Swimming
Icelandic pool culture has developed into a cultural phenomenon in its own right. In the beginning of 2023, swimming pool culture was put forward to be officially registered on the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. There are over 120 swimming pools in Iceland, many of which give year-round access to heated outdoor pools and hot pots. This is an impressive number, given that the population is only around 390,000. Almost every city, town, and small village will have their own swimming pool and hot pot, largely thanks to the geothermal resources of the island. The abundance of swimming pools and pool culture is another relatively recent occurrence, as most Icelanders could not swim until the late 19th-early 20th centuries.
A group of people in a hot spring on a trip to Landmannalaugur, taken in 1943. The photograph was captioned ‘’Farfuglar í Landmannalaugum 1943 (Migratory birds in Landmannalaugur 1943).
A group of people gathered in the swimming pool at Laugardalur in Reykjavík. Icelanders continue to use hot springs, pools, and hot pots to gather and relax in the warm waters with friends and family.
While early settlers and their immediate descendants likely knew how to swim, that knowledge died out over the subsequent centuries. This seems strange given that Iceland is an island, and that people throughout the centuries have gone to sea to fish and travel. Some have speculated that the lack of teaching was considered a kindness; when sailors fell overboard in the dark, icy waters of the North Atlantic, swimming only prolonged the inevitable drowning.
Whatever the reason, it is said that in 1820, only six Icelanders knew how to swim. Towards the end of the 19th century and in the beginning of the 20th, learning to swim slowly started to increase. Despite the plethora of warm pools around the country today, in the 19th century the sea was the most likely place to learn to swim, though the sea was soon replaced by geothermal pools.
The UMFÍ (National Youth Association of Iceland) National Championships in Hveragerði, 1949. Many spectators gathered to watch the swimming competition.
One of the oldest man-made pools in Iceland is now called the Secret Lagoon (often referred to as gamla laugin, or ‘the old pool’ in Icelandic). Built in 1891, the warm, geothermal waters made for much more attractive swimming conditions than the freezing waters of the sea. Over the decades, more pools began to be built around the country, including Gamla Laugardalslaugin in 1907-1908, Seljavallalaug in 1923, and Sundhöll in 1937. Swimming lessons, especially for children, increased alongside the expansion of pools.
Seljavallalaug in South Iceland, built in 1923 and shown here between 1950-1955.
Laugaskarð, the swimming pool in Hveragerði, taken between 1941-1945.
Drownings at sea continued to happen, and after another case of men lost at sea, in the 1940s it became mandatory nationwide to learn to swim in primary schools. Today it is common for infants to begin swimming courses with their parents from as young as 2 months.
Children using the slide at the swimming pool in Selfoss, 1985. At the time, the Selfoss pool was the only pool in Iceland to have a slide.
It’s very common for people to go to the pool here, and many go daily. Some use it for exercise, and others use it for relaxation. It’s an incredibly social activity, and it is an important tradition to meet your friends and family in these outdoor hot pots and pools to visit with each other.
Around Iceland, the hot water used for the pools and hot pots comes from geothermal areas. Some natural pools, like the hot springs in Reykjadalur, allow you to dip directly into geothermal waters that are cooled by cold water streams. Other pools will have hot water directly from low-temperature fields, from heat exchangers like the one used in the Hellisheiði Geothermal Power Plant, or a combination of the two.
Swimming is an easy, accessible, and affordable activity that most of the nation participates in. Visitors to Iceland are highly encouraged to experience the Icelandic pool culture. There’s nothing quite like melting into a hot pot after a long hike or full day in the office. We often do this without thinking, and without realizing that access to year-round heated outdoor pools is a luxury that many other countries do not get to experience.