Where to Eat Near the Blue Lagoon: Restaurants & Cafes

On site, in most cases. The lagoon has four dining venues plus an in-water bar, and there is effectively nothing else within ten kilometres of it.

Beyond that, Keflavík and Reykjanesbær 20 minutes away have the nearest real choice, and Reykjavík is 45 to 50 minutes in the other direction.

Grindavík, the town 3 kilometres from the lagoon, was evacuated in November 2023 and has been largely closed to visitors since, so treat any restaurant listing there as needing confirmation.

Eating at the Blue Lagoon

Four venues, at four very different price points.

Blue Café sits by the entrance and serves sandwiches, soups, cakes and coffee. It is the cheapest option and the one most day visitors use.

Lava Restaurant is built into a lava wall on the west side of the lagoon, with a glass wall looking out over the water. It serves modern Icelandic cooking, with fish landed at Grindavík as the standing recommendation.

The Spa Restaurant sits inside the Retreat and serves a lighter menu to spa and hotel guests.

Moss is the fine dining room in the Retreat hotel, and it holds a Michelin star awarded in 2023, listed in the Michelin Guide. Tasting menus, lava field views and prices to match.

The in-water bar serves drinks and smoothies, paid for by scanning your wristband, and one drink is included with most admission tiers.

Booking and Timing

Three practical points that decide whether you eat well or eat a sandwich.

Lava and Moss both need booking, and Moss needs it well ahead. Neither takes reliable walk-ins in summer.

Booking a restaurant does not include lagoon admission, and vice versa. They are separate reservations, and the timings need to line up.

Blue Café takes no reservations and gets busy at the same midday peak as the lagoon itself, between 12:00 and 15:00.

The most common plan that works is a mid-morning slot, a soak, then lunch at Lava as you come out.

Lava is built into a lava wall beside the water and needs booking ahead in summer.

The Grindavik Situation

Worth being direct about, because older guides still list places that are not operating.

Grindavík is the fishing town 3 kilometres south of the lagoon. It had several restaurants, and it was evacuated in November 2023 during the Reykjanes volcanic activity.

Access has been restricted since, and the situation has changed repeatedly as eruptions have come and gone. Some businesses have reopened at times and others have not.

Do not plan a meal there without confirming on the day. SafeTravel carries the current access status and closure notices for the area.

The Northern Light Inn, a family-run hotel between the lagoon and the main road, has its own restaurant and has generally continued operating.

Keflavik and Reykjanesbaer

The nearest real choice, and only 20 minutes away.

Reykjanesbær is the municipality that includes Keflavík and Njarðvík, with a population large enough to support a proper range of places to eat.

The harbour area in Keflavík has fish restaurants, and the town has the usual Icelandic mix of pizza places, burger joints and a bakery or two.

This is the sensible option if you are flying the same day, since you are heading that way regardless.

Visit Reykjanes maintains the regional restaurant listing, which is the most current source for what is open.

Keflavík Airport itself has cafés and restaurants both landside and airside, and they are the fallback for a very tight schedule.

The Icelandic hot dog is a genuine institution, and petrol station grills do a decent one.

Quick Bites

Four options when you do not want a sit-down meal.

Blue Café at the lagoon covers soup, sandwiches and coffee without a reservation.

Petrol station grills across Iceland do a hot dog, chips and coffee, and the N1 and Olís stations on the Reykjanesbraut are on the route.

The Icelandic hot dog, pylsa, is a genuine national institution rather than a joke. Order it with everything.

Supermarkets in Reykjanesbær, Bónus and Krónan, are the cheapest way to assemble a picnic, and prices are a fraction of restaurant ones.

Nothing on the lava road between the lagoon and the main highway sells food, so buy before you turn off.

If You Are Coming From Reykjavik

Different arithmetic, and usually a different answer.

Reykjavík is 45 to 50 minutes from the lagoon and has by far the best eating in the country.

Eating in town before you drive out, or after you drive back, is generally better value and better food than anything on the peninsula outside the Retreat.

That makes Blue Café the sensible on-site choice for a Reykjavík-based visitor, with the real meal happening in the city.

Our guide to where the Blue Lagoon is covers the drive and the coach options in both directions.

Prices, Honestly

Worth setting expectations, since this catches people out.

Iceland is expensive and the Blue Lagoon is expensive within Iceland. A café lunch on site costs what a restaurant meal costs elsewhere in Europe.

Lava is a proper restaurant at proper restaurant prices, and Moss is a Michelin-starred tasting menu priced accordingly.

Tap water is excellent, free everywhere and served without asking. Bottled water is a waste of money in this country.

There is no tipping culture. Service is included and the price on the menu is the price you pay.

Alcohol is heavily taxed, which is why one included drink at the swim-up bar is a more meaningful perk than it sounds.

Planning the Whole Day

The eating question is really a timing question.

Allow two to three hours at the lagoon itself, which our guide to the best time to visit breaks down by slot.

Add an hour for a sit-down meal at Lava, or 30 minutes for the café.

If you are flying, leave the lagoon three hours before departure, which means eating either before your slot or at the airport.

If you are combining the lagoon with a full day out, eat properly earlier in the day and treat the lagoon as the end of it. On a Golden Circle day that usually means lunch at Friðheimar, which needs booking.

Whatever the plan, book the lagoon slot first. It is the only fixed point in the day and everything else moves around it.

Our page on the Blue Lagoon covers what admission includes.

Make the Lagoon the End of a Full Day

The lagoon is a two to three hour stop, and the best days pair it with the landscape an hour inland rather than with an afternoon on the peninsula. Our Golden Circle and Blue Lagoon combination covers Þingvellir, Geysir and Gullfoss, includes lagoon admission and stops for lunch on the way. Tell us your dates and we will confirm the timings.