Iceland’s famed geothermal hot springs get all the buzz, but there are many more renewable energy sites on the island nation for your co-conscious clients to explore. Besides Iceland’s haunting volcano-dotted landscapes and jagged glaciers, travelers may want to learn more about the future of clean, renewable energy underneath their feet.
A report out late last year from nonprofit climate organization Clean Air Task Force expects geothermal energy to be commercially viable in the next decade. For clients who have already visited iconic Icelandic sites such as the Blue Lagoon and want more, travel advisors can offer ways to dive deeper into Iceland’s geothermal offerings. Here’s how to experience geothermal energy in “the land of ice and fire.”
Fridheimar
Fat and fuzzy bumblebees roam rows of tomato plants as geothermal energy heats this greenhouse-enclosed restaurant. The family-run, tomato-focused restaurant and farm supplies 18% of Iceland’s tomatoes.
Visitors can enjoy these sweet treats in Fridheimar’s tangy signature dish: the all-you-can-eat umami bomb of a tomato soup, alongside a selection of freshly baked bread. There’s also a full menu of tomato-infused items such as tomato-flavored beer, ice cream and cheesecake. Before leaving, grab a tasty souvenir from the store — perhaps pickled green tomatoes, tomato jam or tomato chutney.
The green-house enclosed restaurant at Fridheimar
Credit: 2023 FridheimarGeothermal Exhibition
This interactive museum, located about 20 minutes outside Reykjavik, highlights the volcanic processes at the country’s largest geothermal power station, the Hellisheidi Power Station in Selfoss.
Visitors should bring headphones and a smartphone for the self-guided audio tour, which includes educational displays that explain the plant’s processes for producing electricity and hot water for the region. Clients can also tour the turbine halls, watch a short film and observe the white smoke of pure steam against the backdrop of volcanic Mount Hengill — one of South Iceland’s rich energy sources. Afterward, suggest visitors hike the surrounding scenic lava field beneath mountainscapes just outside.
Hellisheidi Power Station is surrounded by a lava field.
Credit: 2023 sumos/stock.adobe.comIcelandic Lava Show
Volcanoes are one of the best forms of natural geothermal energy, and flowing lava is a stunning visual manifestation of potential heat energy. And in Reykjavik or Vik, visitors can watch a live geothermal energy demonstration with molten rock. The 50-minute Lava Show — the world’s first and only — offers clients a front-row seat to the searing heat intensity of lava. After viewing an Iceland volcano presentation, guests don protective safety goggles as lava pours into the room — safely, onto a chute filled with black sand. Watching the lava cool quickly from a fiery orange to dull black is mesmerizing. The host also provides an educational demonstration on how lava bubbles and crackles when introduced to ice, and its flexibility as it cools and hardens into rock.
See the power of molten rock during a 50-minute Lava Show.
Credit: 2023 Kaila YuLjosafoss Power Station
More than one power plant doubles as a tourist site in Iceland, as locals are proud of their successful green energy usage, and this quick stop easily incorporates into your clients’ Golden Circle itinerary.
Located outside Selfoss along the Sog River and operating since 1937, the Ljosafoss Power Station is a hydro-based power plant transforming Lake Ulfljotsvatn’s outflow into energy. Guests can tour the interactive museum highlighting Iceland’s natural energy sources; plan for a 30-minute visit exploring touchscreen and audio-based displays. (Pro tip: Free admission to the site included access to the complimentary coffee and hot chocolate machine, a welcome respite from the cold.)
Hveragerdi
In the little town of Hveragerdi, about 3,000 locals boasts the highest concentration of greenhouses in Iceland, earning its “flower village” nickname. Located about 30 miles east of Reykjavik, it sits on such a sizable geothermal area that visitors can often observe steam pillars wafting from the ground as they stroll. Direct your clients to the Geothermal Park to boil eggs, cook hverabraud (hot spring bread), view a fumarole (an opening to a volcano) or treat themselves to a heated mud bath for their feet. Adventurous travelers can tackle the moderately difficult one-hour hike just outside Hveragerdi to Reykjadalur Valley, along with a dip in a heated geothermal river.
