History & Heritage

Hveradalir Geothermal Area is not only a place of steam, hot springs and mineral-rich earth. It is also a place shaped by pioneering settlement, early tourism, ski culture, hospitality and long-standing ideas about geothermal wellness. For nearly a century, people have come here not only to cross the landscape, but to stay, rest, recover and experience something unique in the volcanic foothills just outside Reykjavík.

The story of Hveradalir unfolds across many chapters. It begins with geothermal living and greenhouse cultivation, continues through the rise of skiing and mountain travel, touches on early steam and clay bathing, and carries on through fire, rebuilding and renewal. Today, that layered heritage is still visible in the lodge, the geothermal surroundings and the lasting connection between nature, health and hospitality.

Early settlement in Hveradalir

In 1927, Anders Höyer and his wife Erika Höyer settled in Hveradalir and built a house by the hot springs, where they lived for seven years. Their life in Hveradalir was both practical and visionary. Next to the house, they built one of the first greenhouses in Iceland and used geothermal heat to grow tropical flowers such as begonias and roses, which were sold in Reykjavík. They also brewed homemade ale from Icelandic herbs, welcomed tourists and offered medicinal clay baths. In many ways, their time in Hveradalir foreshadowed the wellness traditions that still shape the area today.

The couple also left a personal mark on the place. They were married in Hveradalir, becoming the first of many couples to hold their wedding here. From the very beginning, Hveradalir was therefore more than a geothermal site. It was already becoming a place where nature, daily life, hospitality and special moments came together.

The rise of the ski lodge

The wider story of Hveradalir is closely linked to the history of skiing in Iceland. The Reykjavík Ski Club was founded in 1914 by L.H. Müller, a Norwegian-born pioneer who played a major role in establishing skiing as an organized sport in Iceland. Under his influence, Hveradalir became one of the movement’s key sites and a natural setting for winter recreation and mountain travel.

In 1935, the ski lodge in Hveradalir opened and was considered highly innovative for its time. It was custom-made in Norway and assembled quickly, and before long it also included a restaurant serving travelers during the summer as well as the winter season. The lodge gave Hveradalir a stronger identity as both a sporting destination and a social gathering place.

This role grew rapidly. In 1937, the first organized ski tournament in Iceland was held in Hveradalir, with participants from Siglufjörður, Ísafjörður and Reykjavík competing in cross-country skiing and ski jumping. In 1939, the Thule Ski Tournament was held here, and the famous ski jumper Birger Ruud came to Iceland to perform. Around 3,000 spectators gathered to see him, a powerful sign that skiing had captured the national imagination and that Hveradalir had become one of its most important stages.

Steam, clay and early wellness traditions

Long before geothermal bathing became one of Iceland’s best-known travel experiences, Hveradalir was already experimenting with the healing qualities of steam, heat and clay. In 1938, the first sauna was installed at the ski lodge. A newspaper quote from that year describes the project in striking language, asking whether Iceland might possess “untapped fountains of wellness” and presenting the bathhouse in Hveradalir as the first in Iceland to use steam from hot springs exclusively for warming and bathing people.

This wellness thread became even clearer in 1954, when Morgunblaðið reported on experiments with clay baths in the ski lodge. According to the article, the Reykjavík Ski Club had decided to test clay from a nearby mud spring, believed by knowledgeable observers to contain the same beneficial elements as the clay used in Hveragerði for the treatment of rheumatism and other ailments. A clay bath tub had already been installed in the cellar of the lodge while the material was undergoing chemical analysis.

The article adds a vivid and memorable detail. The clay was taken from the very spring that gave Hveradalir its name, about 250 meters east of the ski lodge, and it was described as soft as dough and especially well suited to clay baths. It had been transferred into a treatment basin in the cellar and warmed by heating pipes laid underneath. If the analysis proved successful, the aim was to begin treatments immediately, with conditions considered excellent because guests could receive the baths inside the lodge itself without having to move between separate buildings.

Seen in today’s light, this is one of the most fascinating parts of Hveradalir’s heritage. The modern Mud Bath may be new in its current form, but the idea of using the site’s geothermal mud and heat for relaxation, recovery and wellbeing reaches much further back into the history of the place.

Life at the lodge

In 1942, siblings Ingibjörg Karlsdóttir and Steingrímur Karlsson took over management of the lodge. During their long period at the helm, the ski lodge welcomed an unusually wide range of guests, from travelers crossing Hellisheiði to well-known names such as Josephine Baker and Halldór Laxness. It was a place of shelter, hospitality and character, and many visitors stayed for extended summer holidays, sometimes for as long as one or two weeks.

The lodge also developed a folklore of its own. One room was eventually closed because of repeated ghost sightings, and stories of a mysterious sailor became part of the place’s legend. Yet the heart of the lodge remained human rather than supernatural. Even after Steingrímur contracted polio in 1945, he continued to run the lodge together with Ingibjörg, and the siblings remained central figures in the story of Hveradalir for decades.

Monuments, memory and a changing place

In 1953, monuments to Kristján Skagfjörð and L.H. Müller were erected on a rocky outcrop east of the lodge, making the site’s history visible in the landscape itself. The Reykjavík Ski Club later added a cast copper plaque commemorating the construction of the ski lodge, and that plaque became especially meaningful after the first lodge burned down, as it was the only object saved from the original building.

Through the following decades, Hveradalir continued to evolve. In 1959, new managers installed a sauna in the cellar alongside the clay bath already in use, operated the Reykjavík Ski Club’s ski lift and offered riding tours into the surrounding landscape. In 1971, the City of Reykjavík acquired the ski lodge and new infrastructure was added, including electricity, a T-bar ski lift and a cold-water well. Between 1973 and 1984, the slope above the lodge was home to the artistic couple Blómey Stefánsdóttir and Óskar Magnússon, who lived in a small turf house and added another unusual chapter to the cultural life of the area.

In 1984, Carl J. Johansen took over operations and carried out a long-overdue renovation. The former accommodations were converted into a banquet hall, the lodge was promoted as an ideal destination for a peaceful Sunday drive, and Carl had a sauna and hot tubs built at the site. He even declared that his dream was for Hveradalir to become a true health paradise. It is a striking phrase, and one that feels surprisingly modern today.

Fire, rebuilding and renewal

Like many places with a long and layered life, Hveradalir has also passed through loss and renewal. On the evening of 20 January 1991, the original ski lodge burned down. Hekla had erupted not long before, and some people who saw the flames from afar first believed there had been an eruption in Hveradalir itself. The fire is thought to have started from a fireplace, and it spread rapidly through the building.

Even this dramatic event became part of the place’s storytelling. One witness later described seeing the dragon figure on the southwest gable standing for a long time above the blaze before finally falling, creating an image of the old lodge that is almost mythical in tone. Yet the end of the building did not mean the end of Hveradalir.

Already in 1992, a new lodge was built in a similar style. Designed by Bjarni Snæbjörnsson, it was much larger and included generous halls, lounges, bars, a restaurant and, for the first time, a tourism agency. New wells for hot water followed, new owners and managers continued to shape the lodge, and the site remained a place for gatherings, celebrations, Sunday visits and hospitality through the years that followed.

Hveradalir today

In the 21st century, Hveradalir entered yet another new chapter. New ownership, environmental assessments and long-term development plans have all reflected the same idea that has echoed through the site’s history for generations: this is a place where geothermal energy, landscape, recreation and wellbeing belong together. Plans have included hospitality, bathing, greenhouses and a wider renewal of the area around the lodge.

What makes the history of Hveradalir especially compelling is that it still feels alive. The geothermal heat that supported early greenhouse cultivation still rises from the ground. The same area that drew settlers, skiers, travelers and bathers continues to attract new visitors today. The idea of wellness, once expressed through steam baths, clay treatments and quiet rest in the lodge, now returns in a new form through the modern Mud Bath and the ongoing development of the area.

A visit to Hveradalir Geothermal Area is therefore more than a scenic stop. It is an encounter with a place where Icelanders have long explored new ways of living with geothermal power, whether through cultivation, sport, hospitality or healing. From the Höyer family’s early settlement to the ski lodge, the clay bath experiments and the renewal of the present day, Hveradalir carries a rare continuity of story, atmosphere and purpose.