Exploring Reykjavik

Reykjavik Overview

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Reykjavik waterfront Photo - Reykjavik, Iceland

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Reykjavik, situated on the west coast of Iceland and the world's most northerly capital city is a really great place to visit. We based ourselves in the capital during our week in Iceland. We did venture beyond the city, but there is enough in the capital to merit a visit in its own right.The location of Reykjavik is stunning. It is set beneath snow capped mountains and the waters of the Atlantic lap at its shores. We visited at the end of May, whilst not exactly 24 hours of daylight, it was still bright with blue skies until 11:30 at night - we loved that and found it such an exhilarating experience.We stayed very close to the centre of the city. It was quiet during the we...Read More

Reykjavik, situated on the west coast of Iceland and the world's most northerly capital city is a really great place to visit. We based ourselves in the capital during our week in Iceland. We did venture beyond the city, but there is enough in the capital to merit a visit in its own right.

The location of Reykjavik is stunning. It is set beneath snow capped mountains and the waters of the Atlantic lap at its shores. We visited at the end of May, whilst not exactly 24 hours of daylight, it was still bright with blue skies until 11:30 at night - we loved that and found it such an exhilarating experience.

We stayed very close to the centre of the city. It was quiet during the week, but at the weekend the bars and restaurants became very lively. It seemed like the locals really do know how to party and the centre was buzzing.

At first glance, I was not overly impressed with the architecture, but I did grow to love it. They use a lot of corrugated iron which is painted in bright colours. There are odd wooden buildings here and there - lack of trees make wood a rare building material and apparently it rots easily here. There are also many concrete buildings and some modern glass constructions. Corrugated iron is commonly used in building out of necessity here - as well as not rotting, apparently it is more stable in earthquakes! The locals try and brighten it up by painting the sidings and trims in cheerful colours.

There are endless restaurants and a superb choice of different types of cuisine. The food is delicious here and there is definitely something for everyone.

There are 7 thermal pools in Reykjavik. The pool in Laugar is great for families - the entrance cost is about £2, it has a slide, lots of inflatable toys and a children's bathing pool. There is a geothermal beach about 20 minutes walk from the centre as well which is definitely worth a visit.

Reykjavik is a city where you should do a lot of walking. Most of the attractions are within walking distance. The pavements are excellent - especially the long and scenic pathway which circles almost the whole city. It goes along by the sea and is a beautiful place to walk. Along the northern waterfront is especially nice - you get a stunning view of Mount Esja. The massive steel sculpture in the shape of a Viking ship is also in this area and looks beautiful.

I loved Reykjavik - it is quite unlike any capital city I have ever visited. There are no skyscrapers or grand squares or monuments. The oldest house only dates from 1764 so no old historical buildings either. Instead though, there is lots of culture, the most beautiful landscape and really friendly people. It is a cross between a charming village with the energy of a big city. Just a great place to spend a week and a wonderful location for a family holiday. Read Less

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Apartment Rental in Reykjavik

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South facing balcony Photo - Reykjavik, Iceland

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We couldn't decide whether to choose a hotel or an apartment when we were planning our Reykjavik holiday, but in the end, opted for an apartment because of the flexibility this would allow us with meals. There are actually quite a few very nice apartments for short-term holiday rentals in the city. We found this one on www.sunnyrentals.com - the reference number is 572319.We booked the apartment a couple of months before our holiday. The owner is very pleasant and responsive. We did not have to pay a deposit, in fact when we asked about paying, she said we should pay her upon arrival. I felt a little nervous about this arrangement, but it worked out fine.The apartment is i...Read More

We couldn't decide whether to choose a hotel or an apartment when we were planning our Reykjavik holiday, but in the end, opted for an apartment because of the flexibility this would allow us with meals. There are actually quite a few very nice apartments for short-term holiday rentals in the city. We found this one on www.sunnyrentals.com - the reference number is 572319.

We booked the apartment a couple of months before our holiday. The owner is very pleasant and responsive. We did not have to pay a deposit, in fact when we asked about paying, she said we should pay her upon arrival. I felt a little nervous about this arrangement, but it worked out fine.

The apartment is in the centre of Reykjavik - on Laugavegur, which is actually the main shopping street of the city. It is at the far end, about 15 to 20 minutes walk from the harbour, this was actually a perfect location - an easy walk to everything, but away from any noise at the bars during the lively Reykjavik weekends.

The owner asked us to let her know when our plane landed and she would then come to the main bus station in Reykjavik to meet us. This was so helpful, she was waiting when we arrived and drove us to the apartment. She showed us how everything worked and stayed for 15-20 minutes to recommend restaurants, places to go, things to do etc.. She is an artist and there are lots of examples of her work throughout the apartment - this gave it a lovely personal touch.

The apartment is on the 5th floor of a converted building. It was very modern, very airy and light with big windows. There is one big living/dining/kitchen area with a south facing balcony, overlooking the street below. Unfortunately during our stay, it was far too cold to sit out on the balcony, but if it was sunny, this would be a lovely spot. We could see the Perlan and the Hallgrimskirkja from the balcony.

The apartment was beautifully furnished and there was a flat screen television, DVD player and great selection of DVD's. The kitchen was compact, but had all modern appliances with everything you could need. We only had breakfast here, but there were lots of pots, pans and cooking utensils. The only criticism I had was that the kitchen area was not immaculately clean. The hob area was grubby with cooking spills, the drawers with cutlery in had crumbs and the fridge was also not very clean. The rest of the apartment was fine.

There was one bedroom with huge, comfortable double bed and the owner had installed a camp bed in the living area for our son. The bathroom was small, but fine with a large shower. All towels, bed linen, soap, toilet paper, kitchen rolls and even shampoo were provided.

We found a supermarket right across the street where we shopped on our first day. It was really expensive, but the only place open on Sundays (when we arrived). There is another much more reasonably priced supermarket just 5 minutes along the main shopping street, we shopped from there on other occasions.

There are lots of restaurants and bars right in the immediate area of the apartment. Also if you walk a little further to the harbour, then you are really spoiled for choice.

We loved staying here - it felt like a real home from home. The apartment had everything we needed and was the perfect base for us in Reykjavik. We walked everywhere, found some lovely places to eat really close by and were sad to leave.

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Hallgrimskirja Church

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Hallgrimmskirkja Photo - Hallgrimskirja Church, Reykjavik, Iceland

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Almost wherever you go in Reykjavik you can see the tower of the Hallgrimskirja, it is probably the most famous building in the city and the main landmark. It is very easy to find - just look for the tower. We walked up a shopping street called Skolvordustigur and found the church right at the top.Hallgrimskirja is big and impressive - it is the largest church in Iceland. It is also supposed to be the most photographed place in the city. The steeple is really tall - 73 metres and rises way above all the other buildings. Inside, the church can seat 1,000 worshippers at a time.It looks very unusual from the outside - but I really liked it. It is made out of concrete and was...Read More

Almost wherever you go in Reykjavik you can see the tower of the Hallgrimskirja, it is probably the most famous building in the city and the main landmark. It is very easy to find - just look for the tower. We walked up a shopping street called Skolvordustigur and found the church right at the top.

Hallgrimskirja is big and impressive - it is the largest church in Iceland. It is also supposed to be the most photographed place in the city. The steeple is really tall - 73 metres and rises way above all the other buildings. Inside, the church can seat 1,000 worshippers at a time.

It looks very unusual from the outside - but I really liked it. It is made out of concrete and was designed by an architect called Gudjon Samuelson. It is very distinctive, I have never before seen a church that looks like this. The architect was inspired by the landscape in Iceland with all its volcanoes and glaciers. There are a lot of columns at the front - they are supposed to resemble hexagonal basalt formed by cooling lava. They reminded me of the lava columns at the Giants Causeway. Apparently lots of the locals hated the building at first and it still has mixed reviews.

The church only opened in 1986 but it took over 40 years to build. It is named after Hallgrimur Petursson, a clergyman and writer of hymns. At the top of the steeple, there are 3 bells which represent Hallgrimur, his wife and their daughter.

The church is beautiful inside - very plain and simple in the style of many Lutheran churches. It was also very bright and full of light. Have a look at the organ, it is the largest organ in Iceland. It is 50 feet tall and was built in Germany in 1992. They have various performances in the church, including choral performances which are supposedly excellent. We did not get to experience this. If you are here on a Sunday, there are services at 11:00am. Apparently the accoustics inside the church are perfect so it would be worth going to one of the services.

It is definitely worth paying the small fee - 600 Icelandic krona for adults and 100 Icelandic krona for children - to go up to the top of the steeple. You get a really stunning view of the city. The tower is open every day between 9am and 8pm. There is a lift, so you have only a few steps to climb at the top. It was extremely windy when we were up there, so we couldn't stay outside for too long, but the views are wonderful. The colourful rooftops of the buildings and houses below are impressive and unusual, and with the snow capped mountains in the background you get some fantastic photographs.

Outside the church be sure to take a moment to look at the statue of Leifur Eiriksson. He was also known as Leif the Lucky and was the first European to discover America around 1,000 AD. The statue was given to Iceland by the USA to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of Iceland's parliament. I had always thought Columbus was the first European to reach America, this statue taught me he was beaten by Leifur by 500 years. Apparently various excavations in Newfoundland prove this. The statue looks just like you imagine a Viking to be. Read Less

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on June 29, 2013

Hallgrimskirja Church

Reykjavik, Iceland

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Perlan

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The Perlan Photo - Perlan, Reykjavik, Iceland

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The Perlan is the other main landmark building in Reykjavik. We had a view of it from our balcony and decided to go and have a closer look at this unusual place. It is just outside the city centre, it probably took us about 35 to 40 minutes to walk there from our apartment right in the centre. It is a flat, easy walk but not especially scenic. The Perlan is actually on a hill where there has been hot water storage tanks for many years. Water was stored in this area because geothermal water comes out of the ground at this point. They use this natural hot water to supply the city and to heat the houses and pools and even the streets in winter.You can't miss the Perlan - it is 84 feet h...Read More

The Perlan is the other main landmark building in Reykjavik. We had a view of it from our balcony and decided to go and have a closer look at this unusual place. It is just outside the city centre, it probably took us about 35 to 40 minutes to walk there from our apartment right in the centre. It is a flat, easy walk but not especially scenic. The Perlan is actually on a hill where there has been hot water storage tanks for many years. Water was stored in this area because geothermal water comes out of the ground at this point. They use this natural hot water to supply the city and to heat the houses and pools and even the streets in winter.

You can't miss the Perlan - it is 84 feet high. They updated the water storage tanks in 1991 and decided to build this big glass structure on top. Inside it is a combination of exhibition space (the Winter Garden where they have concerts and trade shows), a cafe and restaurant and a museum.

We went straight up to the fourth floor of the building. Here there is a viewing gallery and you can walk all the way around the building outside. The views are tremendous - the city below you and the snow capped mountains in the distance. There are telescopes at each of the 6 corners, in case you want to look in more detail. We walked all the way around, loved the gorgeous views, but couldn't stay outside too long. The winds on the viewing gallery were incredible - they almost took your breath away and made us feel a bit woozy and strange.

Inside the fourth floor is a lovely cafe. We got coffees to warm us up - they had a delicious selection of snacks and drinks, and all the tables have great views. The cafe is reasonably priced, but if you are looking for something a bit more special, there is a revolving restaurant on the top floor. The food is supposed to be excellent but we didn't go there.

There are a couple of nice little shops also on the 4th floor - a Gourmet Food shop, a souvenir shop which was very good and a Christmas shop. The gourmet food shop sold things like oysters. The souvenir shop had a great selection of postcards, Viking helmets and even Icelandic sweaters. The Christmas shop was a bit disappointing.

One of the water tanks down below has been cleared out and turned into a museum - the Saga Museum, all about the history of Iceland. It costs around 15 euros for adults and 10 euros for children. You get an audio guide on the way in - available in English, French, German, Swedish and Icelandic and just stroll around the museum, listening to the guide and looking at the scenes and figures from Iceland's history. The figures are wax type models and do look very realistic. The museum is not very big and it took us about 40 minutes to see everything. Something interesting we found out - in the Book of Settlement of Iceland, the original male settlers were all Vikings, the original females were mostly Irish women, kidnapped and taken here by the Vikings.

We really enjoyed the Saga Museum. It laid out the history of the country in an entertaining but also very educational way. At the end there is a dressing up area too, adults and children can dress up as a Viking. The museum is open every day between 10am and 6pm.
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Member Rating 3 out of 5 on July 1, 2013

Perlan
Öskjuhlíð hill
Reykjavik, Iceland

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Reykjavik Walking Tour

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We found this walking tour advertised on line on the Goecco website. It sounded interesting and a good way to get your bearings when you first arrive in the city, so we decided to try it out on our first afternoon in Iceland.The tour - as the name suggests, is all on foot. It is an easy walk, more of a stroll around the city. It takes just under 2 hours and they reckon you walk about 2 miles in total, but it did not feel as far as that to us. The tours run every day between 15th May and 15th September and start at 1:00pm. You do not need to book in advance and the website says that there is no minimum number of guests, it will run if just one person turns up.The meeting po...Read More

We found this walking tour advertised on line on the Goecco website. It sounded interesting and a good way to get your bearings when you first arrive in the city, so we decided to try it out on our first afternoon in Iceland.

The tour - as the name suggests, is all on foot. It is an easy walk, more of a stroll around the city. It takes just under 2 hours and they reckon you walk about 2 miles in total, but it did not feel as far as that to us. The tours run every day between 15th May and 15th September and start at 1:00pm. You do not need to book in advance and the website says that there is no minimum number of guests, it will run if just one person turns up.

The meeting point is at the old harbour, right by the Elding Whale Watching place. We found it easily, saw a few people waiting there and joined them. We arrived about 15 minutes before the scheduled start time, the guide probably waited until 1:10 before he started.

Our guide was very good - a student from Reykjavik, so we got a local's perspective on the city. The only slight problem was that unless you were really close to him, he was quite difficult to hear. Also he did walk fairly quickly and start talking before people were all gathered, but you just had to be on your toes!

We started off in the harbour area, he told us a little about some of the common landmarks and gave us a brief history of Iceland as well as his personal views on some Icelandic issues.

We strolled through an area of mid 18th century wooden houses - really quaint and very pretty, they were made of driftwood. This was a part of the city I don't think we would have found by ourselves. We saw a big stone in a grassy area - supposedly where elves are living and heard from our guide about the locals' belief in elves and how building projects can be delayed or aborted if someone thinks it might disturb the resident elves! This stone was moved when they were building a house, to placate the elves.

We saw the huge house of a banker, now moved out of the country and our guide gave us an overview of the economic situation in Iceland, brought about in part by the shady dealings of some of the bankers. This was really fascinating.

We next walked past the Parliament Building, built in 1881 out of stone. We spent a little while in the lovely peaceful garden behind this building.

City Hall is a bit of a stark, modern building on the shores of Lake Tjornin. We went inside and had 15 minutes free to have coffee in the little cafe overlooking the lake. Afterwards we walked over the bridge on the lake and saw a lot of people with children feeding the ducks. This is the central lake, you can walk around it and there are some lovely, early 20th century timber houses along the western shore.

The tour ended at the far end of the lake. The guide recommended some coffee shops and restaurants and stayed around to answer questions afterwards. The tour was free, it was up to you whether you wanted to show appreciation and tip the guide - we did, we thought the tour had been fun and interesting. It is not a traditional type tour with a traditional type guide. Instead it is a bit quirky, the guide had an alternative sense of humour and was quite dark at times, but we really enjoyed it and the fact it took us to areas we might otherwise not have discovered. Read Less

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