Fosslaug Hot Spring

Fosslaug is a natural geothermal pool beside the Fossa waterfall in the Westfjords of Iceland, where oligomineral hot spring water flows into a small stone-edged pool at the base of a tiered cascade in one of the most scenically beautiful natural bathing sites in the North Atlantic, the combination of falling white water, geothermal warmth, and the vast silence of the tundra creating an experience that encapsulates the wild thermal tradition of the Icelandic highlands. The Westfjords, connected to the rest of Iceland only by a narrow isthmus and accessed by a winding coastal road or small ferry, are the most remote and least touristed region of the country, their deep fjords, sheer basalt cliffs, and unpaved mountain passes harbouring arctic foxes, nesting gyrfalcons, and the largest razorbill colony in the world at Latrabjarg, the westernmost point of Europe. Bathing in Fosslaug while the waterfall thunders above and the Westfjord mountains recede into the mist requires a full day of remote Icelandic driving, but the reward is a natural hot spring experience of authentic wildness that no luxury spa complex could design or manufacture.