Reykjavík, with its long time ‘cool’ reputation and the destination of choice for a cognoscente including Jeremy Clarkson, Eric Clapton, Jamie Oliver and Reese Witherspoon, is now ‘chilled and sparkling’ with stylish hotels, modish design and cutting edge everything.
With a milder climate than other cities on the same latitude (even in winter it can be warmer than Vienna or New York), the weekend nightlife spills affably out on to the streets. The seafood is out of this world (everything from shark to salmon) and the people just delightful and welcoming. And on Reykjavík’s doorstep are wild and romantic places with narrow fjords, deep ravines, vast glaciers with jumbles of moraine, dormant volcanoes, thunderous waterfalls and spouting geysers. If God had designed a theme park this would surely have been it.
A long standing favourite of ours for people who want quiet surroundings, but proximity to the city centre (about a 20-minute walk). All 300 plus rooms in this recently extended superior class hotel, are particularly spacious with either twin, queen or king sized beds and private WC/bath/shower, radio, telephone, satellite TV, hair dryer, mini-bar and coffee maker.
• Quiet location • A la carte restaurant • Bar • Parking • City Centre Shuttle Service
The Borg is to Reykjavík what the George V is to Paris or Claridges to London: plush, lush and with phones in the bathrooms! All 56 rooms are elegant and uniquely furnished and have private WC/shower, TV and telephone.
• Central location • Restaurant
• Everything renovated from top to bottom
In Reykjavik’s 101 district, the city’s most fashionable, and within walking distance of the city’s main attractions: stylish bars, cafés, restaurants, museums and shops all at your fingertips. The décor in all 46 rooms is modern Scandinavian with wooden floors and black slate bathrooms. All 40 rooms have private WC/shower, mini-bar, hairdryer; satellite TV, high-speed internet access.
• Just off main shopping street • Lobby bar • Breakfast restaurant
Undeservedly less well known than many of Reykjavik’s hotels, the Ó∂insvé is a gem tucked away in a residential area beneath Hallgríms Church. With its characterful interior, plush furnishings, recent renovations and stylish dining room this is the place to be if you want proximity to the city centre and rooms a cut above the ordinary. All 43 rooms are individually styled & decorated and have private WC/shower, TV, and telephone.
• Close to the city centre • Celebrity chef restaurant
In the heart of the old city on “Ingólfstorg” the main square with restaurants, shopping and nightlife on your doorstep, the Plaza’s glass edifice is unmissable. The hotel has recently been given a complete makeover and renovated to provide a bright modern décor marked by contemporary oak furnishings and bright fabrics. All 180 rooms have their own free high-speed internet connection, TV, WC/shower, hairdryer, tea & coffee making facilities and much more.
• City Centre • Lobby bar • Breakfast restaurant
Iceland’s Southern shore is an exquisite contrast between the hay meadows lying back from the shoreline, the backdrop of the Hekla volcano and the Mýrdalsjökull glacier; black sand beaches fringed with white foaming sea and the plunge waterfalls Seljandfoss and Skogafoss. Your day takes in all these as well as the bird cliffs alongside Vik (trivia note: vik is old Norse for bay, hence the etymology of Viking people of the bay) and a hardcore drive up on the Mýrdalsjökull glacier on which you can snowmobile(optional and payable locally). Return via Hveragerði, the greenhouse village heated geothermally, back to Reykjavik.
If you want some time for last minute shopping this is a short form of our other Blue Lagoon excursion leaving out the Reykjanes Peninsula, so you need not check out of your hotel until midmorning. An ideal way to make the most of your last few hours in Reykjavík. Hotel pick-up at 10.30 am leaving the Lagoon at 2 pm for your flight back to the UK. Entrance to the Blue Lagoon payable locally.
A full day excursion beginning with the Blue Lagoon whose warm, turquoise blue waters lie amongst the black rocks of a lava field. From here you travel to Þingvellir where the early Viking settlers decided to stop raping and pillaging and set up a parliament instead. And then on to Gullfoss, in winter a giant mass of frozen stalagmites and stalagtites overflowing with foaming water, before arriving at the famous Geysir area. Return to Reykjavik. Hotel pick-up at 8.30 for 10 hours. Entrance to Blue Lagoon payable locally.
Available all year round and an all-day scenic extravaganza that bombards the senses. First stop the landscapes south of Lake Þingvallavatn before the National Park Þingvellir. From there continue to Gullfoss, the Golden Waterfall, with its foaming, thundering waters invariably over-arched with a rainbow. Continue to the Geysir area with its spouting water geysers and bubbling mud pots with time for lunch (payable locally). Return to Reykjavík via the cathedral at Skálholt, the extraordinary crater Kerið and the greenhouse community Hveragerði. Hotel pick-up at 8.00 am for 8 hours.
The white-knuckle ride of all time - a whole day tour following the classic Golden Circle route of Gullfoss, Geysir, Þingvellir and the Kerið crater in a specially equipped Icelandic Super Jeep. Your giant SUV reaches the parts other vehicles don’t - the ultimate boys toy day out. Every view from one is that little bit more special - every journey that little bit more exciting.
Reykjavik is a city with something for everybody - legendary nightlife, superb restaurants and proximity to many of the the island's spectacular natural attractions.
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Grand Hotel Reykjavik
Hotel Borg
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