Icebergs the size of buses break off an ice cap in southeast Iceland, drift across a lagoon, wash out to sea, and land back on a black sand beach as scattered blocks of ice. Hótel Jökulsárlón - Glacier Lagoon Hotel, which opened in 2024, is a short drive from that whole process. It is close enough that you can watch parts of it happen from the window of your room, and new enough that when it first opened, some people wondered if it was real.
Location
The hotel stands in Reynivellir, in the southeast of Iceland, on the eastern side of the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon – about 7 km (4.3 miles) away, or roughly fifteen minutes by car. That puts it closer to the lagoon than its longer-established neighbor, Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon, though slightly further from Reykjavík, which is around a five-hour drive west along Route 1, Iceland's ring road.
From the hotel you get a run of mountains close by on either side, the edge of the Vatnajökull ice cap in view, and the North Atlantic visible in the distance.
The Architecture
The hotel was designed by bj.snæ Arkitektar with landscape work by Landslag, and it is built largely from cross-laminated timber, a construction method chosen to cut down on the project's environmental footprint.
It is a literal case of the architecture being built around the landscape rather than the other way around.
The building is fairly plain from the outside, with the design effort concentrated on the interior: floor-to-ceiling windows, natural materials, and an open layout meant to bring the glacier and mountain views into every part of the stay, not just the rooms.
There's a bar and lounge with a fireplace, working through a list of Icelandic spirits and wine alongside cocktails.
Restaurant Gunna á Leiti
Restaurant Gunna á Leiti
The hotel's restaurant, Gunna á Leiti, is on the second floor and seats around 180 people, with the same wall of windows looking out toward the glacier and mountains.
The dinner menu leans on Icelandic and Nordic staples with some international touches – lamb, cod, and Arctic char all feature, with the lamb a particular highlight. Breakfast is a buffet with smoked fish, local cheeses, skyr, rye bread, and pastries.
The Rooms
The hotel has rooms across a few categories – a standard double, a triple, a family suite, and a suite – and the design is consistent throughout: large windows, blackout curtains, heating, and a private bathroom stocked with the hotel's own line of shampoo, conditioner, and soap. Every room also comes with a Sjöstrand coffee machine, robes, and slippers.
The Double Room
Double Room
The standard double comes in at 23 sqm (247 sq ft), with a king bed and either a mountain or glacier view depending on which floor you land on.
The bathroom has a rainfall showerhead and a towel warmer, and the room itself is built for a straightforward, comfortable stay rather than anything flashy.
The Suite
Suite
The suite is more than double the size of the standard double, at 49 sqm (527 sq ft), with a king bed, a seating area by the windows, and a fridge – an extra bed can be added for a third guest.
It's on the second floor, and its bathroom is the one upgrade worth flagging over the standard rooms: alongside the rainfall shower, it comes with a bathtub.
The Spa
Wellness facilities are modest but well positioned, built around the same view that defines the rest of the hotel. There's a sauna, two outdoor-style hot tubs, and a small fitness area for guests who want to keep up a routine mid-trip.
The sauna has beautiful wood paneling and floor-to-ceiling windows that look straight out onto the surrounding landscape – glacier and mountains included, so even a quick sit is hard to rush through.
The hot tubs are outdoors and tend to fill up as the day goes on, so aim to get there earlier if you want space to yourself.
What ties it together is the view from the water. From the tubs you get the mountains rising close on either side, the glacier in the distance, and on a clear night in the darker months, a shot at seeing the northern lights reflected on the ice below.
Wildlife
The coastline around the hotel has some wild neighbors. Reindeer herds move along the East Iceland coast in winter, and seals are a regular sight both hauled out on icebergs in the lagoon and swimming around it, especially during the colder months when they gather to feed.
Seabirds are a constant presence too – Arctic terns nest near the lagoon, and Arctic skuas, known locally for harassing larger birds and preying on smaller ones, are common on the sand flats nearby.
Outdoor Adventures
Jökulsárlón is the main draw, and there are a few ways to see it up close: amphibian boats that drive into the water and back out again, faster Zodiac tours that get you nearer to the glacier face, or a quieter, guided kayak trip through the icebergs. From the lagoon, it's a short walk to Diamond Beach, where ice blocks wash up on black sand.
Guided ice hikes and ice cave tours run on the glacier, and in Vatnajökull National Park, the hike to Svartifoss waterfall – known for the hexagonal basalt columns around it – passes several smaller falls along the way. The nearby fishing town of Höfn has its own walking trail, Náttúrustígur, through the Ósland conservation area, worth doing if you have time before or after the glacier.
Reynivellir, Efribær, 781 Suðursveit, Iceland
