One Week in Reykjavik: An Offbeat Itinerary

A full week inside 101 Reykjavik and its edges, no rental car and no Golden Circle mile, covers all nine unusual picks from our full guide : a laundromat cafe, a penis museum, a beach with imported sand, and a tidal lighthouse, with enough slack left over for a slow last lap instead of a rushed final morning. Want the Golden Circle, the South Coast, or the Blue Lagoon added on? See Reykjavik as an Iceland base and its own 7 day itinerary instead.

Day Focus
1 Landing in 101, Hallgrímskirkja, and a Kaffibarinn happy hour
2 A laundromat cafe, Old Harbour whale watching, and Grandi
3 Kolaportið flea market, the penis museum, and Tjörnin pond
4 A neighbourhood pool soak, the National Museum, and Perlan at sunset
5 Nauthólsvík’s imported-sand beach and a second locals-only pool
6 Grótta lighthouse, a tidal causeway, and hunting the aurora
7 A slow repeat lap, a second hot dog, and departure

Book these before you go

Day 1: Landing in 101

Flybus from Keflavík (ISK 3,999, 45 minutes) into 101 Reykjavik, then the rainbow street up to Hallgrímskirkja: tower ISK 1,500 walk-up only, nave free. Close with a Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur hot dog and happy hour at Kaffibarinn.

Day 2: A laundromat, the harbour, and Grandi

Brunch at the Laundromat Cafe, then the Old Harbour for the free Sun Voyager sculpture and the whale-watching trip, 3-3.5 hours into Faxaflói bay. Grandi’s Omnom chocolate factory and street art fill the afternoon; Harpa’s booked backstage tour closes it.

Day 3: The flea market, the penis museum, and a pond

Kolaportið runs weekends only (11:00-17:00, free entry); swap in the National Museum on a weekday. The Icelandic Phallological Museum runs ISK 2,750, kids 13 and under free. Spend the afternoon at Tjörnin pond and the Reykjavik Art Museum.

Day 4: A pool soak, the National Museum, and Perlan

Is it worth booking Perlan tickets in advance? Yes, ISK 5,990 online versus roughly ISK 7,290 at the door. Laugardalslaug (ISK 1,430) opens the day with the hot-pot soak locals actually use, then the botanical garden and the Settlement Exhibition before Perlan at sunset.

Day 5: Nauthólsvík and a second locals-only pool

Nauthólsvík’s imported-sand beach (ISK 920, hours shrink outside summer) and Vesturbæjarlaug, the west-side pool at the same ISK 1,430 city rate, cover the day, with an afternoon around the University of Iceland campus.

Day 6: Grótta, the causeway, and the aurora

Can I see the northern lights from central Reykjavik? Rarely well; the city’s own light pollution washes out all but the strongest displays. Grótta, a tidal island reachable by a short bus ride and a walk past Vesturbær, sits far enough from downtown lighting for a realistic shot between September and April, weather and solar activity permitting. Check the tide before walking the causeway out; it floods twice a day.

Day 7: A slow repeat lap and departure

Is a full week too long to spend only inside Reykjavik itself? Not if the nine unusual picks matter more to you than a highlight-reel version of the trip; a week leaves room to revisit whichever pick landed best, whether that’s a second pool soak, a second Kolaportið pass if it lands on a weekend again, or a quieter second look at Grandi’s street art without the day-one rush. Spend the morning on the guided walking tour booked above, have a last Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur hot dog before heading to the airport, and take the Flybus back to Keflavík with roughly three hours of buffer before an international flight.

A week is enough time to spend more on pool entries and hot dogs than on a single Blue Lagoon ticket, and to leave having actually met the city instead of just photographing it.