Reykjavik
Reykjavik is the world's northernmost capital and the only real city in Iceland, walkable in half an hour and heated by the ground under it. One night at each end of the Ring Road, or two to three as a winter base: a public pool done properly, the church tower, whales from the Old Harbour and Sky Lagoon.
Reykjavik in a nutshell
Reykjavik: what to expect
This is what 72,000+ planned stops in Iceland on Stippl say about Reykjavik.
Reykjavik is one night at each end of the trip, and the pool is the thing to do. Sundhöllin's rooftop tubs sit five minutes from the church, Hallgrímskirkja's tower gives the coloured-roof panorama the city is photographed by, the whale boats leave the Old Harbour all year with humpbacks in summer, Harpa's glass hall and the Sun Voyager are both free and best at low light, Perlan's ice tunnel is the weatherproof Iceland primer, and Sky Lagoon's seven-step ritual sits ten minutes from town. Most travellers give Reykjavik 1 night on Stippl.
Reykjavik is the bookend of an Iceland trip, and the base of the dark months. 66.7% of the trips it appears on start here, of everyone who plans it on Stippl, and 77.0% either start or finish here, because the airport is fifty kilometres down the road, while 58.1% of stops are a single night, the landing night or the one before the flight home.
Sleep in 101 between the harbour and the church, collect the hire car when leaving town rather than on arrival, do one public pool properly, and pick Sky Lagoon over the Blue Lagoon if calm matters more than the icon. Skip a fourth day in town, since every guide agrees that Iceland is outside the city, and skip the winter drive out of the capital if you have not driven on ice, because the tours exist for that.
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Ring-road bookenders
One night on landing and one before flying out, the pattern everyone describes and the 66.7% first-stop share on Stippl measures.
Non-driving winter travellers
The city is the tour base of the dark months: the aurora buses, the two-day south-coast tours and the lagoons all leave from here.
Food and pool people
The country's only real restaurant scene, and the geothermal pool culture at full strength in a dozen public pools.
City-break planners
10.5% of Stippl stops here run four nights or more, the winter break with the tours around it.
Iceland-only travellers
67.3% of Reykjavik trips on Stippl stay inside Iceland, so the city is the door to a whole holiday rather than a stop on a bigger one.
Museum-day families
Perlan, FlyOver Iceland, the lava show and the Laugardalur pool make a weatherproof day when the wind takes the coast.
Maybe not for you: anyone budgeting a city break at continental prices, because a main course runs thirty to fifty euros at mid-range; and travellers with three days or more who never leave town, since every guide's verdict is that Iceland is outside the city.
The best time to visit Reykjavik
Summer
June to August
Long light, the whale boats at their best, the harbour terraces open and August the busiest month on Stippl, with the city's beds the dearest in the country.
The shoulders
May, September and October
Mild, cheaper and quieter, with September adding the first aurora and the Airwaves crowd arriving in November's dark.
Winter
November to March
Four to six hours of daylight, the aurora tours leaving every clear night, the pools steaming in the snow and the city as the base for everything rather than a stop.
Festival weeks
June, August and November
Secret Solstice, Pride and Airwaves fill the hotels for their weekends, and New Year's Eve fills them a year ahead.
- Most travellers give Reykjavik 1 night on Stippl, and 58.1% of stops are a single night. The landing night and the night before the flight, with the city seen in the evenings.
- 77.0% of the trips through Reykjavik start or finish here, of everyone who plans it on Stippl. The airport is fifty kilometres away, so the first and last beds are the city's whatever the loop does.
- Only 12.2% of Reykjavik plans on Stippl are made inside a fortnight. The city itself needs nothing booked but the lagoon, and the Ring Road beds are what set the lead.
- The aurora season runs mid-September to mid-April. The city's light dome hides it, so the answer is Grótta, Perlan's hill or a tour with a driver who chases the clouds.
- The hire car waits. Downtown parking is scarce and paid and the centre is walked, so the car is collected when leaving for the ring rather than at the airport on arrival.
- The two airports are endlessly confused. International flights land at Keflavík fifty kilometres out, the in-town strip is domestic only, and the Flybus is the answer for both.
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Things to do in Reykjavik
Photo by Shino Nakamura via UnsplashThe pool ritual
Sundhöllin's rooftop tubs five minutes from the church, Laugardalslaug's slides and Vesturbæjarlaug among the locals, one per day, naked shower first.
Hallgrímskirkja's tower
The lift up the concrete basalt colonnade for the coloured-roof panorama the city is photographed by, and the church itself below for free.
Whales from the Old Harbour
Year-round sailings from the harbour, with humpbacks headlining the summer and minke and dolphins the rest of the year.
Harpa and the Sun Voyager at dusk
The glass concert hall and the steel dreamboat on the waterfront, both free and both at their best in the low light.
Perlan's ice tunnel
The planetarium and the man-made glacier cave on the hill, the weatherproof Iceland primer with the whole city from the viewing deck.
Sky Lagoon's ritual
The close lagoon with its cliff-edge infinity line and seven-step sauna and cold-plunge circuit, ten minutes from town and calmer than the icon.
The areas of Reykjavik
Miðborg, or 101
The compact heart
Laugavegur, Harpa, the bar streets and the tour pick-ups, with everything on foot and the harbour and the church at either end. For first-timers.
Everything on foot and every tour picks up here, but the weekend nights are loud.
Grandi and the Old Harbour
The reborn docks
Food halls, FlyOver Iceland, the whale boats and the ice cream queue, the city's best eating and the boat departures on one quay. For food travellers.
The best eating in the city and the boats, though the hotels are few.
Skólavörðustígur and Þingholt
The church slope
The Rainbow Street up to Hallgrímskirkja, the galleries and the prettiest streets in town, with the quietest central beds behind them. For couples.
The prettiest streets and the quietest central beds, and a hill to every dinner.
Vesturbær
The local west side
Residential and cool, with Vesturbæjarlaug pool, the cafes and the walk out to Grótta for the aurora. For return visitors.
Local cafe life and the best pool, but a walk to the centre.
Laugardalur
The pool valley
The park-and-pool valley east with the big Laugardalslaug, the zoo, the botanical garden and space for children to run. For families.
The big pool and the space, though a bus or a long walk from downtown.
Hlíðar
The belt below Perlan
Hostels and guesthouses on the slope below the hill, a walk from the centre and cheaper than 101. For budgets.
Cheaper beds a walk from everything, and nothing to see on the street itself.
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Where to stay in Reykjavik
Sleep in 101 between the harbour and the church, which is the only location decision in the city, with everything else a compromise measured in taxi fares, and Hlíðar the budget answer a walk away. Most travellers give Reykjavik 1 night on Stippl, and the second is usually the one before the flight home.
Miðborg, or 101
Hostels, design hotels and the international chains, €45 to €400 a night.
Grandi and the Old Harbour
A few harbour hotels and apartments, €120 to €300 a night.
Skólavörðustígur and Þingholt
Boutique guesthouses on the slope, €100 to €280 a night.
Vesturbær
€105–220
Apartments and small guesthouses on the residential west side, €90 to €220 a night.
Laugardalur
€85–190
Family hotels and the campsite by the pool, €15 to €200 a night.
Hlíðar
€70–155
Hostels and budget guesthouses on the slope below Perlan, €40 to €150 a night.
What to eat in Reykjavik
The lamb-based hot dog, a national institution
The cardamom-cinnamon bun
Comfort fish stew
Lamb soup, often in a bread bowl
The thick cultured dairy, dessert-grade
Langoustine, the luxury plate
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Reykjavik customs and what not to do
Shower naked; it is enforced
Thoroughly, with soap, before every pool, the one etiquette rule the whole country agrees on, and the attendants will send you back.
The hot tub is the forum
Pool small talk is where locals debate, joining is welcome, and the towel is your own.
First names for everyone
Patronymics rather than surnames, the phone book runs by first name, and even the Prime Minister goes by hers.
Nightlife starts near midnight
Weekends only, really, with the happy hours early and the rúntur late, and the bars dressed up after eleven.
Tipping is not a thing
Service is in the price, so rounding up is for delight rather than duty.
The hot water smells
The taps run on geothermal water and the faint sulphur in the hot side is normal, while the cold side is the best drinking water on the island.
Do
- Do one public pool properly, naked shower first
- Take the tower at Hallgrímskirkja for the roofs
- Walk the waterfront from Harpa to the Sun Voyager at dusk
- Collect the hire car when leaving for the ring
- Check the tide before walking out to Grótta
Don't
- Look for Uber; there is none, and the Flybus is the airport answer
- Park a hire car downtown for the stay
- Plan dinner for six; the kitchens and the prices are set for eight
- Stay a fourth night in town unless the tours are the trip
- Drive out of the city in winter without ice experience
What a Reykjavik trip costs
Budget
€80–120
A hostel bed, a pylsa and a soup, the public pools and the free waterfront.
Mid-range
€220–340
A 101 double, one real restaurant dinner and the tower or a museum.
High-end
€430+
A design hotel, a tasting menu, Sky Lagoon and the tours.
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Fun facts about Reykjavik
Reykjavik was settled around 874 by Ingólfur Arnarson. That makes it among the oldest continuously inhabited spots in the North Atlantic, and the settlement exhibition sits on the original longhouse.
The hot tap water in Reykjavik is volcanic spring water. The city heats itself geothermally at close to 100% renewable, and the faint sulphur smell of the hot side is the proof.
Beer was illegal in Iceland until 1 March 1989. Reykjavik still marks Beer Day every year, and the state alcohol shops keep the short hours that the ban left behind.
Hallgrímskirkja's facade copies the Svartifoss basalt columns in concrete. It stands 73 metres tall and was finished in 1986, after four decades of building.
The phone book of Reykjavik runs by first name. Patronymics rather than surnames, so nobody has a family name and the Prime Minister is listed under hers.
The Sun Voyager on the Reykjavik waterfront is not a Viking ship. The artist called it a dreamboat and an ode to the sun, and the tourists photograph it as a longship anyway.
Local tips for Reykjavik
No Uber, no Bolt
There is no ride app anywhere in Iceland, the Flybus and its rivals are the airport answer, and taxis are a last resort priced accordingly.
Collect the car on the way out
Downtown parking is scarce and paid, the centre is walked, and the car's job is the ring rather than the city.
Safest capital anywhere
The standard cautions are weather, ice on the pavements and wind that eats umbrellas and car doors, and the crime rate barely registers.
The volcano is not here
The Reykjanes eruptions sit more than forty kilometres southwest near Grindavík, and the airport and the city carry on; the Blue Lagoon is the one that pauses.
Winter driving is the decision
Leaving the city by car in the dark months is the real risk choice, so the inexperienced take the tour instead, and road.is and vedur.is are the morning ritual.
One night, at each end
58.1% of Stippl stops here are a single night and 77.0% of trips start or finish here, so the city is seen in the evenings on either side of the loop.
Reykjavik questions, answered
One at each end of a road trip is the norm, and the data agrees: most travellers give Reykjavik 1 night on Stippl and 58.1% of stops are a single night, with two to three as a winter city break. Beyond three, the country outside is the point.
Sky Lagoon for calm, the seven-step ritual and the ten-minute ride from town, with no under-twelves; the Blue Lagoon for the icon, forty-five minutes away with mandatory pre-booking and the occasional eruption pause. Families with younger children get Sky Lagoon's answer from the age rule, and the town pools beat both on price.
Barely. From mid-September to mid-April the season is on, but the city's light dome hides it, so the answer is to leave it: Grótta lighthouse at the end of the peninsula, Perlan's hill, or a tour with a driver who chases the gaps in the cloud. The tide is checked before the walk to Grótta, because the causeway floods.
No. The Reykjanes eruptions are localised more than forty kilometres southwest near Grindavík, the airport and the city are unaffected, and the Blue Lagoon pauses when an eruption starts and reopens after. The live picture is on safetravel.is, and 66.7% of the trips through Reykjavik still start here, of everyone who plans it on Stippl.
No, and it is a liability downtown, where parking is scarce and paid and the centre is walked in half an hour. Collect the hire car when you leave for the ring. Put the city into Stippl as the first and last night, then ask people who have done the loop in subreddits like r/VisitingIceland which direction they drove it.
A public pool, done properly: the naked shower first, then the hot pots with the locals, at Sundhöllin five minutes from the church or Vesturbæjarlaug on the west side. It is the country's living room, it costs a few euros, and 10.5% of the stays here on Stippl run long enough to try more than one.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Reykjavik in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
Download the app