The world's northernmost capital: colourful rooftops, the Hallgrimskirkja tower and a base for the Golden Circle and the Blue Lagoon.
Reykjavik works best as a 3-day city break. Reykjavik's downtown is tiny, walkable and easily seen in a single day, so treat the city itself as a warm-up rather than the main event. The real reason to come is to use it as a base: the Golden Circle, the South Coast waterfalls, the Blue Lagoon, whale-watching boats and, in the dark half of the year, the Northern Lights all launch from here. Everything is expensive by European standards, especially food and alcohol, so budget hard and self-cater where you can. The weather turns on a coin at any time of year, so pack real layers and a waterproof and check the road alerts before any day trip.
Ideal stay
3 days
Best months
Jun · Jul · Aug
Mid budget
180 EUR/day
Airport
Keflavik International sits about 50km southwest of the city
Four picks that cover the realistic range, from splurge to budget. Prices are low-season starting points; check live rates for your dates.
Special occasions€€€Art Deco landmark · Midborg (101 downtown)
Reykjavik's grand old hotel, a 1930 Art Deco landmark on the Austurvollur square facing parliament, with a spa in the basement. You are in the dead centre of the 101 district, a few minutes from Laugavegur and Hallgrimskirkja.
from ~280 EUR/night
Check prices
First visit€€Laugavegur boutique · Laugavegur
A warm, low-key boutique hotel strung along the main Laugavegur shopping street, with a popular bakery and cafe on the ground floor. It puts the bars, restaurants and shops of downtown Reykjavik right outside the door.
from ~170 EUR/night
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Couples€€Old harbour design · Old Harbour and Grandi
A playful design hotel right on the old harbour in Grandi, next to the whale-watching docks and the slipway where boats are still hauled out for repair. The Slippbarinn cocktail bar downstairs is a local favourite, and the museums and food halls are a short walk away.
from ~160 EUR/night
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Budget€HI hostel by the pool · Laugardalur (Hlemmur east)
A big, well-equipped HI hostel out in the green Laugardalur valley, next to the city's largest geothermal pool and a bus ride from downtown. With private rooms as well as dorms and a self-catering kitchen, it is one of the cheapest ways to sleep in a punishingly expensive city.
from ~42 EUR/night
Check pricesReal hotel photos · prices are indicative from-rates, not live quotes · booking links support the site at no extra cost
A little history
Reykjavik was, by the old sagas, the site of Iceland's first Norse settlement around 874, when Ingolfur Arnarson is said to have thrown his high-seat pillars overboard and built where they washed ashore; the name means smoky bay, after the steam rising from its hot springs. It stayed a tiny village for most of a thousand years and only grew into a real town in the 1700s, becoming the capital of a self-governing Iceland in 1918 and of a fully independent republic in 1944, when the country cut its last ties to Denmark. The city had its Cold War moment in 1986, when Reagan and Gorbachev met at Hofdi house and came close to agreeing to scrap their nuclear arsenals. Heated and powered almost entirely by geothermal and hydro energy, it is the world's northernmost capital and the base camp for Iceland's waterfalls, geysers and Northern Lights.
Reykjavik is known for
Pick the itinerary that matches your trip. Each one is a full day-by-day plan, not a list of 30 things to squeeze in.
2
days
Two days is enough to see downtown Reykjavik and still fit one big day out, which is really why you come. The city core is tiny and flat, so half a day covers Hallgrimskirkja and its tower, the Sun Voyager, Harpa, the Laugavegur shopping street and a soak in a geothermal pool, with a whale-watching boat from the Old Harbour if the season is right.
See the itinerary →
3
days
Three days is the comfortable amount for Reykjavik, because it lets you keep the city day and add two of the big excursions instead of cramming them. Day one covers the compact downtown, Hallgrimskirkja and its tower, Harpa, the Sun Voyager and a soak in a geothermal pool, with an Old Harbour whale-watching boat in season.
See the itinerary →
Reykjavik has a walkable center, so the neighborhood you pick sets the tone of the whole trip.
Midborg (101 downtown)
First visit
The 101 postcode is the compact heart of the city, where the shopping street, the bars, the cafes and Hallgrimskirkja all sit within a ten-minute walk.
Old Harbour and Grandi
Family
The working Old Harbour and the reclaimed Grandi spit behind it have turned into a low-key waterfront quarter of food halls, ice-cream stops, small museums and the docks where the whale-watching and puffin boats leave.
Laugavegur
Nightlife
Laugavegur is the long main shopping street that becomes the spine of the city's nightlife after dark, lined with wool shops, design stores, casual restaurants and the bars where the weekend crowd hops from door to door.
Colored months are the sweet spot. Struck-through months come with a warning. Each page covers weather, crowds, prices and what to pack.
Tight budget?
Reykjavik on a budget: same trip, around 90 EUR a day
Read the budget guide →
Pairs well with
3 days is the sweet spot for Reykjavik. Day one covers the compact downtown, Hallgrimskirkja and its tower, Harpa, the Sun Voyager and a soak in a geothermal pool, with an Old Harbour whale-watching boat in season
The best months are June, July, August, September. Think twice about January / December: Deep winter with highs around 3C, near-freezing nights and only four to five hours of usable daylight around the solstice, so plan sights for the middle of the day. This is peak Northern Lights season when skies are dark and clear, but winter storms regularly close mountain roads and cancel day tours, so keep the plan loose.
Reykjavik sits above the European average. Plan roughly 90 EUR per day on a tight budget, 180 EUR for a comfortable mid-range trip, and 350 EUR and up if you want top hotels and restaurants.
Midborg (101 downtown) is the safest first-visit base. The 101 postcode is the compact heart of the city, where the shopping street, the bars, the cafes and Hallgrimskirkja all sit within a ten-minute walk. It is the obvious base for a short trip, lively by day and loud on weekend nights when locals do the runtur bar crawl until the small hours. Stay here if you want everything on your doorstep and do not mind paying the top rate for it.
Yes. Reykjavik has a walkable center, so most of a short trip is done on foot. Keflavik International sits about 50km southwest of the city, roughly a 45 to 50 minute drive, and there is no train. The simplest option is a shared coach: the Flybus and Airport Direct services meet every arriving flight and run to the BSI terminal, with a hotel drop-off add-on, for around 3500 ISK, about 24 EUR. A taxi is possible but very expensive at roughly 15000 to 20000 ISK, so almost nobody takes one. Note that the small Reykjavik domestic airport is a separate place close to the city and only handles internal and Greenland flights.
Keflavik International sits about 50km southwest of the city, roughly a 45 to 50 minute drive, and there is no train. The simplest option is a shared coach: the Flybus and Airport Direct services meet every arriving flight and run to the BSI terminal, with a hotel drop-off add-on, for around 3500 ISK, about 24 EUR. A taxi is possible but very expensive at roughly 15000 to 20000 ISK, so almost nobody takes one. Note that the small Reykjavik domestic airport is a separate place close to the city and only handles internal and Greenland flights. It is the cheapest and usually the fastest option.
Reykjavik is best known for Hallgrimskirkja, Northern Lights, Golden Circle, Blue Lagoon, Geothermal pools, Whale watching. Reykjavik was, by the old sagas, the site of Iceland's first Norse settlement around 874, when Ingolfur Arnarson is said to have thrown his high-seat pillars overboard and built where they washed ashore; the name means smoky bay, after the steam rising from its hot springs.