ION ADVENTURE HOTEL

ICELAND

The Personalities

Adventurers who seek beauty untouched. Stargazers. Geology buffs. Winter dreamers who crave a horizon without interruption.

Moments

Steam rising from a geothermal pool into cold winter air. The quiet hum of wind across mossy lava. Spotting the Aurora while still in your robe. The deep stillness after a long hike in the rift valley.

Best Visiting Months

Visit October to March, If you're after the Northern Lights. However, most outdoor activities are available while the temperatures are mild during the high Season in the summer, June to August.  

Cost

Why stay

ION Adventure Hotel rises like a beacon on the edge of Iceland’s raw wilderness, where design meets lava fields and steaming earth. Set just above Thingvellir National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, the hotel feels both futuristic and elemental, built from reclaimed wood, lava, and steel. Its vast windows frame an untamed horizon of moss-covered rock and shifting skies, making the landscape an inseparable part of the experience. Here, architecture doesn’t compete with nature; it heightens it, creating a sanctuary that is at once stark, luxurious, and deeply in tune with the land.

From this perch, the Golden Circle unfolds at your doorstep—Geysir’s eruptions, Gullfoss’s thundering cascade, the rift valleys where continents drift apart. Days of adventure give way to nights of stillness: soaking in the geothermal pool, watching the aurora ripple across black skies, or retreating to one of the 45 minimalist Nordic rooms where every window is a portal to the wild.

Why wander

Because Iceland is a living geology lesson, and ION sits at its heart. Step outside and you’re within reach of the Golden Circle’s greatest wonders: Thingvellir, where continents drift apart; Gullfoss, a double cascade plunging into a canyon with the roar of a storm; and Geysir, the geothermal field where boiling earth breathes skyward every few minutes. Yet it’s the quieter moments that stay with you—the sulfur scent of steam rising from fissures, the hidden hot pools tucked among hills of moss, the way light shifts endlessly across the lava plains.

Here, wandering means surrendering to the elements. In winter, you chase auroras across black skies; in summer, you hike under midnight sun. Trails weave across ancient lava fields, past volcanic craters and geothermal vents that pulse with heat from deep inside the earth. Wild horses graze near glacial rivers, while in the distance snowcaps glow against dark basalt.

Indulge in

At ION, dining is a love letter to Iceland’s raw larder—think Arctic char pulled from glacial rivers, lamb raised on windswept pastures, and foraged berries that taste like the tundra itself. The Silfra Restaurant & Bar draws on the seasons, plating dishes as striking as the landscape outside its glass walls. End the day with a cocktail infused with Icelandic herbs, best enjoyed fireside as the wind hums across the lava fields.

Getting There

Just under an hour’s drive from Reykjavík, ION Adventure Hotel sits where civilization fades into the highlands. The road winds past Thingvellir National Park before reaching the hotel’s modern silhouette rising from the lava. A rental car offers the most freedom, but private transfers can be arranged for those who prefer to simply watch the scenery roll by.

WILD INITIATIVES

ION treads lightly on its volcanic perch. The hotel is powered in part by geothermal energy, draws water from local hot springs, and works with regional producers to keep its kitchen hyper-local. Interiors feature reclaimed wood, recycled materials, and Icelandic art, all chosen to honor the land that surrounds it. Every stay supports a property committed to protecting Iceland’s fragile wilderness while offering guests a front-row seat to its beauty.