Reykjavík isn’t always sunny. In fact, it’s rainy more often than not. That’s exactly how it was on my last visit in October 2017: a thick blanket of clouds hung over the city, which didn’t exactly invite a leisurely stroll around town. So I needed an indoor alternative — or better yet, several of them — to escape the rain.
Let’s go…
Breakfast (vegan) at Kaffi Vinyl in Reykjavík
For breakfast I met up with a friend at a relatively new café. He asked me to suggest one, and since I know he’s vegan, the menu at Kaffi Vinyl in Reykjavík worked in my favor: there are plenty of vegetarian and vegan dishes like chia pudding, gluten-free bread with vegan toppings, and lots of healthy food in general. Perfect for boosting your immune system in rain and bad weather!
The ambience is simple, a mix of minimalist and steampunk: the ceiling lamps are connected by copper pipes, big speakers are hooked up to an old sound system, and a record player sits in the middle of a collection of vinyl records stored in old wine crates spread all over the café. Anyone can put on music themselves, but once a record has finished playing, someone will come by and make sure there’s new music.
It’s open from 8 am to 11 pm on weekdays, from 9 am on Saturdays and from 10 am on Sundays. Here’s the listing on HappyCow.
A visit to Reykjavík’s Saga Museum
The Saga Museum in Reykjavík brings Iceland’s history to life, from the first settlers all the way to modern Iceland. Located at the city’s old harbour, it’s probably best reached by bus or by car / taxi.
The museum features various depictions of Icelanders from earlier centuries, brought to life with lifelike replicas. The figures were created based on historical accounts, and special techniques were used to shape the materials into the most realistic form possible. A lot of work and attention to detail has gone into this exhibition.
From Iceland’s geological beginnings and the first settlement, via the Celts and the Althingi, to the present day: across 17 exhibits you’ll learn everything about Iceland and its heroes like Snorri Sturlusson, Ingolfur Arnarson and Leifur Eiriksson.
The museum is open every day from 10 am to 6 pm, including weekends.
Lunch at the Laundromat Café while the rain stays outside
One of my favorite places in Reykjavík: the Laundromat Café.
Not only is there great food in every variation, but also a cozy atmosphere and good service. From a small breakfast to a hearty burger, coffee and cake or fish fillets — you’ll really find everything here. The quality is always top-notch and the portions are huge.
Even though it’s not exactly quiet and the café is always full of people, I really like the atmosphere and have spent hours at a time here — writing texts and watching people, especially as they cheerfully trudge through the rain outside.
The Laundromat is open from 8 am to midnight, from 9 am on weekends.
Step into Reykjavík’s only ice cave at Perlan
The Perlan Museum only opened this year: until now, you could only access the top deck of Reykjavík’s hot water storage tanks and enjoy the view over the city.
One of the tanks has now been converted into an ice cave — making it the first artificial ice cave in the world. So if you’re in Iceland at a time of year when you can no longer book glacier tours, for example, you’ll find a great alternative here — even on rain-free days.
The exhibition is all about glaciers: through lots of pictures and multimedia presentations you’ll learn what these huge ice caps are all about, how they form, what lives on and inside them, how they work, and what influence we humans have on them.
Guided tours through the genuinely ice-cold cave take place regularly, giving you a good impression of what it might look like inside glaciers like Vatnajökull, Langjökull or Eyjafjallajökull.
At the top of the Pearl there’s a café and an observation deck with a fantastic view over the city.
Three more exhibitions are set to be added over the course of the year: a planetarium, a natural history museum and a northern lights museum. I’m curious and already looking forward to exploring those too!
The museum is open every day from 9 am to 7 pm.
Visit one of Reykjavík’s special swimming pools in the rain
On rainy days — or even better, snowy ones — there’s nothing nicer than lying in a warm pool and letting the cold water drip onto your forehead.
Reykjavík’s swimming pools, seven in total, almost all have outdoor pools and are warm nonetheless. Most of them also have hot pots or whirlpools. At temperatures of 38–44°C you can warm up nicely here. A great alternative to natural hot springs in Iceland.
The best-known swimming pools in Reykjavík are Laugardalslaug, Vesturbæjarlaug and Sundhöllin.
Laugardalslaug is the largest swimming pool in the capital. It even has a 50 m lane — Olympic length: if you want to get some serious swimming done, this is the place for you.
Sundhöllin is a relatively small pool in the city center, within walking distance of Hallgrímskirkja. Housed in a former sports hall, it’s fairly small but still my personal favorite: the hot pots have a certain charm, as they sit outside with a lovely view of the starry sky (or of the northern lights).
Near Kopavogur you’ll find Vesturbæjarlaug, a small pool without any indoor basin at all, but with lots of children’s pools, nice hot pots and a sauna. Here, too, you get a beautiful view of the night sky.
The pools all have fairly similar opening hours — most are open from 6:30 am to 10 pm — and admission is 900 ISK (4,300 for a 10-visit card!). Opening hours may differ on Sundays and public holidays.
Book a central hotel in Reykjavík (ION City Hotel)
I was incredibly glad to be staying at the ION City Hotel* that day. I usually travel in the following mode: sleep as cheaply as possible, and then splurge on one or two really great hotels per trip. Ever since 2015, when I was in Iceland for diving, I kept hearing about the ION Adventure Hotel in Þingvellir*, and readers kept asking me about it too — so I finally had to give it a try.
I really love minimalist, Scandinavian design. That often comes with small rooms, which is why I was all the more thrilled with mine: a large, open space with huge windows from which you can watch the hustle and bustle on Laugavegur. A shower big enough to host a karaoke party (do you sometimes perform in the shower too? 😉 ) and a lighting concept that made my nerd heart beat faster.
Lately I’ve been turning into a more and more thoughtful tourist, and mindfulness and sustainability are playing an ever bigger role for me: it’s nice to see that ION takes some of those worries off my mind by focusing on sustainable products right from the design stage — for example with towels, bed linen and cleaning products. A green thumbs up!
The location is really great for a city trip: right in the middle of everything, yet quiet thanks to good windows, and a wonderful view of Hallgrímskirkja is just as included as the contents of the minibar.
End a rainy evening in one of Reykjavík’s bars
Since you’re already in the city, you might as well enjoy its amenities: Reykjavík has dozens of great bars, which is something you’ll rarely find in the smaller towns around the country. So take the opportunity and mingle with the locals.
The Iceland app features a bar-hopping tour that shows you the best bars in Reykjavík along with further details about their surroundings.
So at this point I’d like to briefly introduce three bars where I enjoyed going for drinks with my colleagues from the dive center.
Right on Laugavegur you’ll find the very popular Lebowski Bar. It’s usually packed and lively — lots of travelers meet here to swap stories about the day’s adventures.
Things are a bit quieter at the Dillon Whiskey Bar, where relaxed jazz is usually playing and live bands sometimes perform on weekends. In summer there’s also a beer garden.
Also just around the corner: the Boston Bar in Reykjavík. Local bands often play in this small, cozy bar, there’s typical bar food like fish & chips, and the mood is very laid-back.
Before you head out, check where happy hour is on right now and save at least a little — alcohol is expensive in Iceland.
* The Perlan Museum granted me discounted admission. ION Iceland invited me to stay for one night so that I can report on the hotel first-hand.
(Updated on 24 September 2023. This article contains affiliate links.)
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