Town houses, Reykjavik

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Old Harbour

Top choice in Reykjavík


Largely a service harbour until recently, the Old Harbour and the neighbouring Grandi area have blossomed into tourist hot spots, with key art galleries, several museums, volcano and Northern Lights films, and excellent restaurants. Whale-watching and puffin-viewing trips depart from the pier. Photo ops abound with views of fishing boats, the Harpa concert hall and snowcapped mountains beyond.

On the western edge of the harbour, the Grandi area, named after the fish factory there, is burgeoning with eateries and shops.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Reykjavík attractions

1. Volcano House

0.1 MILES

This modern theatre with a hands-on lava exhibit in the foyer screens a 55-minute pair of films in English (hourly) about the Vestmannaeyjar volcanoes and…

2. i8

0.1 MILES

Displays works by some of the country’s top modern artists, many of whom show overseas as well.

3. Reykjavík Museum of Photography

0.12 MILES

This gallery room, high above Reykjavík City Library, is well worth a visit for its top-notch exhibitions of regional photographers. If you take the lift…

5. Reykjavík Art Museum – Hafnarhús

0.15 MILES

Reykjavík Art Museum's Hafnarhús is a marvellously restored warehouse converted into a soaring steel-and-concrete exhibition space. Though the well…

6. Gröndalshús

0.18 MILES

The small, red former home of writer, illustrator and naturalist Benedikt Gröndal beautifully evokes turn-of-the-century Reykjavic life. Gröndal lived…

7. Aðalstræti 10

0.23 MILES

Reykjavík's oldest timber house dates to 1762 and is now home to changing exhibitions charting the course of the city's history.

8. Reykjavík Maritime Museum

0.24 MILES

The crucial role fishing plays in Iceland's economy is celebrated through the imaginative displays in this former fish-freezing plant. The new exhibition…