Deildartunguhver

You can smell Deildartunguhver before you park. Then you see the steam and hear the hissing. Boiling water bubbles up from a jumble of rocks along a low ridge, streams off in all directions and disappears into pipes. Not exactly pretty. Very impressive.

Deildartunguhver, near Reykholt in West Iceland, is the highest-flow hot spring in Europe. It pushes out around 180 litres of water per second, at close to boiling point. For most of history, a spring like that meant laundry, cooking and a warm house. Today, much of the water is piped to heat homes in Borgarnes, about 34 km away, and Akranes, about 64 km away. That Akranes pipeline is the longest hot water pipe in Iceland.

Tours that visit Deildartunguhver

Into the Glacier - From Reykjavík

10 hours · From Reykjavík

From 38.990 ISK

Into the Glacier & Silver Circle

10 hours · From Reykjavík

From 38.990 ISK

Silver Circle & Húsafell Canyon Baths

10 hours · From Reykjavík

From 27.990 ISK

Borgarfjörður, Silver circle in SuperJeep: lava tunnel and hot spring

11 hours · From Reykjavík

5(63)

From 187.000 ISK

Silver Circle Private Tour: Glacier, Waterfalls & Hvammsvik Hot Springs

11 hours · From Reykjavík

From 199.900 ISK

The Silver Circle: Private Borgarfjörður Day Tour with Optional Hot Springs, Snowmobiling, Ice Cave, ATV or Lava Tunnel

10 hours · From Reykjavík

4.4(280)

From 204.997 ISK

People have used the spring for a long time. Locals washed clothes in it, cooked with its steam and heated their houses with it, and a greenhouse was built beside it around 1941 to grow vegetables in its heat. Iceland's whole relationship with geothermal energy is right here, in one noisy pile of rocks.

What to see at Deildartunguhver

The spring itself is a short walk from the car park along a boardwalk and viewing platform. The area is small, and 15 to 20 minutes is enough to look around. There's no entry fee.

Look out for the ferns growing in the warm, damp ground by the spring. Deildartunguhver is home to a rare variety of hard fern, known in Icelandic as tunguskollakambur, which isn't known to grow anywhere else. It's protected, like the rest of the site.

The water is close to 100°C, and the rocks and pools are coated in steam. Stay on the paths and behind the railings, and keep children close. This is not a hot spring you can bathe in.

You can, however, bathe in the same water next door. Krauma, a spa built beside the spring, cools Deildartunguhver water with cold water from the Rauðsgil ravine and serves it up in five warm baths, a cold tub, saunas and a fireside relaxation room. There's a restaurant on site too.

Pro tip: stand upwind. The spring puts out so much steam that when the wind shifts you lose sight of everything and get a warm, sulphur-scented face full of it. Check which way it's blowing before you walk out on the platform.

How to get to Deildartunguhver from Reykjavík

Deildartunguhver is roughly 97 km from Reykjavík, about an hour and a half by car through the Hvalfjörður tunnel and on Route 50. The car park is free. The roads are paved and open all year, but check road.is in winter, as the weather in Borgarfjörður can change quickly.

Best time to visit Deildartunguhver

Any season works. Winter is arguably better, as the steam looks more dramatic in cold air, and a soak at Krauma afterwards makes more sense. Summer gives you long days to combine it with everything else in the area.

The spring is part of the Silver Circle route in West Iceland. Hraunfossar and Barnafoss waterfalls are about 20 minutes away, Reykholt is just up the road, and from Húsafell you can go into the Langjökull glacier ice tunnel. Tours that include Deildartunguhver are below, including admission to Krauma.