IS
What to see in Reykjavik on foot
17 sights worth the detour, all walkable, all offline.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Reykjavik offline.
Reykjavik is a city made for walking. This self-guided guide maps 17 of its sights worth the detour — landmarks, historic sites, museums and galleries and public art — the places locals point to and the tour buses skip, close enough to string into a single day on foot. Download the Reykjavik pack in Voyage GO before you go and the whole route works offline: no roaming, no dead battery from a live map. Every monument, viewpoint and park you pass quietly fills your travel passport.
Landmarks6
- 1HallgrímskirkjaA 74-metre church modeled on Iceland's volcanic basalt columns — 41 years in the making, visible from nearly anywhere in the city.
- 2LaugardalsvöllurThe city that dreamed of a sporting venue in 1871 — when Reykjavík held just 2,000 people — finally opened a football stadium here in 1959.
- 3Harpa Concert HallA half-built steel shell abandoned during Iceland's financial crisis — then the government paid to finish it alone. The result is Reykjavík's first purpose-built concert hall.
- 4Smáratorg TowerIceland's tallest building is not a cathedral — it's a 20-floor office block in Kópavogur.
- 5National Theatre of IcelandIceland's national permanent acting ensemble — 35 actors, around thirty productions a season — in a building that has been running since 1950.
- 6Kaplakriki StadiumThe most-attended football ground in Iceland anchors a full sports campus in the Greater Reykjavik town of Hafnarfjörður.
Historic Sites5
- 7Bessastaðir — Presidential ResidenceSnorri Sturluson farmed here in the 1200s. Turkish slave raiders attacked in 1627. Today the president of Iceland calls it home.
- 8HöfðiReagan and Gorbachev met here in 1986 in talks that technically failed yet cracked open the path to the Cold War's end.
- 9Alþingishúsið — Iceland's Parliament HouseFour mythic beasts carved above the windows have guarded this dolerite parliament since 1881.
- 10Landakotskirkja – Basilica of Christ the KingThe same architect who built Hallgrímskirkja designed this one without a spire — and that flat top is the whole point.
- 11Reykjavík CathedralEvery session of Iceland's parliament still opens with a Mass here before MPs walk next door to take their seats.
Museums & Galleries5
- 12Icelandic Phallological MuseumOne exhibit needs a magnifying glass; another once measured 170 cm. Both are real.
- 13National Museum of IcelandA carved wooden door where a knight slays a dragon and gains a lion as his companion — and that is the headline object.
- 14Perlan – The PearlSix repurposed hot-water tanks wrapped in a glass dome — one of them is now a 100-metre ice cave.
- 15National Gallery of IcelandA former freezing plant now holds 16,000 works of Icelandic art — and a live forgery scandal.
- 16Reykjavik Art MuseumIceland's largest art institution spread across three separate buildings, each in a different corner of the city.
Public Art1
- 17Imagine Peace TowerA column of light rises 4,000 metres into the Arctic sky from a wishing well on a small island — Yoko Ono's memorial to John Lennon, running on geothermal power.
