Start from 58 curated places around Reykjavik, IS, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Fiskfélagið
The most consistently awarded seafood restaurant in the city occupies one of Reykjavik's oldest timber buildings in Vesturgata and has held the Grapevine's best seafood designation for a decade straight — its tasting menu navigates the full circle of Icelandic waters, from salt cod preparations to fresh halibut, using techniques that arrive somewhere between French classical and New Nordic. The cellar dining room has exposed stone walls and the kind of warmth that makes a winter dinner feel earned. Book well ahead for weekends.
Messinn
Downtown Reykjavik's most satisfying lunch — fresh fish arrives daily and is served in cast-iron pans with butter-fried potatoes and vegetables, with wolffish, arctic char, and plaice rotating through based on the catch. The portions are large enough that two people often split a single pan without feeling shortchanged, and the plokkfiskur (traditional Icelandic fish stew) on the side is the correct move. The interior is tight and warm and fills quickly from noon onward.
Trails & outdoors
Mount Esja: Steinn - Þverfellshorn
The mountain range looming directly north across Faxaflói Bay from Reykjavik is the city's day-hike benchmark — the most popular route climbs steeply from the Esjustofa trailhead to Steinn (a large flat boulder at around 790m) and continues to the Þverfellshorn ridgeline for those with energy left. The reward is a panorama that places the entire capital on a flat coastal plain from above. The difficulty is honest: trail signs rate sections from one to three boots and the upper sections earn their three-boot designation.
Reykjadalur Hot Spring Thermal River
A 45-minute drive from Reykjavik brings you to Hveragerði and the trailhead for this 5.7-mile out-and-back hike through geothermal terrain to a warm river where you can swim. The trail itself passes steaming vents, vivid green-yellow hillsides, and a section of mud pots before arriving at the river, where you wade in at your chosen temperature gradient (hotter upstream, cooler down). It's one of the most distinctive day trips available from the capital without requiring a tour.
Things to do
National Museum of Iceland
The most comprehensive introduction to Icelandic history in existence — the permanent exhibition Making of a Nation covers the Viking settlement in 874 to the 20th century through artifacts, reconstructed environments, and an audio guide available in multiple languages. The settlement-era Viking ship model at the entrance, the medieval ecclesiastical objects in the middle floors, and the 20th-century kitchen and fishing equipment at the end give the full arc of what Iceland is and why. Multiple Grapevine best museum awards reflect a sustained level of curation.
Reykjavík Art Museum - Hafnarhús
The largest of the city's three Reykjavik Art Museum buildings occupies a converted harbor warehouse on Tryggvagata and runs a progressive contemporary program mixing major Icelandic artists — including the permanent Erró graphic art collection that fills the top floor — with international exhibitions. The single ticket covers all three museum buildings (Hafnarhús, Kjarvalsstaðir, and Ásmundarsafn) within a 24-hour period, making it the best-value cultural pass in the city.
Landmarks & sights
Hallgrímskirkja
The 74.5-meter concrete church anchoring Reykjavik's skyline took over 40 years to build and was designed by the same architect who shaped the University of Iceland — its stepped basalt-column facade is unmistakably Icelandic. The elevator to the tower observation deck takes about 90 seconds and puts you at the highest point in central Reykjavik with 360-degree views across the city to Faxaflói Bay and Mount Esja. Inside, the organ alone has over 5,000 pipes and fills the minimalist nave with sound during Sunday services.
Harpa
The glass-and-steel concert hall on the waterfront edge of downtown is worth walking through even when nothing is playing — the hexagonal glass facade, designed in collaboration with artist Olafur Eliasson, changes color with the sky and light all day. The building is free to enter and the ground-floor atrium has a cafe, a design shop, and harbor views; the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Icelandic Opera both call it home. Evening concerts in the main hall have exceptional acoustics and an architectural experience that rivals the music.