After the ash cloud comes a silver lining
THERE I was happily wallowing al fresco in a 30ft hot tub, which was rotating slowly to take in the full marvellous view surrounding Iceland’s latest remote retreat, when I spotted movement just a few feet away. Staring back at me were two Arctic foxes – a mother and her cub – both still in autumnal fluffed-up grey-brown coat and as cute as can be. What a treat!
Plenty of things about Iceland will make you smile. The country itself is pretty happy, too, thanks to a greater interest from tourists, their curiosity probably piqued following the Eyjafjallajökull eruption of 2010. It seems that every ash cloud has a silver lining.
New attractions are the world’s largest man-made Ice Cave, allowing visitors to take a trip deep into the Langjökull glacier, while new accommodation includes the uber-cool ION Luxury Adventure Hotel, where I was staying. It has been fashioned from a former building at a geothermal power plant close to Thingvellir National Park.
Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, yet less than an hour’s drive from the capital, Reykjavik, the 43-room hotel is also within easy reach of the Golden Circle attractions – Gullfoss waterfall, Geysir and Strokkur geysers, Thingvellir National Park and lake.
Hotel staff can help arrange activities including hiking, swimming in hot springs, diving and snorkelling in the Silfra fissure, fishing, horse-riding, kayaking, off-roading, glacier tours, and white-water rafting.
A trip to Fontana Laugarvatn Geothermal Baths is recommended – it’s not too far away and provides the chance to bathe in naturally warm spring waters and visit the geothermal bakery, where twice a day you can watch freshly ‘baked’ bread being dug out of the ground, and even nibble a hot slice with butter.
But if all you really want to do is chill, just book yourself into the hotel for a few nights of simple R&R. The ION is chic, uncluttered and stylish, but thankfully, the minimalism doesn’t extend to the Silfra Restaurant – the traditionally smoked trout with pickled apples, cucumber, dill and rye bread crumble was scrummy.
The Lava Spa is home to that giant hot tub, and there are nice treatments on offer too. The 90-minute ION Heal Treatment (it costs about £125) is splendid if you’re feeling fatigued.
After a cup of Icelandic herb tea, you’re scrubbed, showered, slathered in nice-smelling gloop, wrapped snug-as-a-bug in a blanket and left to relax. Then there’s a gorgeous massage and facial. Then I slept. A lot.
I was woken by the telephone trilling in my room at 1.45am. It wasn’t a mistake. Register your interest during check-in and staff will rouse you if/when the aurora borealis pitches up. Feeling disorientated still from the megamassage, fortunately I needed to stumble only as far as the picture windows in my room to see the amazing emerald-green waves weaving across the sky. Magical.
If you are fully awake, the appropriately named Northern Lights bar is the place to witness the spectacle through its floor-to-ceiling windows.
If you have time during your trip to Iceland, do stop at the famous Blue Lagoon for the ultimate thermal waters experience. But be careful not to put your head below the surface for too long unless you want hair like a Brillo pad.
Still, the warm, mineralpacked pools do indeed soothe the soul and make your skin feel so soft – as soft as an Arctic fox cub’s fluff, maybe…