Iceland · City break

Reykjavík City Guide

The northernmost capital of a sovereign state feels like a small town with a world-class programme: colourful tin roofs beneath the concrete church Hallgrímskirkja, Harpa's honeycomb glass at the harbour, whales out in the bay – and nearly every house heated by geothermal energy. Two ready-made routes split the city into old town and harbour on day one, Perlan and the museum shore on day two.

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Our walking tours of Reykjavík

Ready-made routes from the station guide you through Reykjavík – to the right spots from the very first step, with no planning needed.

Hallgrímskirkja, rainbow street & harbour

From the basalt-column church Hallgrímskirkja, 41 years in the building, down the rainbow street into the Laugavegur shopping mile. On the shore waits the Sun Voyager – a dream boat, not a Viking ship – then the Harpa concert hall, whose glass honeycombs change colour with the light. Finally the Old Harbour, where the boats cast off for the whales.

Hallgrímskirkja – Iceland's largest church looks as if poured from the landscape: architect Guðjón Samúelsson modelled the facade on the basalt columns that line Iceland's coasts. Building ran from 1945 to 1986 – 41 years; the architect himself only saw the crypt completed. Before the door stands Leifur Eriksson, a gift from the USA for the thousand-year jubilee of Iceland's parliament in 1930. The lift takes you up the 74.5-metre tower: below, the colourful tin roofs, beyond them bay and mountains. The bells ring every quarter hour, loudly – you will notice.
Skólavörðustígur & Laugavegur – Skólavörðustígur runs in a dead-straight axis towards Hallgrímskirkja – and has worn its rainbow permanently since 2019: first painted for the Pride festival in 2015, nobody wanted to give it up afterwards. Left and right sit galleries, wool shops and craft stores; at the bottom the street joins Laugavegur, Reykjavík's main shopping mile. This is where you find the yoke-patterned Iceland sweater, the lopapeysa – ideally where Icelanders shop themselves. In the evening the same mile turns into the city's going-out zone. Two minutes below the church, the scent drifts out of Brauð & Co, the bakery behind the colourful street-art facade: its cinnamon buns are Reykjavík's best-known food photo – by late morning they are often sold out. And keep your eyes open: along Laugavegur, international artists painted whole house walls for the "Wall Poetry" project.
Sun Voyager (Sólfar) – On the shore road gleams Reykjavík's most photographed sculpture: the Sun Voyager by Jón Gunnar Árnason, unveiled in 1990 for the city's 200th anniversary. Nearly everyone takes it for a Viking ship – the artist expressly disagreed: it is a dream boat, an ode to the sun, to hope and undiscovered land. Árnason himself did not live to see it installed; he died the year before. The stainless steel takes on every mood of light; the spot is strongest late in the evening when the sun stands behind Mount Esja – and in high summer it never gets dark here at all.
Harpa – At the harbour sparkles Iceland's concert hall: Harpa, opened in 2011, with a facade developed by Henning Larsen Architects together with artist Ólafur Elíasson. The hexagonal glass honeycombs quote Iceland's basalt columns and change colour with light and weather – only the south facade carries the true three-dimensional cells; the other sides bear a flattened image of them. In 2013 it won the Mies van der Rohe Award, Europe's foremost architecture prize. The foyer is freely accessible: stand inside and watch the glass throw coloured reflections across floor and stairs. On the way to the old harbour, by the way, Iceland's most famous snack stand waits on Tryggvagata: Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, the hot-dog stand of 1937 where Bill Clinton once queued – you order "eina með öllu", one with everything.
Old Harbour – Between old shipyard buildings and colourful cutters, the boats cast off for Faxaflói Bay: minke whales, humpbacks and dolphins live right off the city; tours last around three hours and run all year, most reliably from April to October. Puffin trips to the breeding islets offshore, however, only run in their breeding season from May to August. Bring a warm jacket even in summer – out on the water, Iceland is always a few degrees more honest. If you stay ashore, stroll the quayside to the fish restaurants in the old harbour sheds.

Perlan, Tjörnin & Grandi

Day two starts with a view: Perlan, the glass dome on the city's hot-water tanks, with a walk-in ice cave and all-round platform. Then settlement history at the National Museum, the birdlife on lake Tjörnin with the Iceland relief in the city hall – and finally the Grandi harbour district with life-size whales and the city's most famous ice cream. If you like, add the Grótta lighthouse.

Perlan – Only Reykjavík builds its landmark on hot-water storage: on the wooded Öskjuhlíð hill, six huge district-heating tanks have carried a glass dome since 1991 – four still store hot spring water, one now holds a walk-in ice cave made of over 350 tonnes of real ice, another a planetarium. The "Wonders of Iceland" exhibition explains volcanoes, glaciers and northern lights, and up top the viewing platform circles you right around. Honest note: full admission is steep – if you only want the view, the platform alone is far cheaper.
National Museum – Eleven hundred years of Iceland in one circuit: the National Museum tells the story from the beginning around 874, when the first settlers hauled their farmsteads ashore – the excavated settlement hall from exactly that period is not here, though, but in its own museum, the Landnámssýningin on Aðalstræti. The showpiece is the Valþjófsstaður door, carved around 1200: a knight slaying a dragon and freeing a lion, complete with runic inscription – Iceland's most famous piece of wood. Add Viking graves, medieval chess pieces and the leap into the present. Compact, well told, doable in an hour and a half.
Tjörnin & City Hall – The city lake Tjörnin is Reykjavík's living-room pond: swans, ducks and whole duckling convoys in summer, while the colourful houses mirror themselves in the water along the east bank. On the north shore the Icelanders placed their city hall, a concrete building that seems to float on stilts above the lake, moss growing on its walls. Inside, the best part is free: a huge relief of all of Iceland at 1:50,000, cut from millimetre-thin card along the contour lines – four men spent four years building it. Find your travel route from above before you move on.
Grandi & Whales of Iceland – The old shipyard and fishery area of Grandi has turned into a district of museums, food halls and shops without losing its harbour tone. The biggest magnet is "Whales of Iceland": 23 life-size, hand-painted models of every whale species in Icelandic waters hang in a darkened hall, a 25-metre blue whale among them – only beneath its belly do you grasp the scale. Afterwards, ice cream is part of the programme: Valdís on Grandagarður is the city's cult ice-cream shop, with flavours from liquorice to rye bread. In sunshine the queue reaches the street; it moves fast. Out in the quarter, larger-than-life faces look back at you: the Australian artist Guido van Helten painted portraits onto the old industrial facades. And if the weather turns, next door "FlyOver Iceland" simulates a flight across the island – short but impressive.
Grótta Lighthouse – The closing point for anyone with energy left: at the tip of the Seltjarnarnes peninsula, the Grótta lighthouse stands on a tidal island – the causeway across is only clear at low tide, and the water returns faster than you think; check the tides beforehand. From early May to mid-July the island is additionally closed altogether, when the Arctic terns breed here and defend their territory in low-level flight. Even from the mainland the spot rewards: open horizon, sea on three sides – and in winter one of the best places near the city to see the northern lights.

Getting there & around

There is no railway anywhere in Iceland – Reykjavík runs on the yellow Strætó city buses, paid via app or contactless on board; a single ticket is valid 75 minutes including transfers. The centre between harbour, lake and Hallgrímskirkja is an easy walk. From Keflavík Airport, some 50 kilometres out on the lava peninsula, the Flybus meets every flight and reaches the BSÍ bus terminal in about 45 minutes. And dress in layers: the weather here changes faster than the traffic lights.

Going out & nightlife

Rooftop bars

SKÝ Bar – Bar and lounge on the eighth floor above the centre, with a terrace towards Harpa and the bay. Worth gold in an expensive city: the long evening happy hour. Under a clear winter sky you may with luck see northern lights over the water from here.

Nightlife quarters

Laugavegur – The entire nightlife plays out on and around Laugavegur – following its own ritual called the rúntur, literally "the round": originally bored youths drove their car laps here; today the word means the pub crawl from bar to bar. It starts late, often not before midnight, and ends at dawn. If you see empty bars at 10 pm, you are simply too early.

Food & restaurants

Dill – In 2017 Dill became the first restaurant in Iceland to win a Michelin star: New Nordic with Icelandic ingredients in a long tasting menu, opened by Gunnar Karl Gíslason. Book weeks ahead. Cheaper and also very good: the Apotek in the old pharmacy building.

Bars & clubs

Kaldi Bar – Taproom of Iceland's first microbrewery, which brews up north in Árskógssandur: a wide draught selection, heated backyard, plenty of locals. The afternoon happy hour makes Icelandic beer prices bearable.

Stage & concerts

Harpa – In the honeycomb-glass building at the harbour play the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and opera and concert productions of every kind. Even without a ticket the evening rewards: come to the foyer before curtain time, when the facade works its magic in the evening light.

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