Reykjavic , Iceland. Any tips?

[PunishmentSnart]

Going to Iceland this weekend. Booked on to do Golden Circle, Northern Lights and Blue Lagoon.
Any tips or places to see, eat, visit while we are there?

You can get a great view over the city by going up the tower in the church in the middle of the city.

Thanks- we have a few hours to spare on our first day so I’ll mention that to our friends.

Do you have any recommendations of nice places to eat?

Is it the right time of year to go whale watching?

We had an amazing time (we stayed in Keflavik instead)

If you are all adults the evening brewery tour is a lot of fun. It involves a lot of beer so don’t drive there! Not child friendly. We did a gastronomic golden circle tour with lots of food related stops that we really enjoyed.

Best cinnamon buns in the world at the Braud & Co bakery in Reykjavik. They will ruin you for all others..

Iceland is amazing but take thermals. We had a brilliant time but it was so cold.

My sister found an app that told you all the bars that had happy hours. We did a pub crawl using it as the bars are very expensive.
We found a little burger bar, it was lovely, sure you would be able to google it.
I loved Iceland, it was one of the best places I have been.

We are just back
Block burger amazing
Go to Bonus for snacks
Bring a box of wine in your luggage
Valdis for ice cream - lava salted chocolate amazing
Icelandic seafish company for fish and chips
After spending 3 hours in a ski lodge on a northern lights hunt with nothing to do - bring cards or a book to kill the time.
Most of the tour buses have free Wi-fi and charging ports in the seats so bring a charger cable with you to keep phone topped up for internet and photos

In duty free on the way through departures get some lava biscuits

There are some good resturants down on the waterfront. Cant remember exact names though sorry! But all the ones we tried were great.

Lovely views from Perlan & ice caves tour there is fun to do.

The oldest building in the city used to be a restaurant, I don't know if i still is. It was awesome.

Also, there are numerous public thermal baths that are very cheap, and very good. Well worth a visit.

Glad you've booked the golden circle, it's really good. I've travelled all over the world and Iceland is one of my very favourite places...

Thanks everyone. You’ve made me so excited

I’m very envious-you’ll have an amazing time.

One thing to bear in mind is the shortness of the day. It doesn’t get light until gone 9am which is really odd.

highly recommend MATWERK restaurant and more specifically the werkburger - one day I will go back just for food and come straight home again

And don’t forget a swimsuit! ( I did , duh...)

Bæjarins Beztu leitar Hotdogs - by the harbour.
Food and Drink is ££££ - visit bars/restaurants during happy hour.
We did a whale tour, was worth it but cold. Booked ours with Elding
Golden circle tour is good but ours took 7 hrs, so take some food!
Cafe loki - fab for icelandic food!
Laundromat cafe - great food but £££
We went to the small island off the city to see the Lennon peace tower, boat took us over and then a guide walked us around - amazing experience.
Found the famous viking boat a bit of a let down ... its off a footpath by a busy road.
Heated pavements are mental! ha
Enjoy it I love it there, but be prepared to hemorrhage money.

How should we dress for evenings? Is it casual or smart dress?

We wore our waterproofs out in the evenings ! It best to wear layers to keep warm. It is casual over there.

It’s very expensive but we had two amazing meals at Grillmarkadurinn. Best lamb I’ve ever tasted.

We drove around the whole of Iceland (apart from the interior) last August. We were so glad that we brought a few bottles of wine.
The food prices are ridiculous!
Don't forget to try the dried fish snacks with butter. Wish I'd brought more back home.
Lots of layers and warm/waterproof clothes required, even in Summer.

Diamond Beach is a great place to visit. But that's a whole day trip if the weather is not right.

Go to the local swimming pools - we liked the vesturbæjarlaug mainly because it was walking distance from our accommodation. The hot springs are amazing especially in the evenings when lots of locals head down there after work to unwind and catch up.

Make sure you read up on pool etiquette - the water isn't chlorinated so there are clear rules about showering before you bathe, including showering naked (but everyone is naked and it really isn't a big deal).

We found these local pools so much nicer than the Blue Lagoon which was overcrowded and not very clean.

We had a 'cheap' meal in a kebab type restaurant, was £30 + for two people!! You forget all the food needs to be imported in hence the costing.

Book your restaurants in advance. We went in Feb and it was very very busy. We spent ages going around fully booked restaurants trying to find a table. See where looks nice and then book the day before. Dress code is casual in the evenings as it’s so cold!