Translation: Victoria Bakshina

December has stepped in and with it have come the darkest days of the year. This time can be tough, and it can be difficult to deal with all the stress that follows. I invite you here, dear readers, to a survey of effective ways to relax during this Christmas season. A trip to a swimming pool alone can do wonders for the mind, but a trip with a stop in an outdoor locker is something very different. You’re standing in the cold air and allowing it to swirl around you. Breathe out and look at the steam dissolving in the darkness. Undress, feel the cold creeping up your spine, and wrap your towel tightly around you. Step inside the shower cabin, under the open sky, allow the water to warm you up. Then tiptoe to the hot tub, let yourself sink in the hot water. The tension in your muscles and thoughts are leaving you, leaking into the water, and disappearing. You’re only in this moment for a brief time. The darkness, the steam, the cold air, and you. Outdoor lockers are always a good idea, no matter where you go swimming, but in this article, I recommend three lockers. They all have their strengths and flaws but what they have in common is that they are very special to me.

Árbæjarlaug

Árbæjarlaug should be classified as a national treasure. It is hidden deep in the Árbær district (though not very well, Bus route 5 stops close to it) and the building itself is a reason enough to make a trip there. When you enter, you might think the stairs are the entrance into a parallel world made of glass, water, and plants. The same goes for the outdoor locker which is round and opens up into the sky. It has trees and bushes in the center that have been placed behind the two small benches where one can perch on and allow the pure air to swirl around oneself. A long bench is located alongside walls on one side of the locker and facing it is a glass wall that points into the indoor locker. Unfortunately, there are no outdoor showers in Árbæjarlaug and it is necessary to walk through the indoor locker in the direction of the pool. However, the atmosphere in the outdoor locker vastly compensates for this shortcoming and I can forgive it. This arrangement also offers a good opportunity for beginners or those sensitive to cold to test out an outdoor locker that is next to the warm indoor locker in case the cold is too much for you to handle.

Sundhöll Reykjavíkur

Sundhöll Reykjavíkur is a personal favorite of mine because it is so accessible from the university campus, it takes only twenty minutes to walk there. I strongly encourage people to grab their bathing suits next time on the way to school and try to take a short trip to the swimming pool at lunch or the end of the day. The access to the outdoor lockers in Sundhöllin is wonderful. You go from the front desk to the right alongside the windows that point out to the pool. Then the door opens, and you go out and down the stairs. At the top of these stairs, you can stop and enjoy the view over Austurbærinn. The outdoor lockers themselves are located alongside the pool and are built of concrete and dark wood. Foremost in the lockers is an area to change clothes but there are also locked cabins which are hard to find in most outdoor lockers in Iceland, and which are a big plus in my books. Further inside the locker is a heated bathroom, a drying area, and last but not least, outdoor showers that stand under the open sky as I prefer them. I promise you that you will not regret taking a look at Sundhöllin the next time you need a good excuse to delay studying for about an hour or so.

Guðlaug á Akranesi

Akranes is certainly not part of the capital area, but it only takes about three-quarters of an hour to get there from the city center. I believe it can be considered to be sufficiently close to allow me to include it on this list. In terms of outdoor lockers, these wouldn’t make the list if they were at some other pool. They are quite small and dark, about fifty meters from the pool. The showers are not in the lockers but outside of the pool, but they’re mainly intended to wash the salt from the ocean off of you. It is Guðlaug itself, which guarantees the quiet and relaxed atmosphere that I've been preaching about in this article. The pool is perfectly plain when one walks towards it as it is surrounded by a protective wall from the sea. Beautifully sculpted from concrete it stretches down the shore and points out to the ocean. On a good day, the view is all the way up to Reykjavik but when the weather is bad, it’s possible to lie in the shelter on top of the pool and observe the vicious sea. The outdoor locker is therefore kind of irrelevant here, but the experience is the same. Hot water, steam, sea air; it hardly gets any better.

Good advice

- I recommend grabbing a pair of slippers for the outdoor locker. The floor is often extremely cold and it’s crucial not to stand there barefoot. This advice specifically concerns Guðlaug, though the distance from the lockers to the pool is short.

- For those with long hair I advise having a scrunchy or a hair clip. It’s good to put the wet hair away when you’re drying it after the pool. The sooner you dry yourself, the sooner you can begin to dress in warm clothes.

- Show up in comfortable clothes. There is nothing worse after swimming than to pull up your jeans or a tight shirt. You can even take this a step further and show up in pajamas and go home in them - it is much nicer.

- Leave the phone at home. Grab the opportunity and enjoy being completely disconnected from the outside world while you’re checking out the pool.

The best outdoor lockers in the capital area

Árbæjarlaug

Sundhöll Reykjavíkur

Guðlaug á Akranesi

Good advice