Reykjadalur hot river walk above Hveragerði

Reykjadalur is the free hot bath of the south-west, if you walk for it: a path climbs from just north of Hveragerði into a steaming valley where a stream runs warm enough to sit in. It suits fit walkers with a dry day and a spare afternoon, and anyone on a budget. It does not suit a wet day, a tight schedule or a party that wants changing rooms, and it is not always open.

What the official source says, read today on the regional tourist office's page: Reykjadalur is the most popular hiking area in Ölfus; hot springs and colourful geothermal ground line the trail to a hot river; for part of its length the water is the right temperature for bathing; the trail can be closed, and safetravel.is shows whether the valley is open; visitors must stay on the paths to protect the vegetation. What it does not say is how long the walk is, what parking costs, or when closures happen. Those gaps are why this page is marked for re-verification: no figure for them was readable on an official page today, and none is carried over from elsewhere.

#The arithmetic

From a Reykjavík bed: Harpa to the Reykjadalur café car park is 50 km and about 50 minutes each way by OSRM on OpenStreetMap. For the walk, OSRM's foot routing on OpenStreetMap gives 7.2 km each way to the point the map labels Reykjadalur, which at the site's standard 80 m a minute is 90 minutes up and 90 down. That point may sit beyond the main bathing stretch, so treat it as an upper bound. With 45 minutes in the water, the provisional figure is about 340 minutes. On the morning the five-day South Coast and Golden Circle journey leaves Reykjavík for Vík, the trailhead is on the way, which removes the drive back to town but nothing else; the day is already 190 minutes of driving on its ledger and loses its waterfalls to the dark in winter if Reykjadalur goes in.

#What goes wrong

Closures first: check safetravel.is before leaving. Mud second: the path is clay in places and slides after rain. Cold third: you get out of warm water into wind in a valley with no buildings, so pack a dry layer in a bag. The water temperature changes along the stream; the boiling springs nearby are not for bathing.

#Alternatives

For warm water without the hike, the Secret Lagoon at Flúðir is 4,500 ISK and an hour east; Fontana is on the Golden Circle road. For a walk to a waterfall instead, Glymur in Hvalfjörður is the longer, harder alternative in summer.

#Sources

Visit South Iceland's Reykjadalur page, read 1 November 2026; safetravel.is for live closures; drives and the foot route by OSRM on OpenStreetMap.