Reykjavik - Travel Tips From a Local

Gudrun @ Uptake.com has started a new challenge for travel bloggers. To answer 10 questions about their own city to give their reader the best insider info on their home town. Guido @ HappyHotelier.com wrote about his home town, The Hague, and I decided to go along and write about my hometown, Reykjavik (I'm suddenly realizing that I don't live in Reykjavik. I used to but now I live in one of the neighbour towns Hafnarfjordur. Oh, well. No one is interested in Hafnarfjordur anyway, so Reykjavik it is.)

Tjörnin in Reykjavik, Iceland

1. Give 5 adjectives that you would use to describe the “feel” of Reykjavik and its residents:
Fresh, friendly, energetic, cool and creative.

2. What are your favorite neighborhoods?
101 Thingholt without doubt. That’s the old town where I grew up. There you’ll find streets with character and houses with a soul and the old shopping streets where you’ll now find designer shops, cafés and restaurants.

3. Which cuisine do you think Reykjavik does best? What is the runner-up?(feel free to share your favorite restaurant(s))
Seafood. After thousand years where creativity in the cuisine was either to let the food hang, lay it in salt or rot, Icelandic chefs have finally got their hands on some proper cook books and foreign spices. You can now get excellent food where fresh high quality ingredients is used with creatively inspired by the best from the Mediterranean, Japan and other cultures where food is a rich tradition.
My favorite restaurant is Sjavarkjallarinn and their “exotic menu”. It’s excellent food and top service. Actually the best I’ve ever had. The Fish Market and Domo are also excellent seafood restaurants. You’ll find excellent food in many restaurants in Reykjavik, but unfortunately, the service level is often way lower than you would expect.
For more classic seafood at more affordable prices I would recommend Thrir frakkar (Three French Men).

4. What is the best free thing to do?
Perlan (the Pearl) is a great place to visit and get a great view of the city. It doesn’t cost anything to enter and view the city from the “balcony”. You can also go to the top floor where you’ll find the Perlan Restaurant, chosen one of the 5 best scenic restaurants in the world with their turning floor (but you can’t eat free there, though. Not even close).
You could also take a walk on the shore to Grótta light house and enjoy the midnight sun from there, setting behind Snaefellsjokull glacier in the north (the gate to the center of Earth).

5. What is your favorite type of entertainment?
Getting out of town, camping or hiking. The night life is lively if that’s what you’re looking for, but the nature out in the country is exceptional. Go explore.

6. List the best family friendly activity:
Husdyragardurinn (the local zoo) with local animals only plus some minor rides and a small experimentarium is a nice place to visit. Feeding the ducks at Tjornin is the classical family Sunday for the locals.

7. What spot would you send a couple, looking for a romantic weekend?
Hilton Nordica with their spa and Vox restaurant. If you’re willing to move around a bit, a dip into the Blue Lagoon is a must (watch the hair though, ladies), or even just a trip to one of the local swimming pools, like Laugar.

8. Describe a perfect day…one that captures what your area/city is all about. In 3 sentences or less.
Start the day with a swim in one of the local pools chatting with the locals in the hot tub, followed by an Icelandic breakfast at Grandakaffi with the old sailors. Go from their to either the tower of Hallgrimskirkja or Perlan to enjoy the view.
Grab lunch at one of the café’s downtown and take a walk checking out the designer shops, art galleries and if you have time, the National Museum. End the evening with a classy dinner at one of the better restaurants ending the night by watching the midnightsun with your loved one. If you don’t have a loved one, check the clubs. You’ll probably find something that’ll do ;)

9. Tell us about a place that you love to go, whether it is in the guidebooks or not.
Pancakes at my wife’s grandma top the list. She would probably give you a warm welcome, but still, I think I’ll just keep her address to my self. ☺

A walk in the old cemetery at Sudurgata is nice. Quiet and peaceful. I actually proposed to my wife there 14 years ago ☺

10. What question did we not ask that we should have (and answer it, of course!)?
How to dress in Iceland?
The only thing you can count on regarding the weather in Iceland, is that you can never count on it. So bring a warm sweater and a windproof/waterproof jacket. If you don’t have any, I recommend checking 66 North or Cintamani that make excellent clothes for Icelandic weather conditions.

So those are a few tips on my hometown. If there's anything more you'd like to know, just post a question in the comments :)

Hjörtur

Comments

[Happy Hotelier]

Didn't know you actually started a Travel Blog.
Love it.
...and it took you 14 yrs of getting married? :-)

[Hjortur Smarason]

Yep, I finally did it. Thanks :)

And no, it didn't take me 14 years to get married. I married my wife as soon as she was legal of age ;) (and I didn't have to 14 years for that, we got married almost 12 years ago).