I get it, you’re busy planning your epic trip to Iceland and you’re trying to work out how long you need to spend in Reykjavik. Is one day in Iceland’s capital more than enough, or should you allocate a few days to experience the world’s most northerly capital city?
Well, although Reykjavik has evolved and expanded beyond recognition over the last few years. The cities skyline remains absent from skyscrapers, and continues to be a dinky city in comparison to places such as London or the Big Apple. Yet this adorable tin clad city (which feels more like a large town) certainty shouldn’t be rubbed off your to do list. It’s a beautiful place to wander, full of colourful murals and brightly painted buildings.
Though it has to be said – there is so much more to Iceland than its surprisingly small capital.
If you’re coming to Iceland to admire it’s abundance of breath-taking natural beauty, and geographical phenomenon’s. Then I strongly urge you to hire a car and venture out of Reykjavik. Only then, will you discover all its mythical moss covered lava fields and iconic rugged landscapes. If your goal is to feel as though you’ve landed on a distant planet. Then, without a shadow of doubt, you need to flee the nest and head out beyond Reykjavik.
Even with that said. I don’t think the city should be skipped altogether, and I would definitely pay a flying visit to Reykjavik as part of your Icelandic holiday.
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How long do you need to spend in Reykjavik?
Let’s say you’ve been reading up on Reykjavik. You’ve seen its full of trendy bars, quirky cafes, interesting museums and has a bustling nightlife up for grabs. Realistically though, you wouldn’t need more than one full day here to explore the main highlights of this little city.
This does all depend on what your plans are though, along with what type of holiday you’re seeking.
For example. If you’re renting a car to explore Iceland’s otherworldly landscapes on an incredible road trip, then I would only allocate 1 day of your trip to Reykjavik. However, if you’re only staying in Reykjavik for a long weekend. You would still easily be able to fill your time here without getting bored. Although, that would involve leaving the city to head out on a coach day trip and perhaps again for a geothermal spa. Check out my list of 18 great things to do whilst in Reykjavik!
Now that Iceland is an increasingly popular holiday destination. Reykjavik’s become far more equipped for all the tourists that flood its way every year, offering easily accessible coach trips from within the city. Popular tour options include visiting the Golden Circle for the day, or chasing the Aurora on a northern lights tour. There’s also the two nearby spa’s on the outskirts of Reykjavik; Sky Lagoon & Blue Lagoon which are both a short bus ride away.
So, with coach trips, site seeing, museum visits and spa days scheduled in. You would be plenty busy enough to keep you occupied over a 2-3 day period when basing yourself in Reykjavik.
However, if you’ve come to Iceland purely to experience it’s freedom and solitude, you’re not going to get any of that in the city. In that case, you may find a quick wander around Reykjavik before you venture back to Keflavik airport is more than enough.
3 day itinerary in Reykjavik
If we visited Iceland again, but this time just staying in Reykjavik for three full days. Here is an example of what my itinerary would look like.
Day 1:
Relax at Blue Lagoon, wander around Reykjavik, head up Hallgrímskirkja church and do a Northern lights tour.
Day 2:
Golden Circle day trip on the coach/ hire a car and do it yourself!
Day 3:
Hire a car and explore some of Iceland’s scenic south coast. Or, if you didn’t want to drive, I’d head to sky lagoon, do some museums in Reykjavik, then finish with a flight on Flyover Iceland.
Day 4:
Fly home
Should I stay in Reykjavik?
If you’re planning on spending a long weekend in Reykjavik, then yes. Absolutely – that makes sense. But, if you’re planning on stretching your stay, along with renting a car to explore ‘real’ Iceland (please do). Then staying in Reykjavik wouldn’t be your best choice.
If you only wanted to see the Golden Circle, then it would be fine. But some locations are too far away to visit in a day trip from Reykjavik, like Diamond beach and Sólheimasandur plane crash for example.
If you’re wanting to venture along the popular south coast of Iceland, where you’ll see endless waterfalls. Then I would recommend renting a car and basing yourself a little further along – somewhere like Hella. Which will make a lot of locations more accessible in a day trip.
You can see some of the incredible places we stopped off at along the south coast on my detailed 7 day ring road itinerary.
At the end of our road trip, we stayed at hotel Fron in Reykjavik for one night, and I do not recommend that hotel! The reception area was well presented, and the location was ideal. Sadly, the hotel room itself was incredibly dated, felt rather unloved and was a little run down. The hot water also had an aroma of rotten egg, which didn’t exactly make you want to strip down and take a shower at the end of a long day!
Even though our hotel was starting to crumble like a Nature Valley bar. Don’t let that put you off. There are so many gorgeous hotel options in Reykjavik like these – we just got a little unlucky with ours!
Don’t want to drive in Iceland?
If you’re not up for hiring a car, but you still want to watch the geyser erupt and see some other iconic sites. Then staying in Reykjavik would be a good option, as you could easily grab a Golden Circle tour! The coach will take you out for the day, stopping at the main attractions along the famous Golden Circle. You could also grab a taxi/bus to the nearby relaxing geothermal lagoons.
Reykjavik is small, so you wont need transport to discover this city. You can easy explore this compact city on foot within a couple hours – which is exactly what we did.
Things to do in Reykjavik
Reykjavik has lots of cosy cafe’s dotted around the city. The majority of the restaurants and cafes are on Laugavegur street. Although we really enjoyed our pastries at Baka Baka bakery which is on Bankastræti street.
Something else you must do whilst in Iceland is have a deliciously decadent Icelandic hot chocolate. We grabbed one from Loo.Koo.Mas and it was like a cup of hot melted chocolate. So silky and divine!
Once your bellies are content, It’s time to wander around the shops in Reykjavik. We carried on our Christmas tree tradition of getting a tree decoration from everywhere we visit. We stumbled upon a Christmas shop called Litla Jólabúðin which happened to be open when we visited in May.
One thing you simply have to do whilst in Reykjavik is go to the beautifully unique Hallgrímskirkja church. You can go inside and admire the downstairs for free. But, to gain the best views over Reykjavik, you’ll need to purchase a ticket in the church shop. It doesn’t cost much, and you get to see 360 degree views over the colourful city. You’ll be up in the bell tower (which ring every 15 mins) – so get ready to jump out of your skin when they chime!
For a more in depth list of things to do, head over to my blog post Exploring Reykjavik: 18 Things to do & Best Places to Visit.
How do you get to Reykjavik
Most people visiting Iceland will fly into Keflavik airport, which is around 30 miles away from Reykjavik. You can usually bag yourself direct flights from most UK airports like London, Edinburgh, Manchester and even little Bristol airport. From the UK it’s a fairly short flight time of approximately 3 hours.
Once you’ve landed, either pick up your hire car from the airport (we used blue car rental) or hop on to one of the coaches to Reykjavik. You can pre book coach transfers online using either Flybus and Airport Direct. Or if you wish to sort once you arrive, you can purchase Flybus tickets from one of the vending machines in the baggage room. Or Airport Direct have a ticket office, which is located in the arrivals hall. See information on how to do this by clicking here.
Final thoughts
Reykjavik is a great choice if you’re on a short trip, or if you don’t want to drive in Iceland. It’s easy to get a selection of coach trips from here, which makes it an ideal location to base yourself. But If your holiday goal is to explore Iceland’s geographical wonders, whilst feeling all the freedom and peacefulness this country has to offer. Then don’t waste too long in the city.
This distinctive Nordic country has such unique landscapes, that any you get to see will be a bonus. Don’t skip past Reykjavik or Iceland as a holiday destination. Yes it’s cold and ridiculously windy, but there really is nowhere else on Earth quite like it!
You’ll make memories here that will last a lifetime.