Myvatn Nature Baths: The Name Change, The New Earth Lagoon, And What A Ticket Costs

Is Myvatn Nature Baths Still Open, Or Is It Earth Lagoon Now?

Both names point to the same place, and the venue is open. The lagoon that traded as Myvatn Nature Baths, in Icelandic Jarðböðin, closed on 1 January 2026 for a complete rebuild and reopened on 27 July 2026 as Earth Lagoon Mývatn, announced by the operator itself. Some booking listings still carry the old name, so a ticket sold as "Myvatn: Nature Baths Entrance Ticket" is a ticket to Earth Lagoon.

The name change is not a rebranding whim. The venue shut its doors for the better part of a year, demolished and rebuilt its facilities, and reopened with roughly a third more capacity than before, an expanded lagoon surface, a new swim-in steam cave, a lagoon bar and a wider range of experiences. The operator's reopening announcement describes new facilities, an expanded lagoon and a wider range of experiences now awaiting guests, and the Managing Director named in that release, Guðmundur Þór Birgisson, said the new facility was designed to feel as though it had grown from its surroundings, using materials excavated during construction.

If you have read an older guidebook or a blog post from a few years back, everything it says about the water still holds. The water still comes from the Bjarnaflag borehole operated by the National Power Company, still arrives at the lagoon at around 130°C and is still cooled to a bathing temperature of 36 to 40°C. It is still naturally alkaline, still rich in sulfur, and still free of chlorine or added disinfectants. What has changed is the building around it, the number of people it can hold, and the name on the sign.

This matters for booking. Search for "Myvatn Nature Baths" today and you will find a mix of the venue's own pages at earthlagoon.is, older third-party pages that have not caught up, and live booking listings that still use the former name in their titles. None of that means you are buying a ticket to a closed venue. It means the naming has not finished settling across the travel industry, and this page exists largely to settle it for you.

The three names, and where you will see each

The listing you can book through this site is titled "Myvatn: Nature Baths Entrance Ticket" and covers admission to the reopened venue, priced from $64 for an adult day pass and rated 4.5 across 2,225 reviews. For more on how the ticket prices of every lagoon in the country stack up, see our compared guide to Iceland lagoon ticket prices.

What Is In The Water At Earth Lagoon Mývatn?

The lagoon circulates roughly 3.5 million litres of geothermal water drawn from the Bjarnaflag borehole, arriving at about 130°C and cooled to between 36 and 40°C. The water is naturally alkaline, rich in sulfur, low in bacteria, and contains no chlorine or artificial disinfectants. The lagoon is about 1.3 m at its deepest point, averaging around 1.2 m.

The water's journey explains the lagoon's character. Deep beneath the Mývatn area, one of Iceland's most active geothermal regions, water picks up sulfur and minerals on its way up through the borehole. By the time it has been tempered for bathing it is soft, alkaline and unmistakably sulfurous. That faint rotten-egg smell is the signature of the sulfur, and it is the same trade-off you accept at every untreated geothermal lagoon in the country: naturally clean water, continuously renewed, in exchange for an odor that fades from your attention within minutes.

Because there is no chlorine, the venue depends on continuous flow, and because there is no chlorine, the shower rule is strictly enforced. All guests are required to shower thoroughly before entering the lagoon, which the venue describes as a long-standing part of Icelandic bathing culture that helps keep the water clean and safe for everyone. Body wash, shampoo and conditioner are provided. If you want the full background on why every lagoon in Iceland asks this of you, our piece on hot spring rules and etiquette in Iceland covers the regulation behind it.

The steam cave is the headline new feature. Steam flows directly through vents in the wall, entirely natural and heated by geothermal energy, at an average temperature of 45°C and 100 percent humidity. The expanded lagoon also gained fissure-like passages and caves to swim through, new hot tubs, a waterfall and a swim-up lagoon bar serving alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Four massage types, running 30 to 60 minutes, are bookable on site.

One practical note that catches visitors out: the venue recommends removing silver or copper jewellery before your visit, because the sulfur-rich water can cause discoloration or tarnish. This is the same advisory Blue Lagoon publishes for its silica-rich water, and it is the one jewellery warning in Iceland that is genuinely universal across the geothermal lagoons.

How the water compares with the big southern lagoons

The comparison worth making is not luxury, it is chemistry and crowds. Blue Lagoon's water is geothermal seawater, 70 percent ocean water and 30 percent freshwater, rich in silica and famous for its blue colour. Sky Lagoon publishes a lagoon temperature of 38 to 40°C but does not state the water's origin. Earth Lagoon Mývatn's water is inland geothermal water, alkaline and sulfur-rich rather than silica-rich, and the venue sits beside Lake Mývatn in a volcanic landscape that most visitors find emptier than the Reykjanes Peninsula. None of the three is "better"; they are different water in different landscapes at different prices.

What Does A Myvatn Nature Baths Ticket Cost In 2026?

Earth Lagoon Mývatn sells three tiers: Earth Essential from 7,900 ISK, Earth Signature from 9,900 ISK, and Earth Exclusive at the top of the range, with the venue's dynamic pricing moving each figure by time of day and attendance. Children 5 and under enter free, and the bookable day pass on the live listing starts at $64 per adult.

The three tiers are structured around changing facilities and extras rather than access to the water itself. Every tier includes the lagoon, the hot tub and the steam bath. What you pay more for is privacy, towels, drinks and, at the top tier, a separate exclusive lagoon and its own relaxing area with a fireplace.

Two details in that table deserve emphasis. Earth Signature, counterintuitively, does not offer private showers; only Essential and Exclusive do. And Earth Exclusive carries a minimum age of 20 years. Swimsuits and towels can be rented on site if you arrive without your own, and the venue states plainly that prices may vary depending on the time of day and attendance, which is dynamic pricing by another name. Booking early in the day or in the shoulder season is the reliable way to land at the lower end of each range.

Cancellation terms are tiered by notice: more than 72 hours gives a full refund, 24 to 72 hours gives 50 percent, and less than 24 hours gives 10 percent. The venue's FAQ publishes those terms directly, and they are stricter than several southern competitors, so it is worth being confident about your Mývatn day before you commit.

The three North Iceland lagoon tickets compared

Mývatn is one of three bookable geothermal lagoon experiences in the north, and travellers doing a northern circuit usually weigh all three. Here is how the bookable tickets line up on price, rating and inclusions, using the figures each live listing shows.

The pattern is clear: the north is materially cheaper than the capital area, and the three northern venues sit within a narrow band of each other. GeoSea's sea baths are a different experience again, hot seawater at 38 to 39°C on the edge of Húsavík, and Forest Lagoon is a forested mountainside lagoon above Akureyri with two swim-up bars. Many northern itineraries pair Mývatn with one of the other two rather than choosing between them, since Earth Lagoon sits 89 km from Akureyri and 58 km from Húsavík by the venue's own published distances.

What Are The Opening Hours At Earth Lagoon Mývatn?

The venue publishes daily opening of 12:00 to 22:00, with a note that hours may vary seasonally. Guests can stay until 21:40 in wintertime and 22:40 in summertime. Walk-ins are welcome subject to locker availability, and the venue recommends booking in advance.

That midday opening is unusual among Icelandic lagoons, most of which open at 10:00, and it shapes how a Mývatn day works. The practical rhythm most visitors settle into is a morning at the area's volcanic sights, the pseudo-craters at Skútustaðagígar, the lava formations at Dimmuborgir, or Hverir's bubbling mud pots a few minutes up the road, followed by an afternoon soak that runs into the evening. In winter, the late closing time means you are in the water well after dark. The full index of guides sits on Lagoons in Iceland.

The venue's FAQ is the source for those last-stay times, and it also confirms the lagoon is wheelchair accessible, with a provided wheelchair option from the shower to the lagoon, and that children 5 and under enter free. For the full current picture on hours, tiers and facilities, the venue's own pages at earthlagoon.is are the authority, and the reopening announcement at the operator's news page is the primary record of the 27 July 2026 reopening.

How Does Earth Lagoon Compare With The Other Northern Lagoons?

Earth Lagoon Mývatn, Forest Lagoon above Akureyri and GeoSea in Húsavík are the three bookable geothermal lagoon tickets in north Iceland, priced from $64, $81 and $60 respectively. Earth Lagoon is the volcanic-inland option, Forest Lagoon the forested fjord option, and GeoSea the ocean option, and all three sit within about 90 minutes' drive of each other on the northern circuit.

Forest Lagoon, in the Vaðlaheiði forest across the bay from Akureyri, is the most convenient if you are based in the north's capital. It runs two geothermal pools with swim-up bars, a dry Finnish sauna at around 80°C and a cold pool, and it operates a free shuttle from Akureyri city centre and harbour on a published timetable, which no other northern lagoon matches. Our full Forest Lagoon Akureyri guide covers the tiers and the shuttle schedule in detail. One thing to know before you go: Forest Lagoon accepts Icelandic currency in cash and all credit cards except one major card brand, so it is the one northern venue where carrying some krónur is genuinely useful.

GeoSea in Húsavík is the smallest and quietest of the three in character, geothermal seawater at 38 to 39°C in pools that overflow toward the ocean beside the yellow Húsavíkurviti lighthouse. Our GeoSea sea baths guide has the full picture. Húsavík is also 58 km from Mývatn, so the two pair naturally on a single day if you are tracing the north's whale-watching coast.

Earth Lagoon's differentiator is the landscape. It sits in the Mývatn geothermal area itself, right on the ring road, with the steam cave, the fissure passages and the new lagoon bar all built into a volcanic setting. If your northern trip is built around Mývatn's lava fields, pseudocraters and birdlife, this is the lagoon that belongs to that landscape rather than to a town.

Why Is A Northern Lagoon Ticket Cheaper Than Blue Lagoon?

A day pass at Earth Lagoon Mývatn starts at $64 on the live listing, against $146 for Blue Lagoon's Comfort admission and $117 for Sky Lagoon's ritual pass. The northern lagoons are consistently 40 to 60 percent cheaper than the capital-area venues, reflecting how far they sit from most visitors' arrival point rather than any difference in water quality.

The price gap is simple logistics. Blue Lagoon sits 20 minutes from Keflavík International Airport and can capture nearly every visitor to the country; Earth Lagoon sits 473 km from Reykjavík by the venue's own published distance, on the far side of a ring road that takes most of a day to drive. Demand is thinner, so prices are lower, and the experience is no lesser for it. The water is untreated, the setting is volcanic, and the crowds are far smaller than anything on the Reykjanes Peninsula.

Read that table as a decision tool rather than a ranking. If your trip never leaves the south, the northern prices are irrelevant and the question is Blue Lagoon against Sky Lagoon, which our Blue Lagoon tickets guide and Sky Lagoon tickets and packages guide settle in detail. But if you are driving the ring road, the north is where lagoon bathing becomes genuinely good value: you can soak at Mývatn and again at Húsavík or Akureyri for less than a single Blue Lagoon Comfort ticket.

The one caveat is that Earth Lagoon's base tier prices are dynamic. The 7,900 ISK floor is real, but so is the ceiling above it, and the venue says attendance drives the difference. Booking a fixed-price day pass through the live listing, rather than gambling on the walk-up price, is the way most visitors lock in the lower end.

What Should You Know Before You Visit?

Arrive showered-ready and barefoot: washing without a swimsuit is mandatory, soap is provided, and swimwear goes on only after the shower. Children 5 and under are free, Earth Exclusive requires guests to be 20 or older, silver and copper jewellery should come off before the water, and the venue sits directly on the ring road, about an hour clockwise from Akureyri.

The shower rule deserves a sentence of preparation because it surprises some visitors, particularly those from countries where pre-swim showering is optional or clothed. Icelandic regulation requires bathing facilities to display instructions that guests wash themselves without swimwear before entering the pool, and every lagoon in this article enforces it. Staff at the desk will say so, signage says so, and the water's lack of chlorine is the reason. It takes two minutes and nobody is watching; it is simply how the country keeps its geothermal water clean.

Dress for the walk from the changing room. In winter the run from building to water is short but cold, and a robe or large towel within arm's reach makes the difference. Sky Lagoon, for contrast, offers no robes or slippers at all because its lagoon is accessed directly from the changing rooms; Earth Lagoon includes towels from the Signature tier upward and rents them on site below that.

On timing, the venue recommends guests do not treat the visit as an all-day affair in the way Blue Lagoon's "stay as long as you like" policy invites. The published last-stay times, 21:40 in winter and 22:40 in summer, frame an afternoon-and-evening visit of a couple of hours, which is what most people do. For everything the wider region demands of a driver, from F-road rules to the official road authority's seasonal mountain-road map, the state of the ring road matters more than any lagoon policy; the section of Route 1 past Mývatn is open year-round, but conditions in winter are a different proposition from summer, and safetravel.is is the standing official channel for conditions before you drive north.

Common Questions About Myvatn Nature Baths