Vök Baths — Attraction in Iceland

We liked the bath itself, but there's no way to eat in there. Which in general would not be a huge problem, but in our case the inflexibility of onsite staff forced us to leave much earlier than we wanted. We paid 6.000 ISK per entry for about 1.5h of bathing time.

The full story is a longer read though. The bath itself is quite nice, though not a massive "wow" in our eyes. The interior (changing area etc.) is top notch, though. But, well, you spend most time in the pools and there we have seen better baths.

Now the full story as to why I did not want to give this a good rating: my family consists of me, my wife and a 2 year old boy named Sammy. Who does not understand yet the concept of when one should eat (e.g. for breakfast that day) or can eat (outside the bath, but not inside). So we had breakfast in our camper van on the VÖK parking lot, but Sammy didn't eat much. Directly after that we entered the thermal baths. Took us a while to get ready (everything is slow with a toddler...), but once we were inside, it was pretty nice. Not the greatest place for children (i.e., no places to play), but Sammy enjoyed it nonetheless. We had drinks (reasonably priced and good) and tried all pools. And then after about 1h Sammy started to mention food. With time passing he got more and more insisting. When we checked how to get to the Bistro we realized that one would need to get dressed and leave the bathing area. Not a problem if we would be able to re-enter. But no, leaving means leaving for good, we were told when we went to the entrance/exit area, explaining our predicament: we would like to stay, but the boy is starving. Yet, VÖK staff was fairly adamant that these are the rules. Anyone leaves, we won't get back in, unless we pay for another ticket.

I just wonder: why, VÖK? What do you lose? We already paid our entry. You need space so desperately? Wasn't that crowded. So what's your excuse? Or you just gamble that people pay the entrance fee, leave for food and pay a second time? It's not like it was not possible to pass. You also could have kept my entrance wristband for me if you fear I leave and sell it to the next client coming. Many ways to make a client happy without actually losing any money. We paid an entrance fee that covers the whole day. You advertise the Bistro on your website. But nowhere do you mention that you cannot enjoy the Bistro between bathing sessions. At least add that to the FAQ. We were completely taken by surprise with the fact that we could not freely move between the bistro and the bathing area.

End of story: My wife left with Sammy and he ate Pizza in the Bistro. I stayed 30min longer, but without my family it just wasn't the same so I left, too. My wife suggested that we should have lunch in the Bistro, but due to lack of flexibility and empathy on behalf of VÖK I voted to leave the place. I was fairly angry, my whole experience got quite a bit ruined.

So .... food is a no-go in the pool area. If you want to stay inside for hours, better eat up really well before you visit. Or you simply go to a different geothermal bath that offers food inside.

Some other things not related to our tragic story: There is indeed algae in the pools. Some other reviewer was complaining about that. You can see it floating, but that doesn't mean at all there's something wrong with the water. It is an issue for slipperiness, though. Stepping into the pools can be slightly dangerous. Talking about slipperiness: I slipped and fell when changing pools - the pools are connected through super slippery wooden bridges. But tragically I slipped while walking (fast, admittedly) on an anti-slip mat, and not on the wooden floor. So ... I would advise to upgrade your walking mats. What you have there is not good enough. Going from the hot pools into the cold lake, take a swim and come back into the hot pool is indeed a very cool (!) experience. That was somehow the best part. The drinks bar is...

2 cons to start because this place was mostly excellent:

The temperature of the hotter pool was on the low end on this particular day. The warmer part of the pool is near the steps where the water is piped in so it is hotter there.

I could not figure out how to get a towel. I may have missed it or it may be an extra charge; if the latter that seems unreasonable given the price of admission.

Regardless of the above this place is spectacular in so many ways. I do construction projects and I must say everything from the design to the materials and finishes are just outstanding. The ramps and steps abundant, at the right heights, and in smart locations. The tubs have smooth enamel floors; the wood steps have a comfortable stainless mesh that prevents slipping; and the smooth concrete steam room is quite nice in lieu of a sauna. In a word, Vök is built extremely well.

The experience begins with an intelligent system that uses bracelets for entry, to lock/unlock (and even find) your locker, and to buy drinks quickly and efficiently. (As an example of thinking about literally every detail: the temperature of the pool near the bar is both comfortable and appropriate.)

The bathrooms were large and clean, with top notch finishes and beautiful tile work, including large-format tile with linear drains through. The place is not large but even when busy it feels spacious due to the flow of the design (including the water itself), the bordering lake, and the neatly designed spaces (including the seating in the bistro, which had surprisingly good food).

I could go on and on: suffice to say I would recommend visiting this place for the design alone. The way the design merges the bistro, pools, steam room, bar, and lake has put it at the top of my list of places to soak in the world.

There was an additional draw for me: the fact that many Icelanders clearly use this pool on a regular basis. They clearly take pride in the place and they also clearly enjoy it thoroughly—particularly the bar. Go on a Saturday and you’ll see what I...

Absolute horror!!! You may get a fungus problem!!! They should warn you or have signs mentioning the slime algae on the bottom of the largest pool with the bar. As soon as I entered it, there was no way to recover from falling down into the water as I gulped some of it involuntarily. But I thought, all these people are here, I can adjust as they did so I went straight to the bar, got my drink then proceeded to walk around the pool until, SLIP! I stepped on some ridiculous random ramp slimed-over which shoved my shin into another hard angle you can't see and bled me. 2 weeks later and I still have the bruise. And then for the piece de resistance I noticed the next morning when showering that between my toes felt a little different when washing there but I wrote it off as just sock lint and since I dint wear my glasses in the shower, I can't see what it is. It gradually got worse every day until I got home and showered, something was growing between my toes, it was a very stinky fungus and ALL my skin between ALL toes was peeling. 2 weeks later as I write this, the stink is gone but the peeling isn't although it's decreasing and time will tell if I try to sue Vok or not!! I've never had fungus or peeling in between toes before and I know that disgusting slime caused it!!! What is wrong with the rest of you reviewers whom don't mention the slime?! How ridiculous are you people? Oh I know, as vacant minded as the owner of Vok Baths. I wish fungus galore on all reviewers whom don't mention the diseased slime because they're doing the whole world a disservice! This place clearly needs to be shut down!

Edit: I'm quite sure I have a bone spur now from the blunt force trauma of hitting my shin on their concrete vertical maze underwater that you can't see. I am livid that I paid someone...