Airwaves 2022: Where To Cure Your Festival Hangover

We’ve all been there. Waking up after a night at a festival, feeling like absolute crap. The headache, the dizziness, the nausea. Can you survive a festival without overdoing it? Very unlikely. Can you treat your body with at least a bit of dignity as you’re getting ready for another night of rounds and rounds of pints? Here’re some of our tips to help out:

The pool

Everybody knows that when you’re hungover, your body is dehydrated and you need to drink loads of water. What about soaking in loads of water? We think it works. Iceland might be the best country in the world to test this theory. With the abundance of swimming pools in Reykjavík, you don’t have to go far. Even better, you don’t have to splurge on experiences like the Blue Lagoon, as there’s a myriad of pools available within walking distance from your flat, hotel, or even gig venue. Check out the website for public swimming pools in Iceland here. Pro tip: sitting for hours in a hot tub might make things even worse, try going for an actual swim or at least change it up between hot and cold tubs.

The food

It’s better to start preparing early. The food you eat the night before can seriously affect whether you’re feeling well the next morning. But assuming it’s too late and your hangover is here, we got you covered. Scientifically, it’s best to eat potassium-rich foods to cure a hangover, but we all know that once you’re there the only thing you’re craving is some junk food. Suggestions from our team differed, but there are tons of restaurants and food stalls in town to put you back on your feet. Consider trying one of these: Mandi, Hlöllabátur, Ali Baba, Hraðlestinn—and our Editor-in-Chief’s hangover days favourite: PÜNK.

The juice

Other juiceries in town also have some healing green juice

Speaking of potassium again, we’ve heard spinach has it all. Oftentimes when hungover you can’t even think of eating anything ever again. Our advice: drink it. Local juicery Joe & the Juice even has a name for it—‘Green Shield’. This green juice will not only cure your hangover, but will also make your body stronger and less susceptible to any outside dangers the next festival night might bring. Those pesky germs don’t stand a chance against your newly boosted immune system.

The nap

Photo by John Pearson

This one is the most budget-friendly advice on our list. If you’ve feeling unwell, just take a nap. The next concert doesn’t start until well into the evening, so you do have the luxury of sleeping in. Yes, we know it might be harder to fall asleep, and yes, we’re also aware of FOMO, but take our word—it’s better to oversleep a concert than show up there feeling like you’d rather be dead. If curing a hangover at home sounds boring for you, maybe check out a museum? We don’t know what the consequences of taking a nap in one of those might be though. Our best suggestion—Höfuðstöðin, with its fluffy walls and colourful installations. It might not take your headache away, but can certainly bring some peace of mind.

The… straight back at it

Photo by Art Bicnick

Some people say that the best way to cure a hangover is… to just keep drinking. We agree that a cold beer tastes better than coffee on a festival morning after, but beware: drink responsibly. Avoid mixing drinks, order smaller quantities and take breaks. Experience shows that sometimes swapping a gin and tonic for just tonic won’t make a difference on how much fun you’re having, but you will thank yourself later. That being said, if you throw all of our advice together and have a bloody mary after a morning swim, a nap and a good meal, then god, you’ll be unstoppable. See you at the party, baby, you’re golden.