Iceland Lagoon Swim-Up Bars: Where You Can Actually Drink In The Water

Is There A Bar In The Blue Lagoon, Or Is The "Blue Lagoon Drink" A Cocktail?

Yes, there is a real bar in the water at the Blue Lagoon, and the phrase also names a cocktail. Blue Lagoon operates an in-water bar where guests in the lagoon can order drinks, and separately, "Blue Lagoon" is a widely known blue curaçao cocktail served in bars worldwide. This page is about the bar you can swim up to in Iceland, not the drink recipe, and the two get confused in search constantly.

The cocktail is a mix of vodka, blue curaçao and lemonade, and it has nothing to do with Iceland. The bar is something else entirely: a counter built into the lagoon itself at Grindavík on the Reykjanes Peninsula, where guests order without drying off. Blue Lagoon's own day-visit page describes the Premium package as including "one drink of choice at the in-water bar" and Signature as including two, which confirms the bar's location in the water rather than beside it.

What trips people up is the ticket tier. Not every Blue Lagoon admission includes a bar drink. Comfort, the entry tier, includes "one non-alcoholic drink from the included menu", so a beer or a glass of wine at the in-water bar is an extra purchase on that ticket. The wristband every guest receives doubles as a cashless payment device, which is how you settle the bill without ever leaving the water. Our full Blue Lagoon tickets and packages guide breaks down every tier in detail.

There is also a hard cap worth knowing before you plan a long soak. Blue Lagoon's etiquette page states plainly that "there is a limit of three alcoholic drinks per guest while using the lagoon." That is a venue rule, not a suggestion, and staff enforce it through the same wristband system that processes the payments.

Which Iceland Lagoons Have A Real Swim-Up Bar?

Four lagoons on the current roster run bars you can order from while in the water: Blue Lagoon, Forest Lagoon above Akureyri, Hvammsvík in Hvalfjörður and Earth Lagoon Mývatn. Sky Lagoon's bars sit outside the water, and several venues, including Secret Lagoon and Krauma, have no bar in the bathing area at all. The difference matters when you are choosing where your money goes.

The genuine swim-up counter is rarer than travel articles imply. Forest Lagoon is the clearest case in the north: its FAQ confirms "two in-pool swim up bars, where you can buy sodas, alcoholic beverages, and smoothies", set into a geothermal pool on the mountainside of Vaðlaheiði looking down over the fjord toward Akureyri. The venue's homepage actually describes three swim-up bars in the larger pool, so the count differs between its own pages, but the fact of in-pool service does not.

Hvammsvík's admission includes "full access to our changing rooms, swim-up bar, steam room, newly built sauna, cold plunge, and the ocean itself", in the venue's own words, with the swim-up bar sitting in the Lounge Pool held at 38-39°C. Earth Lagoon Mývatn, which reopened with expanded facilities on 27 July 2026, lists swim-up bars serving alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks alongside its new lagoon bar. Blue Lagoon's in-water bar rounds out the four.

Sky Lagoon needs a careful label. It runs several food and drink outlets, including Smakk Bar and Gelmir Bar, but its published material describes them as facilities at the lagoon rather than counters in the water, and the venue's FAQ notes it "does not offer robes or slippers, as the lagoon is accessed directly from the changing rooms", which tells you the layout keeps dry-side amenities separate. The seven-step Skjól Ritual ends with a juice rather than a bar drink.

Forest Lagoon's setup is the one people write home about, and the setting is the reason. Soaking in 37°C water at a bar counter with the Eyjafjörður fjord below is a different experience from queueing at a kiosk in a bathrobe, and the venue's own Forest Lagoon guide page covers how the tiers and the shuttle from town fit around it.

The bar itself is simple, sodas, alcoholic beverages and smoothies in the venue's own wording, but the payment rule is the part that catches visitors out. Forest Lagoon states "We only accept Icelandic currency at the Forest Lagoon" and, on its FAQ, that it accepts "cash (ISK only) and all credit cards, except AMEX." Foreign cash is useless at that counter, and an American Express card is too. Everything else works.

What Does Each Ticket Tier Include At The Bar?

Blue Lagoon Comfort includes one non-alcoholic drink, Premium adds one drink of choice at the in-water bar, and Signature includes two. Forest Lagoon's Calm tier includes a towel and one drink, Delight includes two drinks, and its base Warm tier includes neither. Hvammsvík's Comfort tier adds one drink of choice, and Earth Lagoon's Signature and Exclusive tiers both include drinks.

The pattern across Iceland's lagoons is consistent: the entry ticket buys you the water, and the drink arrives one or two tiers up. Blue Lagoon is the clearest example. Comfort, the entry tier, includes "one non-alcoholic drink from the included menu." Premium, from ISK 14,990, adds "one drink of choice at the in-water bar", meaning anything behind the counter, plus a bathrobe and extra masks. Signature includes two drinks of choice on top of everything in Premium.

Forest Lagoon prices the same ladder in its own currency. The Warm admission at 7,490 ISK includes entry only. Calm, at 10,150 ISK, adds a towel and a drink. Delight, at 11,210 ISK, adds a towel and two drinks. Since towels rent for 1,400 ISK at the venue, the tier differences are effectively a bundled drink plus convenience, which the value table further down breaks out in numbers.

Hvammsvík's three tiers, Natural, Classic and Comfort, follow the same logic, and the venue's own tier list states Comfort includes "one drink of choice (limitations apply)." Earth Lagoon Mývatn's Signature tier includes a complimentary drink, and its Exclusive tier goes further with "a glass of Prosecco on arrival and one complimentary drink per person." Vök Baths includes something different again: every admission includes a "tisane drink at the tea bar", a herbal tea rather than alcohol, and its Dekra tier adds a further drink.

Sky Lagoon sits outside this table on purpose. Its Sér and Saman passes, from ISK 17,990 and ISK 14,990, include the seven-step Skjól Ritual with its crowberry juice elixir, but a bar drink is not part of the base pass. The venue's "for Two" and Date Night packages do add "one drink per guest at Smakk Bar", which is how a drink gets bundled there. Our Sky Lagoon packages comparison covers those bundles in full.

The Blue Lagoon listing that bundles the drink most cleanly is the Premium admission, and the operator's live listing shows current dates and availability.

For a broader view of what every venue bundles, towels, robes, masks and drinks side by side, the Iceland lagoon packages guide carries the full breakdown. The short version for the bar question: if drinking in the water is the point of the visit, buy a tier that includes it, because the markup on a single purchased drink against a bundled one is where the tier pricing quietly pays for itself.

How Do You Pay At A Lagoon Bar: Wristbands, Cards And The ISK-Only Rule?

Most lagoon bars run on waterproof wristbands that double as cashless payment, settled when you leave. Blue Lagoon, Hvammsvík and Sky Lagoon all use this system. Forest Lagoon is the exception that matters: it accepts only Icelandic currency, meaning ISK cash and credit cards, with no American Express, so foreign cash and AMEX both fail at the counter.

The wristband system is the standard. Blue Lagoon's etiquette page describes the electronic bracelet as acting as "locker key and cashless payment", with a fee if it is lost. Hvammsvík's Natural tier lists a "wristband for bar and drinks" among its inclusions. Sky Lagoon's passes include "a wristband that works as locker key and payment card." In each case you order at the bar, tap the band, and the total is charged when you check out.

Forest Lagoon's rule is the one to plan around, and it is published twice on the venue's own site. The homepage states "We only accept Icelandic currency at the Forest Lagoon", and the FAQ confirms "We accept cash (ISK only) and all credit cards, except AMEX." A euro note or a dollar bill has no value at that swim-up bar. A Visa or Mastercard does. The venue also rents towels for 1,400 ISK on the same terms, so the currency rule covers everything on site, not just drinks.

Two smaller rules sit alongside the payment systems. Vök Baths prohibits outside drinks in the pools, though water bottles are permitted, and its lost-bracelet fee is 5,000 ISK. Sky Lagoon's terms allow staff to breathalyze guests, with entry refused above 0.08% blood alcohol, which is a stricter standard than most visitors expect. None of this is on the ticket page; it lives in the terms and FAQ pages, which is why it surprises people at the counter.

What Is The Included Drink Actually Worth Against Buying Separately?

Comparing published tier prices, the step from Forest Lagoon's Warm tier to Calm buys a drink plus a towel that rents for 1,400 ISK, and the step from Calm to Delight buys the second drink. Vök's Dekra tier costs 1,200 ISK more than Njóta for its added drink. Blue Lagoon's Premium step costs 3,000 ISK over Comfort and adds a bar drink, robe and extra masks together.

No Icelandic lagoon publishes a standalone drink price list, so the honest way to value the bundle is the gap between tiers, using only figures the venues publish themselves. Forest Lagoon gives the cleanest read because it publishes both the tier prices and the towel rental. The step from Warm to Calm bundles a towel, which rents separately for 1,400 ISK, plus one drink, so the drink component is whatever remains of that tier gap after the towel. The step from Calm to Delight buys exactly one more drink and nothing else, which makes it the cleanest single-drink value signal of any venue on the roster. Other pages covering the same trip are gathered on Lagoons in Iceland.

Vök Baths prices its ladder in the same spirit. Slaka at 7,690 ISK includes the tisane at the tea bar. Njóta at 8,690 ISK adds the towel. Dekra at 9,890 ISK adds a drink, so the drink step is 1,200 ISK over Njóta. Blue Lagoon's step is harder to isolate because Premium bundles four things at once, the bar drink, the bathrobe, two extra masks and a take-home mask, into a 3,000 ISK gap, so the drink alone cannot be separated out honestly.

The practical conclusion is that bundled drinks are modestly priced relative to the tier ladder, but only Forest Lagoon and Vök publish enough detail to isolate the drink itself. Everywhere else, the drink rides inside a bundle, and the decision is really about whether you want the whole bundle, not the drink alone.

What About Sky Lagoon: Ritual Juice, Smakk Bar And Drinking There?

Sky Lagoon has no swim-up bar, but its seven-step Skjól Ritual ends with a crowberry juice elixir included in every pass, and its Smakk Bar opens daily at 12 p.m. and closes 30 minutes before the lagoon does. Only the for-Two and Date Night packages bundle a bar drink; the standard Sér and Saman passes do not.

The ritual is the drink experience Sky Lagoon actually sells. Step seven, Saft, is described by the venue as tasting "the essence of krækiber", the crowberries that grow on Icelandic lava fields, and it is included with both the Sér and Saman passes alongside the scrub and the cold plunge. It is a small thing, but it is the only consumable in the base price, and it arrives at the end of the circuit rather than at a bar.

The dry-side bars have their own clock. Sky Lagoon's opening-hours page states that the Skjól Ritual and Gelmir Bar close an hour before the lagoon, Keimur Café half an hour before, and Smakk Bar "opens daily at 12 p.m. and closes 30 min before closing time." On a winter day when the lagoon shuts at 9 p.m., the last bar order is 8:30 p.m., and the ritual circuit stops at 8 p.m. Late-evening visitors who arrive in the final hour will find the water open and the bars mostly closed.

The packages that include alcohol are specific. Sér for Two, from ISK 24,690 per person, and Saman for Two, from ISK 22,190, each add "one drink per guest at Smakk Bar" plus a summer platter, available from June 5 to September 27. The Date Night variants add a drink and a Sky Platter on the same basis. If a drink at the lagoon is part of the plan, those bundles are the only route to a included one.

Are There Alcohol Limits And Other Bar Rules In Icelandic Lagoons?

Yes. Blue Lagoon caps alcohol at three drinks per guest, Sky Lagoon refuses entry above 0.08% blood alcohol and can breathalyze on arrival, and Vök Baths bans outside drinks entirely while permitting water bottles. Photography is banned in changing rooms at every venue that publishes a rule, and the wristbands that pay for drinks are also what staff use to enforce the caps.

The three-drink cap at Blue Lagoon is the best documented. The venue's etiquette page states "there is a limit of three alcoholic drinks per guest while using the lagoon", and because every purchase runs through the wristband, the count is automatic rather than dependent on a bartender's memory. Sky Lagoon's rule is stricter at the door: its terms say guests cannot enter "if a test shows results above 0.08% alcohol level in blood", and staff may ask for the test.

A few other rules shape the bar experience in ways people don't anticipate. Glass is obviously absent from every lagoon, drinks arrive in plastic. Blue Lagoon asks guests to keep photography respectful of other bathers and bans it outright in the locker rooms. Vök Baths extends that to phones and cameras in all changing rooms and bans drones during opening hours. And the shower-before-bathing rule, which is a legal requirement under Icelandic health regulation rather than a house preference, applies before you ever reach the water or the bar.

For context on how these rules fit the wider bathing culture, the hot springs rules and etiquette guide covers the shower regulation and the jewellery and hair advisories across every venue.

Which Lagoon Should You Pick For Drinks In The Water?

Pick Blue Lagoon for the classic in-water bar with a wristband and a three-drink cap, Forest Lagoon for swim-up bars over a fjord if you carry a card that is not AMEX, Hvammsvík for a swim-up bar beside the ocean, and Earth Lagoon Mývatn for the newest bar setup in the north. Sky Lagoon belongs on this list only if the ritual juice and a poolside drink satisfy you.

The choice mostly comes down to geography and ticket strategy. Blue Lagoon sits 20 minutes from Keflavík Airport, which makes its in-water bar the easiest to reach on a layover or a first day, and its Premium tier bundles the first drink. Forest Lagoon pairs its bars with a free shuttle from Akureyri town centre and harbour, which no other lagoon on this list offers, and the setting over Eyjafjörður is the strongest argument in its favour.

Budget changes the answer. Secret Lagoon, the cheapest ticket on the roster, has no bar at all, and its water is the historic attraction rather than the amenities. If drinking in the water is a fixed part of the plan, the venues that support it start at Forest Lagoon's price point and go up from there, and the tier you buy matters as much as the venue you choose. A Comfort ticket at Blue Lagoon leaves you paying per drink at the in-water bar; a Premium one does not.

Common Questions About Lagoon Bars In Iceland