The compact, colourful downtown — the Laugavegur shopping street, Hallgrímskirkja on its hill, and almost all the bars, restaurants and nightlife packed into a few walkable blocks. The obvious and best base: you can walk everywhere and roll home from the bars, though it's the priciest and liveliest-at-weekends part of town.
A look around
What you’ll be living next to. Swipe through.
€300–500
typical per night in Iceland
You pay for the postcode
One of the pricier addresses in Reykjavík.
Where it sits
The circle is Miðborg and roughly a 10-minute walk around it.
How far is everything?
From the middle of this area to the city's headline sights — pick your own on the city page and these become your list.
- Icelandic food6 min walk512 m
- Whale watching10 min walk870 m
- Grandi & the food hall14 min walk1.1 km
- Perlan26 min walk2.2 km
- A geothermal pool9 min taxi3.0 km
- The Botanic Garden10 min taxi3.2 km
- The Sky Lagoon10 min taxi3.3 km
On your doorstep
What you’re living next to if you stay here.
- 1.Hallgrímskirkja — The soaring concrete church that crowns the city, its façade modelled on Iceland's basalt columns — take the lift up the 74-metre tower for the best view over Reykjavík's coloured rooftops to the sea and mountains. The symbol of the city, visible from everywhere; free to enter, small charge for the tower.
- 4.Laugavegur — The main street and the beating heart of downtown — a colourful strip of design shops, woollen-sweater stores, record shops, cafés, bars and street art, buzzing day and night. Stroll it end to end, dip into the side streets, and you've seen the best of the little city on foot.
- 5.The northern lights — From September to April, on a clear dark night, the aurora may ripple green and violet across the sky — chase them on a guided minibus tour out of the city light, or simply look up from a dark spot like Grótta. Never guaranteed, always magical; the winter's great prize.
- 6.Harpa Concert Hall — A dazzling glass concert hall on the waterfront, its honeycomb façade of coloured panels shimmering with the light and sea — free to wander inside, and a hub for concerts and the city's music scene. Architecture worth a look in its own right; catch a performance, or just admire the glass at dusk.
- 7.The Sun Voyager — A gleaming steel sculpture on the seafront, like a Viking longship rendered as a skeleton of ribs, pointing out across the bay to the mountains beyond. A short, lovely stroll along the waterfront from downtown, and the city's favourite photo; ethereal in the low northern light.
- 10.The Reykjavík djammið — For its size, Reykjavík parties hard — the weekend 'djammið' is a crawl of the packed bars and clubs along Laugavegur that runs till 5am, fuelled by a famously fun, friendly crowd. Start late (Icelanders pre-drink at home, as bars are pricey), and hop from bar to bar with the flow.
- 11.An Icelandic hot dog — The national fast food and a beloved ritual — a lamb-and-pork hot dog 'með öllu' (with everything: crispy and raw onions, ketchup, sweet mustard and remoulade) from a harbourside stand, for a fraction of the price of anything else in this pricey city. Cheap, delicious, and quintessentially Reykjavík.
- 13.Rainbow Street & the old town — The street of Skólavörðustígur, painted in a permanent rainbow up towards Hallgrímskirkja, is the city's most photographed spot and the pride of famously open-minded Reykjavík. Wander the pretty streets of coloured corrugated-iron houses around it — the postcard heart of the little capital.
When are you staying?
Booking.com & Airbnb open searched to Miðborg; flights via Google Flights.