things about and which we estimated as interesting. Accordingly we're really delighted, and if we fall into words of praise, these are meant honestly.