Minor and major volcanic eruptions happen regularly in Iceland. People pay a lot of money for helicopter trips or do long walks, sometimes taking significant risk, to see it. However, there are nowadays two places on Iceland, where you can explore lava in a safe environment. The original place is in Vik in Southern Iceland, where the founders of the franchise experimented finding a transparent way to illustrate the power and magic of lava to tourists. In November 2021, they opened an outlet in central Reykjavik. My wife an dI had a visit on the seventh day of our Ring Road Trip in May 2023.
Lava Show Reykjavik – Location & Admission
Lava Show Reykjavik is located at Fiskislöd in the harbor area of Central Reykjavik. Bus 14 connects to the area and there are sufficient parking lots around. The area features some of the newer Reykjavik tourist attractions, like Whales of Iceland or the amazing Aurora Reykjavik exhibition.
There are several shows per day (see below). The show time is about 50 minutes to an hour, but this is also depending on the interaction of the audience. During our visit, there were four daily slots, noon, 14:00, 16:00 and 18:00. Especially during peak times, you should book in advance, the capacity is roughly 85 people. There is also a VIP balcony, which can be booked on demand. Adult admission is 5,900 ISK, roughly 40 Euro.
Lava Show Reykjavik – The Visit
The room in which the show takes place is U-shaped with a few rows of cinema-alike seating. The lava hill is located in the middle of the U. Due to the heat, protective goggles are provided. Even though the show felt very safe, it definitely feels better to wear them. The visit can roughly be split into three parts: there is an oral introduction.first. This is held by the show host, but you also briefly get to learn the operator of the facility, who is wearing heat-protective gear. Our host was Madison. She also had an academic background in geology / geothermics. Having her was an amazing bonus of the visit, as she was extremely knowledgeable. The second part of you visit is a video about volcanoes in Iceland and the franchise.
Real hot floating lava
The final (and longest) part of the show is in fact the presentation and interaction with lava. The two lava show outlets don’t use some sort of natural lava source by drilling deep holes in the Icelandic soil as you might imagine. Instead, the use lava-origin stones and sediments from a specific region in Iceland and heat it to the realistic temperature. Thus, this lava for the show is more uniform than it might be at a typical volcanic eruption in the country. However, it comes with very similar physical properties, which is the key aim of the choice. The heated lava is running down a channel in the theater. Some parts are gathered in a basin at the bottom. And, yes – they recycle. You more or less get the same lava each and every show.
Watching the lava running down the artificial hill is just about a minute of the show. However, you learn a lot about about it properties. For example, the show illustrates what is happening if lava hits cold water. You also learn a lot about how slowly the inside of a lava stream is cooling down – you could also saw: how idiotic it is to try to step on fresh lava as a tourist in case of another volcanic eruption. Also also see that the lava is rather thick – the show host could easily lift it with a heat-protective stick, for example. Later you see how easily it is breaking, even though there might be quite a lot of heat inside. You can even touch small, glass-alike pieces of lava towards the end of the show.
Lava Show Reykjavik – Services
The staff at the reception desk was really kind and helpful. You can have a drink in the lobby and also shop for souvenirs. Lava Show Reykjavik offers some cool stuff including an Mr Lava Lava shirt I loved. Unfortunately, Lava Show Reykjavik just had a very limited selection of sizes available.
Lava Show Reykjavik – My View
If you have a geophysical background, the show might not be too surprising to you. However, I feel that Lava Show Reykjavik is really done in a great way. You also learn a lot about volcanoes in Iceland. I definitely would treat these kinds of events more respectful in the future. A key factor, though, was the amazing host Madison, who stayed quite long after the show to answer to a lot of questions. This is definitely one of the unique things you can do it Iceland – and thus, you should have it on your bucket list.
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