Iceland’s otherworldly volcanic landscape has always needed a truly first-rate luxury resort from which to roam, and the arrival of the Retreat at Blue Lagoon hits all the marks.
Located on a private inlet of the titular lagoon, the 62-room property is actually an extension of an earlier complex, but Basalt Architects and Design Group Italia have created a natural transition that blends a concrete superstructure the colour of dark grey lava, with terrazzo, sand, water features and moss. The 62 suites, in particular, feature a quietly rugged mood of walnut and lava surfaces that are dressed with pieces by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Urquiola – though the marquee attraction has to be the view of Iceland’s wildly rocky beauty seen through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
In-house restaurant, Moss, delivers a menu sourced from all over the island, whether hand-caught scallops and lamb or reindeer and pearl barley. Lamb is served with white onion and mustard, and langoustine with wild garlic and butter. Equally indulgent is the spa, a subterranean pleasure dome of interlocking chambers cut into the volcanic rock that offers treatments based on the silica, algae and minerals of geothermal seawater.
