Beach Baths Hauganes

The cold plunge here is the Arctic Ocean. There is no cold pool at the baths: you climb out of a hot tub, cross the black sand and walk into the sea, then get back into the hot water. Four tubs hold the geothermal water, and one of them is built into the hull of a boat. The sauna faces the fjord, and it runs on self-löyly — you pour the water and set the heat yourself. The fittings are thorough: heated changing rooms, showers with soap, a foot bath, and a hairdryer in the women's changing room. The tubs are emptied every night, so the water is clean.

• No cold pool: the cold half is the sea. You walk off the black sand into the Arctic Ocean and back to the tubs.
• Showers and changing rooms: heated changing rooms, showers with soap, a foot bath, and a hairdryer in the women's changing room.
• Payment: credit and debit cards and contactless are accepted. You do not need cash.
• Toilets on site, and the baths are suitable for children.
• Campsite: improvement works were under way at the campsite in spring 2026.

Beach Baths Hauganes lies off the ring road, on the fjord shore in Northeast Iceland, so reaching it means turning off and driving into Hauganes itself. The baths are at the beach: tubs, sauna and changing rooms stand on the black sand, with the water in front of them.

Better: first thing in the morning. Arriving as the baths open gives the best chance of having the tubs to yourself, and the view over the fjord is what you come for.

Avoid: turning up expecting a large spa. There are four hot tubs, a sauna and changing rooms, and that is the whole of it.

In winter the mountains across the water are under snow, and the run between the hot tubs and the cold sea is the point of the visit.