Sights in Iceland
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Laugardalslaug Geothermal Pool
Laugardalslaug Geothermal Pool is the largest pool in Iceland, with the best facilities: an Olympic-size indoor pool, an outdoor pool, four hot pots and a whirlpool, a steam bath, and a curling 86m water slide. Take bus 14.
Reykjavík's heavenly pools (and beach) are the heart of the city's social life: children play, teenagers flirt, business deals are made, and everyone catches up with the latest gossip. Volcanic water keeps the temperature at a mellow 29°C, and most of the baths have heitir pottar (hot pots), Jacuzzi-like pools kept at a toasting 37°C to 42°C. Admission usually costs around Ikr280/around Ikr120 for adults/children aged 6 to 15, and towels and swimming…
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Geysir
Geysir is the original spouting hot spring; all the others around the world are named after it. The Great Geysir debuted in the 14th century, blasting a jet of water up to 80m (262ft) into the air. By the 1950s tourists had clogged it with rocks and rubbish, thrown in an attempt to set it off. The geysir ceased erupting and was mostly inactive for decades.
Since earthquakes in 2000, it has begun erupting again two or three times daily. Nearby, the world's most reliable geyser Strokkur (the Churn), spouts up to 35m (115ft) and erupts every six minutes or so.
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Gullfoss
Iceland's most famous waterfall tumbles 32m (105ft) into a steep-sided canyon, kicking up a sheer wall of spray. The spectacle depends on what the weather is like. On sunny days the spray creates shimmering rainbows over the gorge and Gullfoss can seem simply magical. On grey, drizzly days the falls retreat into the mist and can be slightly underwhelming.
The site was once slated for sale to international bidders for hydroelectric development, but has since been purchased by the government and set aside as a national monument.
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Þingvellir
Þingvellir, Iceland’s oldest national park, protects a scenic 84 sq km lake, the geologically significant Almannagjá rift, and is the site of the original Alþing (National Assembly). The park is administered directly by the prime minister’s office and is a Unesco World Heritage Site.
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Reykjavík Art Museum
The excellent Reykjavík Art Museum is split over three sites: Ásmundarsafn, Hafnarhúsið and Kjarvalsstaðir.
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Víkin Maritime Museum
Based appropriately in a former freezing plant for fish, the small Víkin Maritime Museum celebrates the country’s seafaring heritage, focusing on the trawlers that transformed Iceland’s economy. Much of the information is in Icelandic only, but silent film footage of trawler crews in action is worth a look. Your ticket also allows you aboard the coastguard ship Óðinn, a veteran of the Cod Wars (of the 1970s when British and Icelandic fishermen quite literally came to blows over fishing rights in the North Atlantic), as part of guided tours at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm (2pm and 3pm only at weekends in winter, closed January and February).
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Tjörnin
Tjörnin is the placid lake at the centre of the city. It echoes with the honks, squawks and screeches of over 40 species of visiting birds, including swans, geese and artic terns; feeding the ducks is a popular pastime for the under fives. Pretty sculpture-dotted parks line the southern shores, and their lacing paths are much used by cyclists and joggers. In winter, hardy souls strap on ice skates and turn the lake into an outdoor rink.
For a self-guided art tour round Tjörnin, buy the brochure 'The City Statues' (around Ikr200) from the tourist office.
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Hallgrímskirkja
Reykjavík’s most attention-seeking building is the immense concrete church Hallgrímskirkja, star of a thousand postcards and visible from 20km away. However, in a scandal that shook the city, it was discovered that the original builders cut corners by skimping on quality materials, and that Reykjavík’s iconic symbol was falling apart. The whole thing was just repaired. You can get an unmissable view of the city by taking an elevator trip up the 75m-high tower.
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Culture House
Creeping into the darkened rooms of the Culture House is a true thrill for saga lovers. A permanent exhibition covers saga history: from a Who’s Who of Norse gods to a fascinating account of Árni Magnússon, who devoted his life to saving Icelandic manuscripts, and died of a broken heart when his Copenhagen library went up in flames. Two hushed display rooms contain the original vellums; if you’re interested in seeing more, contact the Árni Magnússon Institute.
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Reykjavík 871 +/-2
The city’s newest exhibition, Reykjavík 871 +/-2, is based around a single 10th-century Viking house but shows what miracles can be achieved when technology, archaeology and imagination meet. Through 21st-century wizardry, a fire leaps from the hearth, while around the walls ghostly settlers materialise to tend crops, hunt, launch a boat, and bury their dead. Go and marvel!
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Perlan
Looking like half of Barbarella’s bra, Perlan is a complex based around the huge hot-water tanks on Öskjuhlíð hill. It’s about 2km from the city centre (take bus 18 from Hlemmur).
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Árbæjarlaug Geothermal Pool
It's a step out of town, but the slickly designed Árbæjarlaug Geothermal Pool is well known as the best family pool: it's half inside and half outside, and there are lots of watery amusements (slides, waterfalls and massage jets) to keep the kids entertained. Take bus 19.
Reykjavík's heavenly pools (and beach) are the heart of the city's social life: children play, teenagers flirt, business deals are made, and everyone catches up with the latest gossip. Volcanic water keeps the temperature at a mellow 29°C, and most of the baths have heitir pottar (hot pots), Jacuzzi-like pools kept at a toasting 37°C to 42°C. Admission usually costs around Ikr280/around Ikr120 for…
reviewed
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Library of Water
For relaxing views of the town and the bay, head up the hill to the Library of Water. Housed in the old municipal library, this hallowed space flooded by natural light features a permanent exhibit by noted American artist Roni Horn. Twenty-four glass pillars are scattered throughout the room, each one filled to the brim with locally sourced glacier water. Light is reflected and refracted through the aqueous tubes, and adjectives in both English and Icelandic are inscribed into the delicate floor. It’s the perfect place to curl up with your journal or play a game of chess (provided); just don’t forget to take off your shoes. Although the space is closed during the colder…
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Skaftafell National Park
Europe's largest national park encompasses a breathtaking collection of peaks and glaciers and is the country's favourite wilderness: 160,000 visitors per year come to marvel at thundering waterfalls, twisting birch woods, and the brilliant blue-white Vatnajökull icecap - Earth's largest icecap outside the poles, weighing in at 3000 billion tonnes.
Expansion plans are underway - eventually, Skaftafell and Jökulsárgljúfur will join to form one 15,000km sq megapark - 40% of the entire country.
There are walking trails, tours and accommodation available in the area. There's also a very helpful visitor centre which shows a cool film about the 1996 jökulhlaup (glacial…
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National Museum
Displays at the National Museum are well thought out and give an excellent overview of Iceland’s history and culture. The strongest section delves into the Settlement Era, with swords, silver hoards and a great little bronze model of Thor on display. However, the most treasured artefact in the museum is a beautiful 13th-century church door, carved with the touching story of a knight and his faithful lion! Upstairs, you really get a sense of the country’s poverty over the following 600 years. Simple, homey artefacts utilise every scrap: check out the gaming pieces made from cod ear bones, and the wooden doll that doubled as a kitchen utensil.
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Akureyri Museum
The Akureyri Museum houses an interesting collection of art and historical items from the Settlement Era to the present. Among the displays are photographs, farming tools and re-creations of early Icelandic homes. An interesting exhibit details the life of early settlers along Eyjafjörður and displays artefacts from Gásir, one of Iceland’s most fruitful archaeological digs. Plans are afoot to turn the site (near Árskógsströnd) into an interactive historical attraction. The museum garden became the first place in Iceland to cultivate trees when a nursery was established here in 1899.
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Hallgrímskirkja
This immense concrete church looms over Reykjavík like a set from a Norse opera. With a 75m (246ft) steeple flanked by concrete representations of volcanic basalt columns, Hallgrímskirkja is visible from 20km (12mi) away. Admire the elongated, ultrastark interior; then for an unmissable view of the city, take an elevator trip up the tower.
Outside, a statue of Leifur Eiríksson, the Viking explorer who first discovered Vinland (modern-day America), gazes proudly forth. It was a present from the USA on the 1000th anniversary of the Alþing (Parliament).
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A-Hús
Building houses from scraps didn't mean that artistic impulses were squashed - check out A-Hús, from 1906, one of the city's finest examples of wood-and-tin architecture. Its tall turrets are topped by swirling arabesques, and the wooden struts supporting the balconies are carved with whales.
The old town's mid-18th-century houses demonstrate the Icelandic talent for adaptation. In a country devoid of building materials, most are made from driftwood (which floated from Siberia and South America) and covered in sheets of corrugated tin to protect them from the elements.
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Lundey & Flatey
The small islands of Lundey & Flatey lie anchored in Skjálfandi, near Húsavík. Lundey (Puffin Island), rises dramatically from the sea in a series of high, nest-covered cliffs and is a breeding ground for puffins, fulmars and other sea birds. Flatey (Flat Island) lives up to its name, rising only a couple of metres above sea level. It's now abandoned, but as recently as 1942 it had a population of more than 100.
Tours to both islands are possible with the two whale-watching companies, Norður Sigling and Gentle Giants.
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Lystigarðurinn
A host of exotic species from as far away as New Zealand, Spain and Tanzania flourish in Akureyri’s botanical gardens, Lystigarðurinn, thanks to the region’s moderate microclimate. The wealth of plant life on display is truly astonishing considering the gardens’ proximity to the Arctic Circle. You’ll find examples of every species native to Iceland here, as well as an extensive collection of high-latitude and high-altitude plants from around the world, all meticulously labelled with scientific names and countries of origin.
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Family Fun Park & Zoo
The Family Fun Park & Zoo is the city’s only attraction especially for (youngish) children. Don’t expect lions and tigers; think seals, foxes and farm animals with slightly dismal enclosures, and tanks of cold-water fish. The family park section is jolly, with a mini-racetrack, child-size bulldozers, a giant trampoline, boats and kids’ fairground rides. The Family Fun Park is in the middle of a large park area, so buses don’t go directly to the door, but buses S2, 14, 15, 17 and 19 pass within a few hundred metres.
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Tækniminjasafn Austurlands
Tækniminjasafn Austurlands is housed in two buildings on Hafnargata: the impressive 1894 home of ship owner Otto Wathne, and a workshop from 1907. Seyðisfjörður was at the cutting edge of Icelandic technology in the 19th century – the first submarine telephone cable linking Iceland with Europe was brought ashore here in 1906. The museum charts this history with displays of old machinery, photographs, and a re-creation of the original telegraph station, foundry and machine shop.
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Húsavík Museum
A folk, maritime and natural-history museum all rolled into one complex, the Húsavík Museum is one of the best local museums you’ll find in Iceland. The museums occupy the 1st and 3rd floors of the building (the library is on the 2nd floor), and an annexe nearby. The natural-history display has the usual array of stuffed animals, including arctic foxes, a frightening-looking hooded seal, and a stuffed polar bear, which was welcomed to Grímsey in 1969 with both barrels of a gun.
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Stykkishólmskirkja
Looking decidedly out of place among the clutter of quaint maritime houses, Stykkishólmur’s futuristic church, Stykkishólmskirkja is a striking white structure with a sweeping bell tower that looks like a ship’s vent or a giant vertebra. The interior features hundreds of suspended lights and a large painting of the Mother and Child floating in the night sky. Enthusiasts of oddball architecture will be glad to know that there are heaps of funky churches throughout Iceland.
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Stórnarráðið
For an Icelandic joke, at the beginning of Bankastræti look north towards the detached building Stórnarráðið, which contains the prime minister's offices. The statues outside are of Hannes Hafstein, leader of the first home-rule government, and King Christian IX presenting Iceland with its constitution. If you get the right perspective, you can recreate a shot from the cult movie 101 Reykjavík - the king stuffing the constitution up Hafstein's rear.
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