Hofsos Swimming Pool

Hofsos is a small village on the eastern side of Skagafjordur with a harbour, a few old timber buildings and, since 2010, a swimming pool built on the slope above the shore. It is not large, just a lane pool and a hot pot, but the far edge is set so that the water appears to spill straight into the fjord, with the flat-topped island of Drangey and the mountains of the western shore filling the view. Entry is the ordinary municipal price, a fraction of what the built lagoons near the capital charge, and the same washing rules apply as at any pool in the country.

What you actually see

• The infinity edge - the pool lip set against the fjord with nothing visible in between.
• The view to Drangey - the flat-topped island out in Skagafjordur, seen from the water.
• The hot pot - the hotter tub beside the main pool.
• The village - the harbour, the old timber warehouse and the basalt shore below.

When to go

Year-round; it is heated and stays open in winter, when snow and steam improve it rather than the opposite. Evenings catch the light on the far side of the fjord, and in June it stays bright well past midnight. Hours are shorter outside summer and the pool closes occasionally for maintenance, so check before making the detour.

Honest expectations

It is a village pool and not a spa: small, plain, and filled by two families. Photographs make it look isolated when the road and houses sit directly above. In rain or fog the view that justifies the detour simply is not there. Changing rooms are basic and the pre-swim washing rules are enforced the same as everywhere else.

Nearby

Saudarkrokur, the Skagafjordur farmland and the Trollaskagi road north to Siglufjordur.