Reykjavík is compact, walkable, colorful, expensive, and worth at least two full days. It is the kind of city that looks small on a map and then fills up a schedule faster than you expect. We started our Iceland Ring Road trip here and ended here, and both times it felt like a different city — the first night all jet-lag and novelty, the last night a little more fluent. Knowing where the grocery store was. Knowing which block had the best coffee to go.
Reykjavík is also where Iceland’s prices hit hardest, because restaurants in the capital run at true major-city rates. We’ve written a full breakdown of what Iceland actually costs if you want the numbers, but the short version for Reykjavík specifically: budget restaurant money, use the grocery stores, and save your splurge meals for places that are worth it.
Here is what we actually did in the city, what we’d skip, and how to use Reykjavík the way most Ring Road travelers use it — as the start and end anchor for a bigger trip.
How Many Days in Reykjavík?
Two full days is the honest answer for most Ring Road travelers. One day will feel rushed. Three days gives you space to slow down, do a day trip, and not feel like you’re constantly optimizing. More than three and you have probably seen what the city offers, unless you are deep into the museum circuit or staying specifically for the nightlife.
Here is how we think about the days: Day one is arrival and orientation — walk the city center, eat on Laugavegur, see Hallgrímskirkja at golden hour. Day two is the day trip — the Golden Circle is the classic, or the South Coast toward Vík. Day three, if you have it, is for going slower — the harbor, Harpa, the Reykjavík Roasters coffee, Þ ingvellir if you skipped it before.
Hallgrímskirkja: Worth the Climb
Hallgrímskirkja is the landmark — the Lutheran church that sits at the top of Skólavörðustígur and is visible from most of the city. Construction ran from 1945 to 1986. The result is one of the most distinct skylines in Europe: a concrete form inspired by the basalt column formations that appear throughout Iceland’s volcanic landscape. If you’ve seen the Reynisfjara columns or any Icelandic basalt coast, the visual reference becomes clear immediately.
The tower elevator is about $10 per person and takes you to an observation deck with a 360-degree view: the city, the harbor, Mount Esja across the water, and on a clear day a long way out to sea. Worth doing once. The church interior is free — the pipe organ alone is worth a few minutes. Look up.
Skólavörðustígur: Rainbow Street and the Church Walk
The street running from the city center up to Hallgrímskirkja is Skólavörðustígur, sometimes called Rainbow Street for the painted crosswalks near the bottom. It is one of the most enjoyable streets in Reykjavík — good wool shops, design studios, cafes, and small galleries, all at human scale, leading naturally up to the church and the view at the top.
We walked it slowly both times we were in Reykjavík. The rainbow crosswalk is real and worth a photo. The street itself is the actual attraction. The buildings are colorful, the scale is right, and it does not feel like a tourist trap even though it draws a lot of traffic. Go on foot. Take your time.
Laugavegur: The Main Street
Laugavegur is the main shopping and restaurant street, running parallel to and south of Skólavörðustígur. It is where you find the higher-traffic tourist shops, most of the restaurants recommended online, the sweater stores, and the bars. The crowds are thickest in summer and prices are highest here.
Our approach: walk it once to understand it, eat on it deliberately, and do most of your lingering on the side streets. The area north and east of Laugavegur — toward the harbor, toward Skólavörðustígur, toward Bankastræti — tends to have similar quality restaurants with less tourist markup and more local foot traffic.
What to Eat in Reykjavík: Where to Spend and Where to Save
Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur: The Hot Dog Stand
If there is one food stop worth the hype in Reykjavík, it is Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur. The little red hot dog stand near the harbor has been operating since 1937 and sells Icelandic hot dogs (pylsur) for around $4–6 USD. Order it “ein með öllu” — one with everything — which means mustard, ketchup, remoulade, raw onion, and crispy fried onion. It is legitimately one of the best hot dogs we have ever eaten, and it is also the cheapest thing you will eat in Reykjavík, which makes it even better. Bill Clinton ate here in 2004. There is a photo.
Kaffi Loki: Two Things You Should Not Skip
Kaffi Loki sits directly across the street from Hallgrímskirkja — one of the easiest restaurants to stumble into after climbing the tower, and one of the most genuinely Icelandic meals you will find in the city. The two things worth ordering:
Plokkfiskur — pronounced roughly “plok-fiskur” — is Iceland’s traditional fish hash. It is white fish (typically cod or haddock) broken apart and combined with potatoes, onions, béchamel sauce, and butter, then gratinated until golden and served on slices of dense Icelandic rye bread. It is comfort food in the truest sense — warm, filling, and exactly the kind of thing you want after an October morning on a windy Icelandic street. Kaffi Loki does a version that is thick, well-seasoned, and served in a generous portion. If you have never eaten traditional Icelandic food, this is the one to start with.
Rye bread ice cream — Loki’s unique dessert that appears on every “best Reykjavík food” list. Icelandic rye bread (rúgbrauð) is made in a tradition that goes back to the Viking Age. At Kaffi Loki, they fold crumbled dark rye bread into vanilla ice cream, adding a slightly earthy, malty sweetness that you will not find anywhere else. It costs around 5,100 ISK (roughly $35–38 USD at current rates). You either love it immediately or it takes one bite to turn you. We thought it was worth ordering purely for the experience — it is a genuinely Icelandic flavor that does not exist on any other menu we’ve found.
Kaffi Loki is open for lunch and dinner. It fills up. If you are going after the Hallgrímskirkja tower, walk across the street immediately — do not wait until you have explored the rest of the neighborhood first.
N1 Gas Stations: A Genuine Meal Option
We cover gas station food extensively in the Iceland cost guide, but it applies in the city too. The N1 on Ægisíðu has a food counter with lamb soup, sandwiches, and hot meals for $10–18 per person. When you want a quick lunch without spending $35 at a sit-down restaurant, the gas station is not a step down. It is just a different kind of good.
Bónus: Stock Up Before You Leave the City
The yellow-pig Bónus stores are Iceland’s budget grocery chain. Reykjavík has several. For a Ring Road trip, we stocked up on breakfast supplies, skyr, bread, cheese, and snacks at Bónus before leaving the city — it saved significant money on the first few days of driving. Skyr — the thick Icelandic cultured dairy product — is one of the best travel foods in the country. High protein, filling, available everywhere. We ate it for breakfast almost every morning of the trip.
One Restaurant Worth Paying For
A main course runs $25–45 USD at most Reykjavík restaurants. The lamb dishes — Icelandic free-range lamb raised in the highlands — are exceptional. The seafood is fresh. If you are going to spend money on one sit-down dinner in Reykjavík, spend it on lamb or fish, not on something you could order anywhere.
Day Trips from Reykjavík
Reykjavík is most useful as a base for day trips. The Golden Circle is the classic: a roughly 300-kilometer loop that hits Þ ingvellir National Park (where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet), the Geysir geothermal area, and Gullfoss waterfall. We did it in a full day and were back in the city by early evening. It is the most popular day trip for a reason.
The South Coast is the other direction — toward Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss waterfalls, Reynisfjara black sand beach, and eventually the glacier area around Vík and Höfn. If you’re doing the full Ring Road, you’ll cover this on the trip. If you’re doing a Reykjavík-focused stay, a South Coast day is absolutely worth it.
Skógafoss is about 2.5 hours from Reykjavík and one of the most photogenic waterfalls in Iceland — 60 meters tall, approachable on a paved path, with 527 steps up the cliffside to a view over the top. Reynisfjara is another 30 minutes past Vík and one of the most striking beaches anywhere: black sand, basalt columns, Atlantic surf. These two stops pair well as a single long South Coast day.
For puffins: the Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar) are the best puffin destination in the world and accessible by ferry from the South Coast. Puffins are present May through August. If you’re traveling in that window and have a spare day, the Westmans are worth it.
FROM THE SHOP
Skógafoss Iceland Waterfall T-Shirt
Most Reykjavík trips include a South Coast day — and Skógafoss is usually the first stop. Original design from SunSpun Creations using real photography from the falls.
From $34.99 · Shop on Etsy →Northern Lights from Reykjavík
We searched for the Northern Lights every night of our October trip and did not see them. That experience is its own post. The short version for Reykjavík specifically: the city is too light-polluted to see aurora well from downtown. Drive out — even 20 to 30 minutes from the center makes a significant difference. Use the Vedur.is app (Iceland’s official Met Office) for the aurora forecast. Go outside and look. That is the strategy.
Where to Stay in Reykjavík
Reykjavík hotels run $180–$350/night for a standard mid-range room and $400–$600/night for anything nicer. Guesthouses run $100–$180/night for a private room, often with shared bathrooms. Airbnbs tend to land in the middle and offer the advantage of a kitchen, which matters for a 2–3 night city stay the same way it matters on the Ring Road.
Our Reykjavík Airbnb for three nights (Oct. 13–16) was $1,398.00 total — $466 per night for a private apartment near the city center with a full kitchen. It was hosted by Thor Sigurdarson and was located near Klapparstígur in central Reykjavík. One bonus we did not expect: Bernhöftsbakari — Iceland’s oldest bakery, founded in 1834 and Iceland’s oldest continuously operating business — was right below the apartment. We walked down for pastries on the first morning. If you are looking for a similar setup, here is the Reykjavík Airbnb we stayed in — an entire apartment near Klapparstígur, well-placed for walking everywhere. See the full Iceland lodging cost breakdown for numbers across all three Airbnbs we used on the trip.
For location: the most convenient neighborhoods for first-time visitors are the city center around Laugavegur and Skólavörðustígur, or the harbor area near Harpa. If you have a rental car, make sure your accommodation has parking or you have a plan — street parking in the center is metered and fills up.
Getting to Reykjavík from Keflavík Airport
Keflavík International Airport (KEF) is about 50 kilometers from Reykjavík — roughly 45 minutes to an hour by road. The Flybus airport transfer runs approximately $25–35 per person one-way to the city center. A private taxi or rideshare costs $80–$120 total. If you have a rental car for the Ring Road, pick it up at the airport and drive yourself — that solves the transfer question entirely.
How Reykjavík Actually Works: Geothermal Energy Under Everything
One of the things that stays with you after visiting Reykjavík is the drive back in from the airport — you pass giant white insulated pipelines cutting across the lava fields, carrying hot water from geothermal plants straight into the city. Those pipes are not decorative. They are why Reykjavík works the way it does.
At least 90 percent of all homes in Iceland are heated with geothermal energy. The primary plants serving Reykjavík — Nesjavellir and Hellisheiði — draw superheated water from deep underground and pipe it into the city’s district heating system. Hot water at 100–300°C arrives at heat exchangers, transfers its heat to the residential hot water supply, and then continues through the system at lower temperatures for secondary uses.
One of those secondary uses is keeping the city’s streets and sidewalks clear of snow and ice. Pipes running beneath Reykjavík’s pedestrian streets and pavements carry geothermally heated water at approximately 30°C — warm enough to melt snow on contact with the surface above. When it snows in Reykjavík, most of the city center’s pedestrian areas simply clear themselves. You can sometimes feel the warmth underfoot on a cold morning.
The third use — and the one that surprises most visitors — is what happens to the water after it has heated homes and streets. It is still warm. Rather than waste it, Reykjavík routes the outflow to Nauthólsvík, a small beach on the southwestern edge of the city about 10 minutes from downtown. There, surplus geothermal water is mixed with cold seawater, warming the lagoon to roughly 15–20°C (59–68°F) — cold by beach standards, genuinely warm for the North Atlantic. Nauthólsvík has a sandy beach (unusual in Iceland, where most beaches are black volcanic sand), a hot tub running to 39°C, steam rooms, and changing facilities. Admission is free in summer. Locals use it year-round. If you have an extra hour in the city, it is one of those only-in-Iceland experiences that costs almost nothing.
Practical Information
Currency: Icelandic króna (ISK), but Iceland is nearly cashless — cards accepted everywhere. Make sure your credit card has no foreign transaction fee and has a PIN set — automated gas station pumps and many payment terminals require one. Set it with your bank 5–7 business days before departure.
Language: Icelandic everywhere, but English spoken universally in Reykjavík. You will not have language friction anywhere in the city.
Weather: Cold, windy, and changeable. A waterproof outer layer is not optional. Dress in layers. The city is walkable in almost any weather if you are dressed for it.
Tipping: Not expected. Restaurant staff are paid living wages. Leaving a small amount for exceptional service is appreciated but genuinely optional.
What We’d Skip
The Phallological Museum is real, popular, and not for us. We skipped it. We also skipped whale watching from the Reykjavík harbor — the Húsavík whale watching in northern Iceland is significantly better and worth saving the activity for that stop on the Ring Road. The Settlement Exhibition is interesting but requires more engagement with Viking-age archaeology than most Ring Road visitors allocate time for on a two-day city stay.
The Blue Lagoon sits about 20 minutes from Keflavík Airport, between KEF and Reykjavík, which makes it a natural bookend for a Ring Road trip. We saved it for Day 9 — our last full day before flying home — and did the Retreat Spa package. It was the right call. The Retreat includes access to a private section of the lagoon away from the main crowds, in-water silica and algae masks, saunas and steam rooms built into the lava rock, a complimentary drink from the in-water bar, and plush bathrobes and changing suites. After more than a week of waterfalls, glaciers, black sand beaches, and long driving days, floating in that steaming milky-blue water surrounded by black lava rock was genuinely restorative. The Retreat Spa runs roughly €195–€235 per person. It is expensive, requires advance booking (weeks or months ahead in busy seasons), and is one of the most photographed tourist experiences in Iceland — so it is not intimate. But it delivered exactly what the end of a Ring Road trip needs. Book it for your last day if you can. It is 20 minutes from KEF and leaves you relaxed before an early flight home.
Reykjavík FAQ
How many days in Reykjavík before the Ring Road?
Two days minimum, three if you can. Two full days lets you see the city properly, do one day trip, and rest before the drive. Three days gives you room to go back to places you liked.
Is Reykjavík worth it, or should I just drive to the Ring Road?
Reykjavík is genuinely worth it. The city has its own character — the architecture, the food, Hallgrímskirkja, the street life on Laugavegur and Skólavörðustígur. That said, if you have to choose between an extra city day and an extra day on the road, the road wins for most travelers.
What is Reykjavík like in October?
Cold, beautiful, and significantly less crowded than summer. The light in mornings and evenings is extraordinary. Bring a real coat and plan for rain. We thought October was a great time to be there — prices are lower than peak summer and the city feels more like itself without the summer tourist volume.
Is Reykjavík safe?
Yes. Iceland consistently ranks as one of the safest countries in the world. The main safety issues in Iceland are environmental — weather, terrain, ocean waves at black sand beaches. The city itself is extremely safe, including at night.
What We’d Do Differently
We would give ourselves a third day in Reykjavík. Both times we were there, we felt slightly rushed because the Ring Road was waiting. A third day with no agenda — coffee somewhere slow, the harbor walk, maybe Perlan’s aurora exhibition, a second pass through Skólavörðustígur at a different time of day — would have made the city feel more fully inhabited. We also would have found the Vín búðin earlier in the trip instead of discovering on day two that it closed at 6 pm.
More Iceland from BenThere Travel
Planning your Iceland trip? These posts cover the rest of the Ring Road:
- Iceland Ring Road: A 10-Day Adventure Guide
- The Golden Circle: Geysers, Parliament, and Gullfoss
- Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach
- Skógafoss: The Waterfall and the 527 Steps
- Iceland Glacier Ice Cave
- Northern Lights in Iceland
- Iceland Puffins: Westman Islands Guide
- Iceland Travel Costs: What We Actually Spent
- Driving in Iceland: F-Roads, Fuel and Safety Tips
More from the shopBrowse the full travel wall art collection — canvas prints and posters of Iceland’s south coast, Paris and Eilean Donan.
Ben & Nicole Mathews
We’re based in St. Augustine, Florida, sharing the places we’ve actually been — from our home turf to corners of the U.S. and abroad. Ben is an attorney and a retired Air Force JAG (22 years), and a private pilot, which is why aviation and military history shows up here too.