Bessastaðir — Presidential Residence
Snorri Sturluson farmed here in the 1200s. Turkish slave raiders attacked in 1627. Today the president of Iceland calls it home.
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Few official residences carry this much freight. Settled around 1000, the estate passed from Snorri Sturluson to the Norwegian crown after his murder, served as the seat of royal power in Iceland for centuries, briefly became a school, and was finally donated to the Icelandic state in 1941 as a presidential home — a single farm absorbing nearly a millennium of the country's political turns.
What to look for
- The farm buildings on the Álftanes peninsula, the same site that repelled Turkish slave raiders in July 1627
- The estate's connection to Snorri Sturluson, claimed by the King of Norway following his murder in September 1241
- The residence as donated property — private citizen Sigurður Jónasson bought it in 1940 and gave it to the state the following year
About 15 km from central Reykjavík in Álftanes, Garðabær Municipality — plan for a separate trip out rather than a quick detour.
Bessastaðir — Presidential Residence is one of 17 sights worth the detour in Reykjavik, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Reykjavik pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Reykjavik
- HallgrímskirkjaA 74-metre church modeled on Iceland's volcanic basalt columns — 41 years in the making, visible from nearly anywhere in the city.
- Icelandic Phallological MuseumOne exhibit needs a magnifying glass; another once measured 170 cm. Both are real.
- LaugardalsvöllurThe city that dreamed of a sporting venue in 1871 — when Reykjavík held just 2,000 people — finally opened a football stadium here in 1959.
- National 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.
- Imagine 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.
- HöfðiReagan and Gorbachev met here in 1986 in talks that technically failed yet cracked open the path to the Cold War's end.