Laugardalsvöllur
The city that dreamed of a sporting venue in 1871 — when Reykjavík held just 2,000 people — finally opened a football stadium here in 1959.
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This is where Iceland plays its home internationals, in a 9,500-seat ground that took nearly a century from first proposal to opening day. The long arc from a near-empty city to a national team stadium gives the place its quiet weight.
What to look for
- The all-weather running track ringing the pitch, upgraded in 1992 and still in use
- Two main stands facing each other — the larger renovated older stand (expanded 2005–2007, bringing total capacity to roughly 9,500) and the 1997 stand opposite, which holds 3,500 seats
- The floodlights, inaugurated for a 1992 match against Greece — the first time the ground could host evening fixtures
Seating capacity is 9,500 for football; check the Iceland national team fixture schedule before visiting if you want to catch a match.
Laugardalsvöllur 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.
- 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.
- Bessastaðir — Presidential ResidenceSnorri Sturluson farmed here in the 1200s. Turkish slave raiders attacked in 1627. Today the president of Iceland calls it home.
- 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.