Reykjavik Hotel recommendations please!

[Jungfraujoch]

Ideally central with parking if poss. Thanks.

That’s literally a stones throw from the hotel I recommended. Didn’t see much parking on street there I have to say.

Apparently a free parking lot 3 min walk away.

I second the Exeter Hotel! It was AMAZING! The view from our room was - well see for yourself!

Yes. Like the other harbour hotels.

I'm going on the 29th of this month. I have really nice warm boots but they are suede on the outside. Does anyone know if I'll need wellies too!!??

(Sorry to derail...!)

If you want to eat somewhere in particular book ahead.

The last time we went we found getting a table anywhere in Reykjavik was challenging.

Re wellies, it depends on whether you stay in Reykjavik or venue out anywhere on trips. If you stay only in the city the pavements tend to stay clear as they are heated by warm pipes from volcanic sources. But if you leave the city wellies are a stupid idea as you won't keep your feet warm properly and they don't have enough grip. Invest in footwear suitable for ice and snow conditions. Even for going on the golden circle.

last month we stayed in ‘Midgardur by centre hotels’ really lovely hotel with free parking (although parking was limited) and short stroll into town. Breakfast was lovely too

Watching.

@lupinlass
Its cold! You will need boots with plenty of room for socks. Wellies are not very warm. Insulated snow boots are way better. Most people wear them everywhere. Suede: useless if it’s raining. And it does.

We wore walking boots the entire time we were there :)

I went in ugg type boots with very thick socks.

We stayed at the Raddison Blu too.
Gorgeous breakfasts with skyr.

We went on the coach tours instead of car hire. It was actually extremely informative and we saw loads more than we'd have managed on our own. There's a shuttle bus that collects everyone from all the hotels to go to the coach place. I was skeptical before but I would really recommend it. They didn't force everyone to walk around the sites following a guy with an umbrella - it was very much tell you about the next stop during the journey, then when you got there you'd have 45 min (or however long) to explore as you wished.

We used Time Tours for our Northern Lights tour as they offer minibuses rather than big coaches. I wanted something a bit more intimate. They were fantastic and reasonably priced (approx. £95 for two people in January 2019).

Re footwear. I had a good chat with our NL guide about this as others on the tour were shivering in wellies and three pairs of socks and it was -20 out. He said that multiple pairs of socks are terrible as the cold air gets trapped between the layers. Add wellies (no insulation) and it's a disaster. His recommendation was one pair of proper wool socks and definitely no wellies.
Natural fibres are key. I had on hiking socks with Dublin River boots and I was warm, but I bought some Icelandic wool socks on his recommendation the next day and I have to say, he's right, they are amazing and are my go to if I know I'm going to be outside in the cold.

Get an Icelandic wool jumper on arrival too. It'll keep you so warm the whole time you're there.

Triple layers thermal preferably, Thinsulate boots, gloves etc. Food is expensive, we paid around £22 pp for a burger and chips+ a small beer. It's a fabulous place, other worldly & freindly people.

Thanks for all the info! We’ve done Norway in -17 so have all the right clothing/walking boots etc! We’re hiring a car at the airport and driving to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula first for 2 nights, then back to Reykjavik to do Golden Circle.

Layers of merino or modern thermals works. For socks/tights too. When you drive yourself you don’t miss anything if you do your research. We don’t like being herded so driving suited us.
@Jungfraujoch Snaefellsnes is lovely. We stayed at Stykkisholmur. In a lively old house turned into a small hotel. The peninsular can get very very windy.

Interested in hotel recommendations too, considering going in March.

Is it definitely worth it? I know it is VERY expensive.

100%. If you love outdoors, nature, it is awesome, you even forget all about rain and cold weather there! It is expensive but if you have a car, it is cheaper than excursions/tours. While restaurants are expensive, there are plenty of inexpensive places to eat in the harbour and in the centre . There is one fish soup hut in the harbour that's very famous, super cheap. Alcohol is expensive but we were active there so didn't drink.

“Tizerorfizz” we’re staying in Stykkishólmur too in a cute Airbnb overlooking the water. Noted about the wind! We also hate the guided tours - I’ll def be doing my research to make sure we don’t miss any hidden gems!

@garlicandsapphires
If you travel anywhere these days: it’s expensive. Do not drink alcohol and it’s not that bad. We didn’t find it worse than NY for example. If you are used to a £5 burger: it might seem expensive. We found food wholesome and plentiful. Only a few places are top notch so they are easily avoided. Plan early to get best prices.

We bought alcohol at the airport and a special (government?) alcohol shop, these are not plentiful and & from memory a bottle of red wine was around £40. We didn't drink much though throughout the trip. Strangely, there wasn't the huge difference the prices we had envisaged between eating burger, fries & a drink and dining at a quality restaurant. There were some unusual things on the menu, puffin, reindeer, auk, shark.

I’ve been a couple of times, mostly recently last month.

Stayed here and LOVED it www.reykjavikkonsulathotel.is .. warm, cosy, great breakfast and a free glass of wine each evening.

It's not as expensive as New York. But frankly I can't imagine anywhere is.

Hopefully you are not going any time soon OP as there is very bad weather atm and problems at Reykjavik airport, no planes landing or taking off.

we stayed at Fosshotel- good location, very clean and nice food in both main restaurant and the bar area