Postcode 101 covers the old centre of Reykjavík — roughly the area between the harbour, Hallgrímskirkja, and the lake Tjörnin. It is small enough to walk in an hour, but most visitors only ever see the same five blocks of Laugavegur. This guide is a local's take on what is actually worth your time in 101: where to eat, where to drink, where the music and theatre is, and the parts of the centre that tourists usually walk straight past.
If you want the wider capital region — Hafnarfjörður, Mosfellsbær, and the towns beyond the city — that is in the Reykjavík and the capital region guide. This one is just 101.
Where to Eat
Reykjavík has a genuinely good restaurant scene for a city of its size. The trick is to ignore anywhere with a laminated picture menu out front and a hawker waving you in — those are tourist traps. The places below are where locals actually book a table.
Splurge — once-in-a-trip dinners
⭐ Dill Splurge
The first restaurant in Iceland to win a Michelin star, focused on New Nordic cooking with strictly Icelandic ingredients. Tasting-menu only, books out weeks ahead. Not cheap, but a serious meal — the kind of place you remember the trip for.
Hverfisgata 12 · book ahead
🥩 Grillmarkaðurinn Splurge
"The Grill Market". Modern Icelandic cooking with strong emphasis on grilled meats and seafood — lamb, langoustine, char. Industrial-chic interior, good wine list, friendly to tasting menus and à la carte. One of the city's reliable big nights out.
Lækjargata 2a
🍣 SushiSamba Splurge
Japanese-Brazilian fusion that sounds like a tourist trap and somehow isn't. Long-running favourite among Reykjavík locals for date nights. The arctic char dishes are particularly good.
Þingholtsstræti 5
Mid-range — actual local favourites
🍲 Café Loki Mid
Right opposite Hallgrímskirkja, on the side of the church most tourists do not look at. Honest Icelandic comfort food — kjötsúpa (lamb soup), plokkfiskur, rye bread ice cream. The food is good, the prices are reasonable for the location, and you are eating actual Icelandic dishes.
Lokastígur 28
🐟 Matur og Drykkur Mid
Located in the old Saltfish Museum building in the Grandi harbour area. The whole concept is reviving traditional Icelandic dishes — cod's head, brown sheep cheese, lamb shoulder — and serving them as proper restaurant food. Different from anywhere else in the city.
Grandagarður 2 (technically just outside 101)
🍕 Hraðlestin / Saffran / Mandi Affordable
A local secret: the Indian-pizza-and-shawarma triangle on Laugavegur. Hraðlestin does cheap, generous Indian wraps. Saffran does pizza-by-the-slice. Mandi does Lebanese shawarma until late. All three are how locals eat when they are out and hungry. None feels touristy.
Various, central Laugavegur
Bakeries and breakfast
🥐 Brauð & co Classic
A bakery so good Icelanders queue around the block on Saturdays. Sourdough, cinnamon snúðar, almond croissants, and the best rye bread in town. The original is on Frakkastígur, just off Skólavörðustígur. Get there by 10am or expect to wait.
Frakkastígur 16 (and other locations)
🥖 Sandholt Classic
An institution on Laugavegur — fourth-generation family bakery, full sit-down café, excellent breakfast plates with skyr, sourdough, and fresh juice. More refined than Brauð & co; both are great, this is the one to sit down in.
Laugavegur 36
Coffee — Reykjavík takes it seriously
☕ Reykjavík Roasters Classic
The original specialty coffee shop in Iceland and still the best. Two locations, both small, both packed with Reykjavík residents on laptops. Single-origin pour-overs, espresso, excellent baked goods. The Brautarholt branch is slightly less crowded.
Kárastígur 1 / Brautarholt 2
☕ Stofan Café Mid
A second-floor coffee shop on Vesturgata that feels like someone's living room. Mismatched furniture, board games, slow service in the best possible way. Good for a long Sunday afternoon when you need to write postcards or kill a couple of hours indoors.
Vesturgata 3
Where to Drink
Reykjavík bar prices are not gentle. Locals usually pre-drink at home with supermarket beer (always Vínbúðin — the state liquor store) and head out around 11pm or midnight. The bars below are the ones worth the cover charge or the queue.
🍺 Kaldi Bar Classic
Owned by Iceland's first craft brewery (from up north in Árskógssandur). All Kaldi beers on tap, dimly lit, comfortable, popular with locals after work. The slightly older end of 101 nightlife — fewer stags, more conversation. One of the easiest bars to recommend.
Laugavegur 20b
🎳 Lebowski Bar Classic
Themed entirely around The Big Lebowski. Sounds gimmicky and is a little gimmicky, but the cocktails are genuinely good (especially the white russians, obviously) and it stays open late. Get a seat at the bar and watch the city come in over the course of an evening.
Laugavegur 20a
🌅 Slippbarinn Mid
Cocktail bar inside the Reykjavík Marina hotel, looking out across the harbour. Good cocktail programme, occasional live jazz on weekends. Best at sunset — the harbour view is unbeatable on a clear evening.
Mýrargata 2 (inside Reykjavík Marina)
📚 Kex Hostel Bar Mid
The bar inside Kex Hostel — old biscuit-factory aesthetic, mismatched furniture, vinyl records, often live music. Mixed crowd of travellers and locals, good kitchen for late food. The kind of place you end up at midnight without quite planning to.
Skúlagata 28
🍻 Mikkeller & Friends Mid
The Reykjavík outpost of the Danish craft beer chain. 20+ taps, mostly Mikkeller and Icelandic micros. Clean, well-lit, no nonsense. If you want serious beer rather than a club, this is it.
Hverfisgata 12 (basement)
The runtur
Friday and Saturday nights, Reykjavík does the runtur — a slow walking circuit between bars on Laugavegur, Bankastræti and Austurstræti, going from one place to the next as the night wears on. Doors open until 5am at weekends. Pace yourself. Drink water. Eat a pylsa from Bæjarins Beztu before walking home.
Theatre, Music and Cinema
Reykjavík punches well above its weight culturally for a city of 130,000. Almost everything is in walking distance.
🎭 Borgarleikhúsið — The City Theatre Classic
The main stage for contemporary Icelandic theatre. Most performances are in Icelandic, but several productions per season have English surtitles — check the schedule. Worth going for the architecture and atmosphere even on a non-surtitle night.
Listabraut 3 · borgarleikhus.is
🏛️ Þjóðleikhúsið — The National Theatre Classic
The grand, more traditional sister venue. Classical Icelandic plays, Shakespeare in Icelandic, occasional ballets and opera. Building is from 1950 and listed.
Hverfisgata 19 · leikhusid.is
🎬 Bíó Paradís Classic
The independent cinema. Arthouse films, classics, Icelandic releases with English subtitles, occasional film festivals. Has a bar in the lobby. Genuinely the best cinema in the country and worth a slot if you have a quiet evening.
Hverfisgata 54
🎵 Húrra / Gaukurinn / Mengi Mid
Three small live music venues clustered downtown. Húrra and Gaukurinn cover indie, electronic and rock; Mengi is the home of experimental and improvised music. Reykjavík's music scene is strong — check what's on the night you are in town.
Tryggvagata, Tryggvagata, Óðinsgata
🎼 Harpa Classic
The famous glass concert hall on the harbour. Home of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Opera, plus a steady stream of touring acts. The building itself is worth seeing in daylight — the honeycomb glass facade catches light differently every hour.
Austurbakki 2 · harpa.is
Streets and Walks Worth the Time
🌈 Skólavörðustígur (the rainbow street)
The road climbing up to Hallgrímskirkja, painted permanently with a rainbow as a Pride symbol. Lined with the best independent design shops in the city — wool jumpers, ceramics, jewellery, a few good galleries. The most photogenic street in Reykjavík.
🦆 Tjörnin (the city pond)
The lake at the heart of 101, with City Hall on the north end and the National Gallery on the west. Nice walk in any weather, full of geese and ducks, and the bench-edge benches are a classic local lunch spot in summer.
⚓ The Old Harbour and Grandi
Walk west from Harpa along the harbour. Whale watching boats, fishing trawlers, and the converted warehouse district of Grandi just beyond — increasingly the food and design centre of the city. Worth an afternoon.
Galleries and Bookshops
🖼️ i8 Gallery
The most internationally significant contemporary art gallery in Iceland. Has shown Ragnar Kjartansson, Roni Horn, and Olafur Eliasson. Small, free, and worth half an hour.
Tryggvagata 16
📖 Mál og menning
The big bookshop on Laugavegur — three floors, generous English section, second-floor café. The local equivalent of a literary living room. Good for an hour out of the rain.
Laugavegur 18
Practical Things to Know
- Walking distances — almost everything in 101 is within 10–15 minutes on foot. You do not need to drive in the city centre, and parking is mostly metered. Our guide to parking fees covers the zone system if you do bring a car.
- Vínbúðin (the state liquor store) — the only place to buy beer, wine and spirits in Iceland. Limited hours, closed Sundays. The 101 branch is on Austurstræti.
- Tipping — not expected. Service is included. Round up if the meal was great; do not feel obliged.
- Cards everywhere — even the smallest food trucks take Visa/Mastercard. Cash is barely used. Bring a card with no foreign transaction fees.
- Most museums close at 5pm — plan your gallery visits earlier in the day, save bars and restaurants for evening.
What to skip
Anywhere on Laugavegur with a hawker outside trying to wave you in is a tourist trap — better restaurants do not need to do that. Skip the puffin/whale cafés that exist solely to upsell whale-watching tickets. Avoid the "Viking experience" bars; they are fake and Icelanders find them embarrassing.
The Bottom Line
101 Reykjavík rewards walking and curiosity. The city centre is small enough that you can cover most of it in a long afternoon, but rich enough that you can spend three days here without seeing the same place twice. Eat where the menu is in Icelandic, drink where the locals are talking to each other, see one piece of theatre or live music while you are here, and finish the night at Bæjarins Beztu with a hot dog. That is 101 doing what it does best.