Reykjavik Audio Guided Walking Tour 2h30 and 20 reviews

Big but discreet, old, but current, public, but historic, this is a direct way to introduce you to the Borg Inn proudly stationed before you. Beyond all these features, this Icelandic landmark has the honour of being the first and most famous Luxury Inn on the island.

If you get phrases like “in rows two by two”, “take out your notebooks” or “recess is over”, it must suddenly bring back some old memories. Well, old man, it's all subjective, huh... But don’t panic, our goal is not to make you relive your school years.

Far from being the most demonstrative building in Reykjavik, the government house does not need fireworks to justify its importance in the city. She obtained her first role in 1770. At that time, King Frederick V of Denmark, the country's ruler, granted him prison status. It will be until 1816. After that, big turnaround.

You were eagerly awaiting the ultra modern touch of the itinerary? Well then, you can be said to be served! All glass and steel, the Harpa has positioned itself in a few years as one of the most representative buildings in Reykjavik. Looking at it, we admit that it combines some assets.

A few mountains, a lot of water and as if standing in the middle of it all, a little green hillock. Little girl? Certainly from a distance, because the closer you get to this element and the more you feel its 8 meters high. That's almost a four-storey building, mine of nothing. One would like to tell you that this hill is among the natural mysteries of the island, but that would come to lie to you.

Do you consider yourself a “Traveller”? Well, that's good timing, here's another one that technically can afford it. The Sun Traveler, or Sólfar in Icelandic, is the most famous sculpture in Reykjavik. Everyone moves to contemplate it, but especially to photograph it.

At the edge of Europe, drowned in the Atlantic Ocean, Iceland is much more than a small lost rock. It’s a sequence of landscapes so surreal that it almost seems to have been retouched. But, once there, we quickly realize that nature has truly been generous to the island.

To attract attention, we would know if we always had to put a lot of attention into it. Take a look at the Höfði house, its shape is classic, its color is the simplest, yet it piques our interest.

In recent years, Reykjavik has benefited from an unprecedented tourist eruption. As many have understood, the Icelandic capital is a destination like no other. In a good way, of course!

There you go, you are friends, in the middle of the crossing of Laugavegur street. Remember its name, as it is the main shopping street in downtown Reykjavik. Translation, you will not find a better place to dive into the rhythm of life of the locals.

To meet color in Reykjavik, it’s simple, we rely on houses. But, to find this little grain of madness, it is to the street art of its streets that we take you. Inspired by Icelandic music, folklore or purely out of the artists’ imagination, the murals are housed everywhere in the path to the delight of walkers.

From sober public buildings to colourful homes and cultural emblems to crazy architecture, Reykjavik likes to make the big difference. Take, for example, its National Theatre, right here in front of you. How many times have you seen one of these?

If the House of Culture is diametrically opposed to the Reykjavik National Theatre on colour, it joins it on at least one point: to enrich the knowledge of the general public. And what to say besides fastoche when you are the result of a collaboration between the National Museum, the National Gallery and four other institutions.

With a population of 130,000 and more than 2 million tourists per year, Reykjavik is not neglected. And to be honest, that was already the case at the time. It is said that the first men to land on the “Land of Fire and Ice” were a group of Irish monks, around 700 AD. C.

We didn’t expect her anymore and yet she is there, at the end of the street, like a model on the edge of the catwalk, here is the iconic Hallgrimskirkja church. As far as we can tell, a religious monument in this style, no two are the same in Iceland. If not in the world, after all let's be crazy!

As with many northern cities, Reykjavik has a weather that often rhymes with grey and cold. Appearances of the sun, and indeed of light, are counted on the fingers of a hand in winter. To avoid succumbing to the mood of the weather and the season, Icelanders have found an unstoppable way to restore the shine of their urban landscape.

One thing is certain, with a location on the shores of Lake Tjörnin, Iceland’s National Gallery has found the best place to live its Art Collections, but before being there, the institution has made its own little way.

The more you travel it, the harder it is to believe that Reykjavik is a capital. Not that it does not have the material! It’s just that between its human size, its pretty little houses and its tree-lined walkways, the city would almost look like a village.

As a small country, compared to many others, Iceland has no shortage of great figures in its history chapters. Since we are talking about it, here is one. Jón Sigurðsson was an Icelandic historian and politician of the 19th century. However, attaching it only to these two functions is really more than insufficient.

So here you might as well tell yourself that you are in front of one of the heavy goods vehicles of the public buildings of Reykjavik. It denotes by its grey diabase dress and impresses with its hardly believable seniority, ladies and gentlemen, here is the Icelandic Parliament without delay. Or rightly so.