Soaking Up Iceland

You can’t drink red wine with fish. Red meat is bad. You can’t go to Iceland in the winter.

In fact, there are many good reasons to prefer Iceland in winter. Once you’ve gone in the off-season, as my friend Barbara and I did a few weeks ago, you can impress your friends with how hardy you are. And because all of Iceland is a restless geothermal wonder, you can have the spa vacation of your life, steaming in hot pools, soaking in volcanic mud, scrubbing your body with Icelandic moss and getting the body treatments that may be part of the reason the country is reputed to have the most beautiful women in the world.

Yes, the days are short--only five to six hours of daylight in December--but the nights light up with the astral electricity known as the northern lights. And the stars are so brilliant and close they seem as if they might explode in your lap.

But it’s not as cold as you may think. Daytime temperatures in October, November and December hover between 38 and 45 degrees. The Gulf Stream and southwesterly winds keep even January relatively temperate (averaging 31 degrees in Reykjavik). Anyway, when you’re soaking in a steaming geothermal pool, there’s nothing like a light snowfall to close the pores.

Another fine thing about off-season Iceland is the price. Though it’s a notoriously expensive country to visit, you can go there now for less than it might cost you to go to New York. For our four-day visit in October, Barbara and I took advantage of a special Icelandair two-for-one fare, from Minneapolis or New York, for $530 round trip. (The fare from L.A. to Minneapolis brought my total to $624; Barbara used her frequent-flier miles on this leg.) Hotel rates also drop between November and May, in some cases falling almost 50% from high-season rates.

When we landed in Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital, a green morning sky glowed over the black, volcanic earth. The first thing you notice when you get off the plane is the air, bright and clear and so clean it sings through your jaded lungs. Colors are astonishingly vivid. Rainbows spring up everywhere: single, double, with Icelandic versions of the primary colors.

Iceland is an easy country to travel in. Everyone speaks English, many of the signs critical to tourists are in English, and everyone is so polite it breaks your heart.

We stayed in the grand old Hotel Borg, where we paid $148 a night for a unique, spacious room that will cost $252 beginning in May. We looked out past a stone balcony to views of the city and the harbor beyond. The room had two bathrooms, a chaise lounge covered in maroon brocade and drawings in gilt frames. Two snowy white bathrobes hung on a door. Thanks to geothermal energy, all the heat for Iceland’s buildings comes from the belly of the Earth. When you turn the tap, the smell of sulfur wafts up.

Reykjavik feels a little like Paris’ Left Bank. There are lots of cafes, and hipsters dressed in black leather and strange metallic fabrics that Icelandic fashion designers seem fond of. (You can tell the tourists because they are eagerly wearing the colorful woolens that the country is known for.) With her short brown hair and olive skin, Barbara looked downright exotic among the ubiquitous blonds.

Immediately after arriving in Iceland at 7 a.m., we rented a car and headed to Geysir, three hours away and the site of an ancient spouting hot spring after which all the world’s geysers are named. Geysir is part of the so-called Golden Circle Tour of natural wonders outside Rekyjavik, and we headed out on the Ring Road that climbs a volcanic mountain pass and sets you down on moss-covered lava fields. We passed steaming crevasses and hills scored with yellow sulfur around the town of Hveragerdi, which makes its living from produce grown in geothermal greenhouses.

There we were distracted by a naturopathic clinic. Barbara can smell a potential massage a mile away, so we pulled into the parking lot of the Naturopathic Health Assn. of Iceland, which specializes in baths and mud cures. (Spa mavens beware: This is more a health clinic than a beauty oasis.)

We were met at the door by a man in a white coat who led us to Hilda, a mountainous woman who instructed us without ceremony to take off our clothes. In a no-frills, hospital-like hall, she hosed us off and told us to lie down in tubs filled with volcanic mud for 15 minutes. Then, after a deep Swedish massage, we soaked in an outdoor geothermal pool. These are ubiquitous in Iceland and must be jumped into at every opportunity. (But beware: Several tourists are scalded each year when they misjudge pools’ temperatures.)

We had every intention of continuing to Geysir and the spectacular, 105-foot-high Gullfoss waterfall. But between the mud, the massage, the soak and the jet lag, we were barely able to crawl back to the city.

We didn’t get back to Reykjavik until around 10 p.m., but all the restaurants were still open. We chose an elegant place called Laekjarbrekka, which specializes in seafood and is set in a historic wooden house in the city’s Old Town district. There were all kinds of unique dishes on the menu, like puffin (a cartoonish, fat-beaked black-and-white bird) and reindeer. I had halibut with a lemon curry sauce. It tasted so fresh it snapped in my mouth.

In the last two years, Reykjavik has become a hot spot for rock stars and artists, particularly very pale Londoners and young Italians walking the streets glued to their cell phones. The city has a thriving club scene, especially in Old Town, surrounding the Hotel Borg.

The clubs, which are quiet, civilized cafes by day, turn into loud, smoky, throbbing scenes at night. They heat up around 11 p.m. and close at 3 a.m., and people dress up. There’s the Astro, a disco-ey sort of place with long lines in front. A younger, tattooed and spiky-haired crowd can be found at Kaffi Thomsen, which has walls decorated like cave paintings, an upstairs cafe and a basement dance floor with a gothic motif. Kaffibarinn is the place for arty types, musicians and writers, more like one of New York’s East Village jazz clubs. The Dubliner is a pub with live Irish music.

We were tempted to luxuriate in Reykjavik, but you have to be really slothful to refuse to take one of the many excursions to glaciers and geysers and fishing villages with churches that date back to the 800s. There are several outfitters that offer everything from day trips to adventure safaris.

We chose a day trip to Heimaey, the main island of Vestmannaeyjar, also known as the Westman Islands. A one-hour flight south of the mainland, these relatively young volcanic isles are active, lighting up the sky periodically, expanding the existing islands’ landmass and creating new islands. Today, 5,300 people live on Heimaey and provide Iceland with about 12% of the fish it exports.

Heimaey is also the capital of puffin hunting--you can see puffin hunting lodges set in the cliffs--and a fantastic place to hike and bird watch. We took a half-mile walk out of town to a golf course, where we picked up a trail, hiked to spectacular ocean cliffs and explored caves full of puffins, gannets, auks and petrels. Mountain sheep stared silently down at us.

But we also came to Heimaey to visit Keiko, the celebrity whale who starred in “Free Willy.” A little over a year ago, Keiko was flown back to Iceland (where he was captured 20 years ago) and released into a pen floating in Klattsvik Bay. Here he is being trained for his eventual return to the wild.

Some Icelanders find the expense of this disturbing. Keep in mind that for centuries they hunted and ate whale, until world political pressure forced Iceland--grudgingly--to stop whaling in 1985. I recommend taking one of the small boats that tour the island and stop near Keiko’s pen. If the weather prevents that, you can watch Keiko frolicking by using strong binoculars from the shore.

Back in Reykjavik the next day, we decided to do what the natives do and head for one of six geothermal pools that stay open until 10 on weeknights. Everyone, from teenagers to couples to extended families, uses the pools as social centers. We chose the Laugardalur pools in the center of town, where for a $2.25 admittance fee, we soaked, lounged on boulders, went down the water slides and swam a few laps.

Everything was spanking clean. The stark, techno-chrome locker rooms had amusing signs that specified which body parts must be washed before entering the pools. I experienced a mercifully brief moment of shock in the frigid night air before sliding into the hot pool, which is comfortably furnished with curved seats. The whole atmosphere was familiar, friendly and, above all, healthy. A light, cold rain fell on our faces. We were warm and relaxed.

That night we had a light late dinner a block from the Hotel Borg at the Kaffi Reykjavik, with marble floors and bistro chairs reminiscent of a Paris cafe. We ordered smoked Icelandic lamb and tomato soup with a hard-boiled egg and a dollop of cream.

The next morning we went shopping. The prime shopping area is in Old Town near our hotel, and it is a dangerous place. Gorgeous wool sweaters, the kind Ralph Lauren sells for $375, can be found here for $40 to $120. Hats, mittens, sheepskin, Icelandic wool blankets, shawls and truly fantastic knitted things for children--I bought sweaters and hats and little sheepskin slippers for my three--forced me to buy extra duffel bags. We found this so exhausting that we took a 40-minute drive to the Blue Lagoon in Grindavik, one of Iceland’s best-known attractions. It is only 15 minutes from the airport, which makes it a particularly wonderful thing to do just before you leave Iceland.

The Blue Lagoon is a pale blue lake full of mineral-rich seawater heated by underground lava. The lagoon is actually outflow from the adjacent Svartsengi geothermal power plant, which sounds dangerous but is considered healthy. The silica and salt content of the water, 113 degrees, is thought to cure psoriasis and eczema.

A lava walkway leads from the parking lot to a gorgeous wood and stone lobby, where you can rent towels and bathing suits. There’s also a restaurant that serves Caesar salad with salmon and cloudberries. A sauna with a lava-walled interior is cut into the bank of the lagoon. Lovers float through the water. Lifeguards in neon yellow talk on cell phones on the banks.

I’m sure Iceland in winter can be grueling out there on the glaciers, the snow whipping across bleak vistas. But from my table in the Finnish-style restaurant, with its white ash chairs and steel tables overlooking the lagoon, I only imagined the hardships. I tried to recall the smell of foul air. I ate my cloudberries. I felt clean.

*

Susan Salter Reynolds is an editor for the Times’ Book Review.

GUIDEBOOK / Holiday on Iceland

Getting there: Icelandair is the only carrier that flies to Reykjavik, connecting with several major airlines (including Northwest, United, Delta) in Minneapolis or New York (JFK). Round-trip fares from Los Angeles begin at $771, but a highly restricted sale fare, $524, is available if you complete travel by Dec. 12. Telephone (800) 223-5500, Internet https://www.icelandair.com.

Where to stay: The Hotel Borg, founded in 1930 and recently remodeled in period decor, is centrally located; $148 per night for a double room, with breakfast, until May; Posthusstraeti 11, tel. 011-354-551- 1440, fax 011-354-551-1420, Internet https://www.travelnet.is.hotelborg. The Odinsve is a small, old hotel in Old Town; doubles $150 with breakfast; Odinstorg, tel. 011-354-511- 6200, fax 011-354-511-6201, Internet https://www.hotelodinsve.is. The Saga is a larger, more modern hotel just outside Old Town; Hagatorg, tel. 011-354-552- 9900, fax 011-354-562- 3980, Internet https://www.hotelsaga.is. Doubles $178 with breakfast.

Where to spa: The Naturopathic Health Assn. has a clinic in Hveragerdi, local tel. 483-0300. Massages, $45 per hour; mud treatments, $15. There are six public geothermal pools in Reykjavik that are clean, appealing and fun. The largest, Laugardalur, costs about $2.25 per person; tel. 553-4039. Admission to the Blue Lagoon in Grindavik is about $13; tel. 420-8800.

Where to eat: Laekjarbrekka specializes in seafood and Icelandic dishes; Bankastraeti 2, tel. 551-4430. Vegamot Bistro and Bar is said to serve good international dishes (entrees $9 to $15) and carries a wide selection of Icelandic beers and vodkas amid sleek decor; Vegamotastig 4, tel. 511-3040. Kaffi Reykjavik is a casual cafe with an eclectic menu for lunch and dinner (dinner entrees $20 to $26); Vesturgata 2, tel. 562-5540.

For more information: Scandinavian Tourist Board of Iceland, P.O. Box 4649, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163-4649; tel. (212) 885-9700, fax (212) 885-9710, Internet https:// www.icetourist.is.