Iceland · IS

Urriðavatn

On a low shelf of countryside just minutes from Egilsstaðir, the largest town in eastern Iceland, Lake Urriðavatn is a quiet sheet of freshwater with an unusual secret: hot springs well up from beneath it. That geothermal warmth became the setting for Vök Baths, Iceland's first floating hot pools, opened in 2019 on the lake's edge and now one of the most talked-about stops on an east-country drive. The lake itself is small and shallow — about 1.1 square kilometres, roughly 15 metres at its deepest, sitting only around 40 metres above sea level — fed by the Hafralónslækur and Merkilækur streams. Despite a name that means 'brown trout water', it is today home to Arctic char. For travellers it offers two distinct appeals: the otherworldly soak of Vök Baths and a laid-back, scenic corner of the east where you can walk the shore, cast a line or use it as a restful waypoint on the long Ring Road.