Alþingishúsið (Parliament House)
Austurvöllur, Reykjavik
Alþingishúsið is Iceland's parliament building — a relatively modest two-storey basalt-and-rhyolite stone house on Austurvöllur square completed in 1881, housing the Alþingi (one of the oldest parliaments in the world, founded in 930 AD at Þingvellir and moved to Reykjavik in 1844 after centuries of Danish rule).
Golden Circle (Day Trip)
Mánaleið, Skuggahverfi, Reykjavík, 101, Iceland
The Golden Circle is Iceland's most popular day trip — a 300-kilometre loop from Reykjavik that passes through three of the country's most important natural and historical sites: Þingvellir (where the world's oldest parliament met from 930 AD and where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates visibly separate), Geysir (the geothermal area whose Strokkur geyser erupts every 5-10 minutes, shooting boiling water 30 metres into the air), and Gullfoss (a two-tiered waterfall on the Hvítá river that plunges 32 metres into a canyon).
Höfði House
Borgartún, Tún, Reykjavík, 105, Iceland
Höfði House is a white wooden mansion on the north shore of Reykjavik — best known internationally as the site of the 1986 summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev that helped end the Cold War.
National Museum of Iceland
Suðurgata 41, 102 Reykjavík
The National Museum of Iceland traces the history of Iceland from the Settlement Age (874 AD) to the present — a compact but well-curated collection that explains how a volcanic island in the North Atlantic, settled by Vikings and their Celtic slaves, became one of the wealthiest and most literate societies on Earth.
Reykjavik Cathedral (Dómkirkjan)
Austurvöllur, Reykjavik
Dómkirkjan í Reykjavík — the Reykjavik Cathedral — is Iceland's national Lutheran cathedral and, unlike Hallgrímskirkja (which is more famous as a landmark), is the church most Icelanders still consider the spiritual heart of the capital.
Saga Museum
2 Grandagarður, Vesturhöfn, Reykjavík, 101, Iceland
The Saga Museum at the Grandi harbour district brings the Icelandic sagas to life through 17 life-sized wax figure tableaux depicting key scenes and characters from Iceland's foundational medieval literature — Ingólfur Arnarson (the first permanent settler in 874 AD), Leifur Eiríksson (who reached North America 500 years before Columbus), Snorri Sturluson (the medieval historian and author of the Prose Edda), and the Viking-era witch burnings, raids, and feuds that shape Icelandic self-understanding.
Settlement Exhibition (871±2)
Aðalstræti 16, Reykjavik
The Settlement Exhibition is built around the excavated remains of one of the oldest longhouses in Reykjavik — discovered in 2001 during construction on Aðalstræti (Reykjavik's oldest street) and dated to around 871 AD, making it one of the earliest Viking Age settlements in Iceland.
Viðey Island (Day Trip)
Viðey Island, Kollafjörður
Viðey is a small flat island in Kollafjörður bay a short ferry ride from Skarfabakki harbour (10 minutes) that combines the Viðey Stofa (the oldest stone building in Iceland, completed in 1755), Iceland's first church (from 1774), and Yoko Ono's Imagine Peace Tower — a luminous beacon switched on each year from 9 October (John Lennon's birthday) to 8 December (the anniversary of his death), projecting light for up to 4 kilometres into the sky.
Þingvellir (Day Trip)
Þingvellir National Park, Iceland
Þingvellir ('Parliament Plains') is a UNESCO World Heritage national park 45 kilometres east of Reykjavik that combines geological drama with foundational Icelandic history.
Explore history in Reykjavik
GPS-guided narration at every landmark. Tap a spot on the map, hear the story. Every fact verified.