Vesturbæjarlaug, though recently refurbished, is not our fanciest pool—it doesn’t have Laugardalslaug’s amazing slide or salt water hot pot, for instance—but it is a damn fine neighbourhood pool where normal people (and, um, Björk) can go swim a few laps, have a schvitz in the sauna or steam rooms, and then settle in one of the four hot pots for a little ‘pottaspjall,’ or hot pot chat. One of said hot pots is actually a four-in-one, wheelchair-accessible mega pot, which was cleverly situated so that during daylight hours, it is never in the shade. (New Reykjavík mayor Dagur B. Eggertson made a special visit to Vesturbæjarlaug when the new hot pot opened in April, an event covered by much of the local media: VERY EXCITE.) And after your swim, you can cap the experience with an ice cream cone the size of your head at Grapevine Institution Ísbúð Vesturbæjar, just around the corner.

2013: Laugardalslaug
2012: Laugardalslaug
2011: Neslaug
2010: Laugardalslaug
2009: Laugardalslaug

Photo by GAS