Reykjavík

Be honest about what Reykjavík is: most people use it as a very expensive hotel with an airport attached, a base for seeing the actual Iceland. Read more

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Hallgrímskirkja

sight·$·★ 4.6 (28,687)·must-do

The best 1,500 ISK you will spend in Iceland: twenty minutes in the tower and the whole city, bay and mountain lay themselves out for you.

Neighborhood: Laugavegur, Skólavörðustígur & Hlemmur

Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre

sight·$·★ 4.6 (9,359)·must-do

Free to enter, and the glass honeycomb interior in low winter light is the most beautiful indoor space in the country — plus it is the physical monument to the 2008 crash.

Neighborhood: Kvosin & Austurvöllur — the Old Centre

Sun Voyager (Sólfar)

sight·$·★ 4.5 (10,343)·must-do

Five free minutes on the waterfront with the best sea-and-mountain view in the centre — and it is a dream boat, not a Viking ship, which is worth knowing before you caption it.

Neighborhood: Laugavegur, Skólavörðustígur & Hlemmur

Grótta Lighthouse

sight·$·★ 4.7 (84)·must-do

The Grapevine's Best Viewpoint of 2026 and the city's free aurora spot — the one place in Reykjavík facing open Atlantic with the lights behind you.

Neighborhood: Vesturbær & Seltjarnarnes

Skólavörðustígur

sight·$·★ 4.6 (108)·must-do

The best street in Reykjavík: a rainbow road aimed straight at the church, lined with actual Icelandic makers rather than puffin shops.

Neighborhood: Laugavegur, Skólavörðustígur & Hlemmur

Kvika Foot Bath

sight·$·★ 4.6 (452)·must-do

Free hot water for your feet at the edge of the Atlantic, ten minutes' walk from the lighthouse, with nobody collecting a ticket.

Neighborhood: Vesturbær & Seltjarnarnes

The Settlement Exhibition — Reykjavík 871±2

museum·$$·★ 4.4 (1,367)·must-do

A Viking longhouse left in the ground where it was found, in a basement under the main street — the only place in the city where the eleven hundred years are physically visible.

Neighborhood: Kvosin & Austurvöllur — the Old Centre

National Museum of Iceland (Þjóðminjasafn Íslands)

museum·$$·★ 4.5 (4,092)·must-do

Two hours that make the whole country make sense — do it on day one and everything you see afterwards means more.

Neighborhood: Vesturbær & Seltjarnarnes

Perlan

museum·$$$·★ 4.5 (11,108)·must-do

A hundred-metre ice cave at −10°C, a planetarium aurora as insurance against a cloudy week, and a 360-degree deck on top of the tanks that heat the city.

Neighborhood: Öskjuhlíð, Nauthólsvík & the Southern Shore

Whales of Iceland

museum·$$·★ 4.3 (3,090)·must-do

Twenty-three whales at actual size, including a twenty-five-metre blue whale — the only way to comprehend the scale of the animal you saw three seconds of from a boat.

Neighborhood: The Old Harbour & Grandi

Árbær Open Air Museum (Árbæjarsafn)

museum·$$·★ 4.6 (1,261)·must-do

Twenty relocated turf and timber houses staffed in period dress — the clearest possible picture of how poor Iceland was inside living memory, and therefore how fast everything downtown happened.

Neighborhood: Laugardalur & the Eastern Valleys

Kolaportið Flea Market

market·$·★ 4.0 (2,366)·must-do

The only place in Iceland to buy a hand-knitted lopapeysa second-hand at a sane price, and to try hákarl for free before deciding whether you want a tub of it.

Neighborhood: Kvosin & Austurvöllur — the Old Centre

Elding Whale Watching

experience·$$$·★ 4.5 (2,334)·must-do

Twenty-five years of running the same bay, a sightings guarantee that means you go again free if you see nothing, and the Grapevine's Best Outdoor Experience of 2026.

Neighborhood: The Old Harbour & Grandi

Laugardalslaug

experience·$·★ 4.6 (2,216)·must-do

The full Icelandic pool ritual at national scale for 1,500 ISK — and swimming outdoors in a snowstorm is a genuinely great experience.

Neighborhood: Laugardalur & the Eastern Valleys

Sky Lagoon

experience·$$$$·★ 4.7 (9,252)·must-do

An infinity edge over the Atlantic at 38–40°C, ten minutes from downtown, with a seven-step ritual — everything the Blue Lagoon offers without the fifty-kilometre drive.

Neighborhood: Öskjuhlíð, Nauthólsvík & the Southern Shore

Nauthólsvík Geothermal Beach (Ylströndin)

experience·$·★ 4.6 (116)·must-do

A heated sand beach at 64 degrees north, free in summer, with hot tubs on the shore and Icelanders swimming in the open Atlantic in January next to you.

Neighborhood: Öskjuhlíð, Nauthólsvík & the Southern Shore

Lava Show Reykjavík

experience·$$$·★ 4.8 (4,956)·must-do

Genuine molten lava at 1,100°C poured into the room in front of you — the only place on earth doing it indoors, and the Grapevine's Best Immersive Experience of 2026.

Neighborhood: The Old Harbour & Grandi

Vesturbæjarlaug

experience·$·★ 4.7 (1,032)·must-do

The pool the neighbourhood actually uses, with three saunas and Reykjavík's oldest hot tub as a cold plunge, for 1,500 ISK.

Neighborhood: Vesturbær & Seltjarnarnes

Sundhöll Reykjavíkur

experience·$·★ 4.7 (1,222)·must-do

The full Icelandic pool ritual — 1937 architecture, outdoor hot tubs, rooftop terrace — for 1,500 ISK, two minutes below Hallgrímskirkja.

Neighborhood: Laugavegur, Skólavörðustígur & Hlemmur

Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur

restaurant·$·★ 4.4 (9,249)·must-do

The one meal in Iceland that costs 880 ISK, and at three in the morning after the runtur it is the best food in the North Atlantic.

Neighborhood: Kvosin & Austurvöllur — the Old Centre

Ráðagerði Veitingahús

restaurant·$$·★ 4.7 (403)·must-do

Grapevine's Best Family Restaurant of 2026, on the road out to Grótta — the obvious lunch stop on a Seltjarnarnes afternoon.

Neighborhood: Vesturbær & Seltjarnarnes

Dill

restaurant·$$$$·★ 4.5 (639)·must-do

The first Michelin star in Iceland, held since 2017, and the clearest single argument for what this country's food actually is.

Neighborhood: Laugavegur, Skólavörðustígur & Hlemmur

Kaffivagninn

restaurant·$$·★ 4.6 (844)·must-do

The oldest restaurant in Reykjavík, on the working quay since 1935, still serving plokkfiskur to people who work on the dock outside the window.

Neighborhood: The Old Harbour & Grandi

Austur-Indíafjelagið

restaurant·$$$·★ 4.5 (321)·must-do

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Best Goddamn Restaurant two years running — an Indian kitchen that out-scores every Nordic tasting menu in the city.

Neighborhood: Laugavegur, Skólavörðustígur & Hlemmur

Fish Company (Fiskfélagið)

restaurant·$$$·★ 4.7 (1,812)·must-do

Best Seafood in the local critics' awards two years running — and the weekday lunch gets you most of that cooking for a fraction of the dinner bill.

Neighborhood: The Old Harbour & Grandi

Messinn

restaurant·$$$·★ 4.6 (3,602)·must-do

The day's fish, pan-fried in butter and served in the pan — and a weekday lunch service that gives you the same cooking for much less.

Neighborhood: Kvosin & Austurvöllur — the Old Centre

La Primavera

restaurant·$$$·★ 4.1 (66)·must-do

The best Italian cooking in Iceland, in a converted herring factory with a harbour view, with free contemporary art galleries directly upstairs.

Neighborhood: The Old Harbour & Grandi

Sægreifinn (The Sea Baron)

restaurant·$$·★ 4.5 (4,732)·must-do

Langoustine soup on a bench in a shack on the quay, for a fraction of a Reykjavík lunch.

Neighborhood: The Old Harbour & Grandi

Café Loki

restaurant·$$·★ 4.5 (6,594)·must-do

The traditional Icelandic plate — plokkfiskur, smoked lamb, pickled herring on rye — twenty metres from Hallgrímskirkja, at a price that does not sting.

Neighborhood: Laugavegur, Skólavörðustígur & Hlemmur

Skál!

restaurant·$$·★ 4.7 (1,176)·must-do

Serious modern Icelandic cooking as small plates with natural wine, at a third of the price of a tasting menu — and a Grapevine top-award runner-up in 2026.

Neighborhood: Laugavegur, Skólavörðustígur & Hlemmur

Sandholt Bakery

cafe·$$·★ 4.6 (4,358)·must-do

A hundred-and-five-year-old family bakery that the local critics have named the city's best two years running, forty seconds off the main street's worst crowds.

Neighborhood: Laugavegur, Skólavörðustígur & Hlemmur

SKÚBB

cafe·$·★ 4.7 (234)·must-do

Best Ice Cream in the Grapevine's awards two years running, made with organic milk from a farm down the road, open until eleven at night.

Neighborhood: Laugardalur & the Eastern Valleys

Mokka Kaffi

cafe·$·★ 4.5 (730)·must-do

The oldest café in Reykjavík, unchanged since 1958, and the waffle with rhubarb jam and cream that goes with it.

Neighborhood: Laugavegur, Skólavörðustígur & Hlemmur

Kaffibarinn

bar·$$·★ 4.5 (680)·must-do

Reykjavík's defining bar since 1993 — a quiet café at five and the densest floor in Iceland at one, and the Grapevine's Best Bar To End The Night in 2026.

Neighborhood: Laugavegur, Skólavörðustígur & Hlemmur

Skúli Craft Bar

bar·$$·★ 4.6 (666)·must-do

Best Craft Bar in the Grapevine's 2026 local poll, in a country where legal beer is younger than most of the drinkers.

Neighborhood: Kvosin & Austurvöllur — the Old Centre

Vínstúkan Tíu Sopar

bar·$$·★ 4.8 (155)·must-do

Best Wine Bar in the Grapevine's 2026 poll, by a distance — a dim Laugavegur basement with a genuinely adventurous list and food that keeps up.

Neighborhood: Laugavegur, Skólavörðustígur & Hlemmur

12 Tónar

shop·$$·★ 4.7 (389)·must-do

A record shop that hands you headphones and a coffee and lets you listen for an hour — and, since 2019, a bar that won joint Best Bar To Start The Night in 2026.

Neighborhood: Laugavegur, Skólavörðustígur & Hlemmur