Rye Bread Tour at Laugarvatn Fontana Geothermal Bakery

Your guide meets the group at the Laugarvatn Fontana reception desk and leads you a short way outside to the lake. Steam rises from the shore here, where boiling water seeps up through small cracks beneath the sand.

Underground heat turns the beach into a natural slow cooker. The traditional recipe is a mix that includes rye flour, sugar, and milk, sealed tight and buried until it’s done. Some spots are scalding, so stay where you’re directed.

Your guide then digs out a pot that went in 24 hours earlier. Keep your camera ready as it comes up.

Slices go around right away, spread with butter, and you can eat as much as you like. Expect a dense, dark loaf with a malty sweetness, served alongside smoked trout. The bread’s nickname, þrumari, or thunder bread, is a nod to all that fiber, so pace yourself.

The geothermal baths need a separate ticket, but if you’ve booked one, you can head there next. Their steam bath is built directly over a hot spring, as two bathhouses here were in 1929. For bread to take with you, ask at the bistro in the main building, which often sells quarter loaves, depending on supply. Otherwise, the road continues toward the Geysir geothermal area and Gullfoss waterfall.