“Gunnuhver, Iceland's biggest mud pool, is named after a vengeful ghost a priest is said to have tricked into the boiling spring to trap her there forever.”
About Gunnuver Hot Springs
The Reykjanes geothermal field has been venting steam and boiling mud for as long as people have lived nearby, and the folklore of Gunna the ghost grew up around it. The steam here is hot enough that the area has been tapped for geothermal power, and the boardwalks were built after the ground proved too dangerous to approach on foot.
What Gunnuhver Hot Springs actually is
Gunnuhver is a fiercely active geothermal field on the tip of the Reykjanes peninsula, a cluster of steaming vents and Iceland's largest mud pool, surrounded by ochre-stained ground and the constant roar of escaping steam. Boardwalks let you get close to the boiling, churning mud without stepping onto the unstable crust.
Boardwalks let you get close to the boiling, churning mud without stepping onto the unstable crust.
The Ghost in the Spring
The field is named after Gunna, a woman from Icelandic folklore. The story goes that after a dispute over a debt she died and returned as a vengeful ghost, causing chaos until a priest tricked her into the spring, where she was trapped and where the bubbling is sometimes said to be her still raging. It is a classic piece of the dark folklore that clings to Iceland's geothermal places.
The Experience
You hear it before you reach it, a low industrial roar of pressurised steam. From the boardwalk you look into a mud pool perhaps twenty metres across, grey mud heaving and bursting while sulphur steam drifts over the rust-coloured earth. It feels genuinely raw and slightly threatening, a reminder that the ground here is barely holding the heat in.
Why It Matters
Gunnuhver shows the Reykjanes peninsula at its most violently geothermal, on the same Mid-Atlantic Ridge that built Iceland. The ghost legend ties it to a long tradition of Icelandic folklore that treats these dangerous, steaming places as haunted, a way of explaining ground that could kill you.
Gunnuhver shows the Reykjanes peninsula at its most violently geothermal, on the same Mid-Atlantic Ridge that built Iceland.
Why Visit
Gunnuhver is the most violently alive geothermal field near the airport, and it is free. Come for the roar and the steam, stay safely on the boardwalk, and fold it into the Reykjanes loop with the lighthouse and the continental bridge.
✦ Insider Tips
- 1
Stay strictly on the boardwalks; the surrounding crust is thin and the water is boiling.
- 2
Come on a cold, calm day for the thickest, most dramatic steam.
- 3
Pair it with the Bridge Between Continents and Reykjanesviti lighthouse on the same peninsula loop.
- 4
The sulphur smell is strong, so do not be alarmed by it.
