A cabin village in Iceland, built in six months

The place

Laugarvatn is a lakeside village in the south-west of Iceland, right on the Golden Circle — the route that links Þingvellir National Park, the Geysir geothermal area and the Gullfoss waterfall. Almost every visitor to Iceland drives it, which makes the area one of the strongest short-stay rental markets in the country.

The cabins stand in the village itself, a short walk from the Laugarvatn Fontana geothermal baths, restaurants and a supermarket. Þingvellir is about 20 minutes away by car, Geysir and Gullfoss under an hour.

The brief

The owner wanted a village of rental cabins that could open quickly and work all year: warm and quiet in an Icelandic winter, light and open in summer, and simple to clean and maintain between guests. Every cabin had to look the same, be built to the same standard and be ready for guests on day one.

Why a factory-built village

Building on site in Iceland is slow and expensive: the season is short, the weather changes by the hour, and skilled labour is scarce. We moved almost all of the work into our factory in Latvia, where every cabin was built indoors on the same line, by the same team and to the same checklist.

• Same quality in all ten houses. Frame, insulation, windows, finishes and utilities are identical in every building, because they come from one production process.
• Weather is not a risk. The cabins were built in the factory while the site was being prepared, so rain and wind in Iceland did not stop the work.
• Short time on site. The cabins left the factory completely finished — on site they only had to be placed on their foundations and connected — the village opened in six months from the start of the project.

The cabins

All nine rental cabins are the same model, which is now in our range as Nordic Iceland: a compact 32 m² gabled house with a living room and kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom with shower, all on one level under a vaulted ceiling. Both gable ends are glazed from floor to ceiling, with a door to the terrace. Each cabin has a fully equipped kitchen and its own bathroom; on the booking platforms they are offered for two and for up to four guests. The tenth house in the village is a service building.

Inside, the cabins have the same finishes as every ILUMHOUSE house: brushed and waxed pine, triple-glazed VEKA windows, PAROC insulation in the floor, walls and ceiling, and a tiled bathroom with underfloor heating.

What guests say

Hundreds of guest reviews repeat the same themes: the cabins feel new, they are spotless, warm and comfortable, and the location makes it easy to see the Golden Circle. A few guests note that the cabins are compact — and that they have everything needed for a few nights.

“Everything was spotless and very comfortable.”Guest review on Hotels.com

Golden Circle Cabins holds a score of 9.4 out of 10 on Booking.com from 327 reviews, and 9.8 out of 10 on Hotels.com, where guests give cleanliness a full 10.

What this means for your project

If you are planning a glamping site, a holiday park or a small village of rental houses, the Iceland project shows what a factory-built approach gives you:

• one manufacturer and one project manager for every cabin;
• a fixed price in the contract and a production schedule planned around your season;
• houses that guests rate as highly as a good hotel, from the first season.

You can check it yourself: the cabins are listed on Booking.com — read the reviews, or book a night before you decide.