Skátalaug
- Location
- Krýsuvíkurvegur, Iceland
- Water type
- sulfurous
- Temperature
- 38 °C
- pH
- 7
Water profile
Soothing — neither hot nor cold, perfect balance.
Rich in active gases or metals — a strong mineral character.
Soft water — natural, classic buoyancy.
Skátalaug is a remote natural hot spring in the Westfjords of Iceland, accessible via a spectacular backcountry hiking route through the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve — the most isolated and pristine wilderness in Iceland — where sulphurous geothermal water fills a natural pool at the base of a cliff in a landscape of dramatic fjords, Arctic foxes, and seabird colonies. The spring, used in winter by the farmers who once inhabited this extraordinarily remote peninsula and now accessible to hikers and kayakers exploring Hornstrandir, embodies the spirit of Icelandic natural hot spring culture at its most elemental and wild. The Westfjords region, with its extraordinary landscape of deep fjords carved by ancient glaciers, represents Iceland at its most geographically dramatic and least visited.