If you are planning a trip to Iceland than you probably have visiting the Blue Lagoon on your wishlist. If you are wondering if you can check this extraordinary experience off your bucket list when visiting with your kids then you have come to the right place. Visiting the Blue Lagoon in Iceland with kids is an amazing experience, but there are a few things you should know first! With its stunning turquoise waters, mineral-rich masks, and warm water temperatures, the Blue Lagoon is the perfect place to take the kids for a day of relaxation, exploration, and fun.
You can swim in the deeper areas and play in the shallow areas or enjoy a massage or facial, there is something for everyone to enjoy. In this blog, I’ll share our experience visiting the Blue Lagoon with our kids, from what to expect, to the best tips and advice for making the most of your time there.
Iceland’s Blue Lagoon
The Blue Lagoon is one of Iceland’s most popular attractions. Its was actually discovered by accident as a result of the runoff by a nearby geothermal plant. It gets its famous blue color from the minerals in the water, which also is known to be great for your skin.
The lagoon is in the southern region of Iceland and about a 20 minute drive from the airport and 45 minutes from downtown reykjavik. Most visitors make the Blue Lagoon the first or last stop on their trip.
Blue Lagoon Ticket Information
Buying your tickets in advance is required and you will be prompted to choose a reservation time for your visit.
We were able to get the first time slot at 8 AM, which ended up working out perfectly because there were hardly any other guests there most of the time we were there. It did start to get very crowded around 11 AM when we were leaving.
Checking in is very easy and the staff is very helpful. At check in you will be given an electronic armband. This lets you into your lockers, lets staff know which package you have for face masks, and can be used to pay for drinks at the bar.
Ticket Choices for Visiting the Blue Lagoon in Iceland
Kids age 13 and under are free when they enter with a parent or guardian.
The base “Comfort: Blue Lagoon” tickets for adults are $65 USD, or you can buy a Premium package for $82 USD.
The Premium package comes with a mud mask and two other masks you get to choose, plus a refreshing drink, and the use of a towel and robe. We went with the Premium package since the kids were free!
Book the Comfort Package with Transfers to/from Reykjavik HERE
Things you should know before visiting the Blue Lagoon in Iceland
- Kids 8 and under have to wear floaties, no matter their swimming level. So prepare your kids for that. The floaties are provided for use, free of charge.
- Minimum age for kids to enter is 2 years old, due to the fact babies are highly sensitive to the elevated mineral content of the water.
- Important to larger families: For safety reasons, kids have to be accompanied by an adult at all times. Because of the depth of the lagoon (the water is around chest high for an adult), the maximum number of children per accompanying adult is two. That means if you and your spouse have more than four children, you’ll need other supervising adults to come with you to the Blue Lagoon, or you could split up and take turns taking two kids at a time.
- There is no time limit when visiting the lagoon. Once you are in you can stay as long as you would like.
What to Expect When Visiting the Blue Lagoon in Iceland with Kids
Checking In to the Blue Lagoon
When you arrive you’ll get checked in. Like I mentioned above, my husband and I opted for the premium package which included our entrance fees, 3 masks, use of a towel and robe, and a drink.
Changing and Showering
After check-in you go into the locker rooms. They provided me with one locker for all four girls. It was quite challenging to get all our winter gear into one locker. The staff was super nice and gave us a second locker after we asked.
Then you’re instructed to shower without your suit on. Everyone must shower before entering the Blue Lagoon. There were private stalls but not many. This was the first European locker room experience for my girls and you could tell they were a bit taken aback. If your children aren’t used to being in situations where they might be strangers in the nude you might want to prepare them before the visit.
The locker rooms were were beautiful and outfitted with a ton of amenities. This included shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and hair blow dryers.
Since my girls were a bit shy we opted to change in the changing rooms, wear our bathing suits into the shower stall and then remove it to shower. This was also when we slathered our hair in conditioner. The staff told us this would be sufficient for protecting our hair from the high amounts of silica in the water but that wasn’t the case. Keep reading to find out what happened to us and what we suggest you do instead.
Entering the Lagoon
Once you’re showered, you come out to a little area where both locker rooms meet. This is indoors, with hook sot hang robes and towels. The area is warm but there is a big door to the right that keeps opening and closing and lets cold air in. It mainly just feels chilly because you are wet from showering, but we rushed to get into the water to warm up.
You have two options to enter the lagoon; through the water or through a door that leads you outside where you can walk into the lagoon. We opted for the water since you can get submerged (and warm) before you go outside.
Even though there were hooks to the left that everyone used for robes and towels, we found it to be a bit chaotic. There were hundreds of robes all stuffed on a few hooks which made it impossible to find out which one was yours.
The idea of having a robe was nice, but when we got out we couldn’t find ours and we weren’t going to risk wearing someone else’s!
Things you should know about being in the lagoon itself
- The water is perfectly warm and as you walk around you will find warmer packets, so you can find a place where you are most comfortable. I found if the water was too hot we couldn’t stand it so it was nice to move around to find what was comfortable for us.
- It’s deeper than you think. It was waist high on me at times and other times chest high. When it’s more shallow you’ll be crouching down to keep warm!
- The lagoon is huge, so even as it started to get busy, it didn’t feel too crowded.
- The facial masks are as good as they say! They were my favorite part and I was glad I had the 3 masks because the 3rd was an anti-aging mask and it was the best! There were fresh water fountains to wash your mask off. Side note: they also sell the masks in the gift shop.
- The mask area is to the left and the bar is to the right of the lagoon.
- Make sure to grab your free drink at the bar. They have alcoholic options but also a green juice and frozen drinks for the kids.
When to Visit the Blue Lagoon
E visited Iceland in March. It’s less busy than summer in Iceland as a whole so you will find its much easier to make a reservation during this quieter time. It’s colder in March but you have a really good chance to see the Northern Lights. We loved going in March but also want to visit in the summer.
We aren’t sure which day of the week would be best to visit, I think it’s busy every day. But it’s definitely a good idea to go as early in the day as possible, whichever day you go.
What to Do With Your Hair When Visiting the Blue Lagoon in Iceland
If there is one thing I want you to take from this entire post its to please DONT GET YOUR HAIR IN THE WATER! This was a big mistake we made during our visit and I dont want you to make the same one. Once we arrived at check in someone warned us that the water can dry out your hair and there were really two options to prevent that from happening
- Keep your hair up and out of the water
- Slather conditioner all over your hair as a protective barrier
Knowing that there was no way my 3 kids would not submerge their head in the warm water on this very cold day, I opted for the second option. Unfortunately this advise didn’t work for us. For the next 3 weeks all 4 of us had hair that felt like straw and was impossible to brush. Knowing what I know now I would try to avoid getting my hair in the blue lagoon water at all.
Here’s what I would do for the kids if we were to do it again:
- Leave their hair down when we arrive.
- Once we are taking our shower, slather their hair in conditioner. Like tons of conditioner and do not wash it out.
- Put their hair up in a high pony, braid the tail, and wrap it into a bun on the top of their head.
- Put even more conditioner to protect the exposed hair.
- For older kids who will actually listen and not put their head under I would bring a beanie for them to wear because your head and ears will get cold.
Hopefully you will learn from our mistakes, because it was not easy to get our hair healthy again! For 3 weeks we used clarifying shampoo to strip the minerals and deep conditioning treatments to bring the moisture back in.
Our Overall Experience
We loved visiting the Blue Lagoon! It was an amazing way to kick off our adventures in Iceland! I highly recommend visiting the Blue Lagoon with your kids! Watch our video to get an insider look to what’s it really like to visit the Blue Lagoon with kids.
Find ALL the Tickets and Tour Packages HERE
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