Reykjavik in 8 hours

Spring 2024 – I embarked on a journey to chase the magical northern lights. My trip consisted of a week-long tour around Iceland, before proceeding to Norway above the arctic circle.

Here is the beginning of the journey to find the elusive, but alluring aurora borealis. Reykjavik, gateway to the land of ice and fire, was where we stopped for a day to recuperate from the long flight from halfway across the globe.

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Day at a Glance

1040: Touch down at Keflavik
1210: Flybus to BSI Terminal
1320: Arriving at Hotel Reykjavik Nordica
1335: Exploring hotel’s neighbourhood
1400: Bus to town centre
1430: Hallgrímskirkja
1435: Café Loki
1520: Rainbow Street
1530: 101 Reykjavik Street Food
1630: Harpa Concert Hall
1740: Return to Hotel Reykjavik Nordica, followed by grocery shopping at Netto

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Touch Down in Iceland

We arrived in Iceland at 10.35am to a rainy Reykjavik. This seemed to be a precursor to the gloomy days to come and I wondered if there will ever be a chance to see the northern lights during my week in Iceland. However, the first order of the trip was to recuperate from the 18 hour journey from Singapore.

Arriving at Keflavik International Airport – A Spell to a Bad Start?

Keflavik International Airport was a compact premise and within 5 minutes, we were at the baggage claim belt. Having taken the Business Class flights from Singapore, we should have collected our bags and be out of the airport in no time. Unfortunately, we were missing one suitcase when the sign showed that all the baggage was out on the belt. 

It turned out the bag had missed the transfer at Copenhagen. After some hunting around to seek help from the airport staff, we were informed that the Singapore Airlines Copenhagen staff had loaded the baggage onto the next flight to Iceland, and assured us that they would also arrange for it to be sent to our hotel by courier. By conservative estimates, we would receive it at 6pm.

Thankfully, we were prepared for such incidents. European airports were known for their inefficiency and frequent screw-ups, so we had split our belongings into 2 suitcases. Unless both our suitcases went missing, we should still be able to survive a week with the remaining one.

Making Our Way to Reykjavik

Resigned to our fate, we proceeded to make our way to take the “Flybus” – the airport transfer into Reykjavik. For the uninitiated, Keflavik International Airport sits on the Reykjanes peninsula (recently known for its months-long volcano fissure eruption (https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/iceland-volcano-eruption-12-19-23/index.html) that was still ongoing when we arrived), while Reykjavik sits on the neighbouring one. The airport transfer would see us take almost an hour to reach Reykjavik.

Taking the Flybus – Airport Transfer Between Keflavik International Airport and Reykavik

The arrival hall at Keflavik International Airport was also compact. The first airport that came to mind was Wakkanai Airport in Hokkaido, which was also petite. The Flybus counter was right across from the baggage claim hall, with multiple self-service ticketing machines accompanying the manual counter. We wanted to check with the staff on the procedures to board the bus even though we had bought our Flybus tickets online. The reply? We could take the bus as long as we had the tickets; the timing on the ticket didn’t matter. And the “bus leaves at every half an hour, or when the bus is full”.

We braved the rain to the bus bay only to find that the bus was full. As the next bus would be leaving in 30 minutes and there was no shelter to hide from the rain, we scuttled back to the airport terminal. That was the other downside of the airport – no decent shelter from the elements. The boarding bay was also some 100m away from the airport’s exit, with no proper paved walkway in between them, so it was difficult to lug our suitcases around. What a start to the holiday!

We finally set off when the bus was full (which was some 10 minutes after the scheduled departure). By full, I meant that they made sure every seat was occupied by a human being. As such, we had to put our personal bags on the wet (and muddy) floor, as the overhead bins were too small. I had sorta expected that I couldn’t maintain the same level of cleanliness and hygiene when travelling in Europe, but I thought this should be mentioned to help other Asians manage their expectations.

Flybus tickets cost ISK 7,300 (USD 52) / pax two ways, and could be purchased online via websites like Viator, Klook and Pelago.

Transferring at BSI Terminal

We transferred to a feeder bus to our hotel at BSI Terminal. First, we had to buy the tickets within the terminal, which could be done via the counter or through the self-service machines. As we weren’t sure which bus to take, we went straight to the counter. The one-way ticket cost ISK 1,100 (USD 7.80) per pax.

The feeder bus was a minivan that set off almost immediately after we boarded. The driver was the first friendly Icelander we met since we arrived in Iceland. He had helped us with loading our suitcase and he did it with a smile.

Checking In at Hilton Reykjavik Nordica

We arrived at Hilton Reykjavik Nordica at around 1.30pm, which was some 3 hours since we touched down in Iceland. Excluding the hiccups of hunting down our missing luggage and missing the first airport transfer, we could have arrived an hour earlier.

The delay didn’t really matter; our room wasn’t ready since the check-in time was supposed to be at 3pm. We tried to kill time by exploring the neighbourhood, but who were we kidding? Hilton was located in a quiet neighbourhood on the fringe of Reykjavik’s city centre. 

We changed our plans and headed downtown, since we had already deposited our bags at the hotel.

Hallgrímskirkja – Icon of Reykjavik

First up was Hallgrímskirkja. The church was an architectural wonder, taking inspiration from the basalt columns and glaciers iconic to Iceland’s geography. There was an expansive plaza in front of the church which was great for everyone trying to capture the grand facade in its entirety. However, the wind was getting too much for us. I could barely stand my ground in the strong winds!

We took shelter from the increasingly aggressive weather in the church. Hallgrímskirkja is a Lutheran parish church and is also one of the tallest buildings in Iceland. The cavernous nave greeted us as we walked past the reception. Everyone was in awe of the internal architecture. 

We took our time to admire the curves of the vaulted ceilings and peaceful ambience at one of the pews. The silence was in stark contrast to the howling winds on the outside and provided a much needed solace after all the anxiety from the long trip from Singapore. 

As we turned to leave the church, we spotted the grand organ overhanging the entrance that was absolutely breathtaking. Equally inspiring was the statue of Leifur Eiriksson, which stood at the entrance of the plaza, as though leading the army of basalt columns into the unknown future.

Entrance to Hallgrímskirkja, and accessing the tower cost ISK 1,400 (USD 10).

Café Loki

The rain had lightened up after our little excursion at Hallgrímskirkja. We crossed the street to Café Loki to catch our first meal in Iceland. Café Loki serves traditional Iceland fare and is a stop on the local food tour. However, we couldn’t bring up the courage to try Iceland’s famous fermented shark meat. Instead, we had a Pancake with Jam and Cream, Pancake with Skyr (Icelandic yogurt) and Caramel Sauce, Rye Bread Ice Cream and hot chocolate (total ISK 5,650 / USD 40). 

The ice cream was one of the highly recommended items based on Google reviews, and it lived up its expectations. What seemed like your standard rye bread and vanilla ice cream complemented each other, especially with the finishing touch of caramel.

The pancakes were somewhat typical. However, the Pancake with Skyr was more like a giant serving of skyr wrapped in crepe. Think “Pattaya Fried Rice”, but replace the fried rice with skyr and the omelette with crepe. Since I had never had so much yogurt in a single serving, the dish was quite a challenge to finish off!

However, nothing beats the hot chocolate, which was a great comfort food considering the amount of rain and wind we endured in the past 4 hours.

Would I recommend this cafe? Yes, if you want to try the fermented shark. However, it was really overrated. And the stench of the restaurant was really off putting.

Rainbow Street

Just a stone’s throw away from Hallgrímskirkja was another of Iceland’s landmarks, the Rainbow Street. The street sloped upwards towards the iconic church. Therefore, with a little bit of manipulation, one could get an insta-worthy shot of the street with Hallgrímskirkja’s famous facade at the vanishing point.

That is, if you could catch that moment when no one else was on the street doing the exact same thing.

101 Reykjavik Street Food

Along the Rainbow Street was 101 Reykjavik Street Food. According to Google reviews, it was a great place to grab Fish and Chips, and Lobster Soup. At 2,600 ISK (USD 18.50), the Fish and Chips was a joke. We got 2 fish nuggets with shoestring fries. Other than being small, the fish was also tasteless. The fries were over-fried and hard to chew.

As for the Lobster Soup, it cost 2,400 ISK (USD 17) for a cup of soup. To be honest, I was expecting “lobster bisque”, which had a thicker texture. However, their soup was light, which in itself was still OK. I was more surprised by the lobster. I wouldn’t expect to find the entire lobster in the soup. But when I inspected the meat, I found they looked more like shrimps. I mean, chopped up lobster meat wouldn’t have a curvature like that of a shrimp. I know, because I just had Singapore Airlines’ Lobster Thermidor on my flight to Iceland 18 hours earlier and lobster meat didn’t look and taste like that!

At that point of time, I was beginning to doubt the authenticity of the Google reviews…

Harpa Concert Hall – Gem at Reykjavik Harbour

Next stop, we strolled to the Harpa Concert Hall by the harbour. The building was clad in shiny panels that looked beautiful at night with the colourful lighting. In the day, the reflections reminded me more of mussel shells, which also changed colours depending on your viewing angle.

The interior was modern and spacious. It was a throwback to the newer buildings in Vancouver, like UBC’s AMS Student Nest. The octagonal patterns on the ceiling were trippy to look at. However, the best view was at the back of the hall, which overlooked the harbour.

When we visited, there was a chess competition going on. It was my first time witnessing such an event, where hundreds of people just sat in opposite rows looking at the tables intently. It was quite unlike other competitive events – like a basketball match with an upbeat atmosphere.

Wrapping Up The Day in Reykjavik

By the time we were at Rainbow Street, we decided that the jetlag was too much for us to handle. Hence, we decided to make the Harpa Concert Hall our last stop, so that we could recuperate fully before starting our 7-day tour the next day.

Our room was ready by the time we returned from downtown at 6pm. We went to the supermarket behind Hilton Reykjavik Nordica to buy some snacks to bring on our tour. As I had already covered plenty of details in this post, I will leave the review of Hilton Reykjavik Nordica for another day.

Thoughts for the Day – First Impressions of Iceland

Having spent 2 years planning for this trip, I was looking forward to finally stepping foot on Iceland. I had also watched plenty of vlogs to understand how Iceland was like for most tourists, and had also adjusted my expectations. 

Granted, the gloomy weather was unexpected and made for a rather negative start to an otherwise epic holiday. Being drenched in the rain and fighting strong winds wasn’t something that we could really prepare for through watching videos. In fact, most travel reviews focused on the magical snowscape or the sunny summer.

But these experiences did make me want to remind my friends that the pedestrian infrastructure in Iceland (particularly in Reykjavik) isn’t as mature as that of Singapore/Japan/South Korea. Pedestrians are exposed to the elements – rain, snow and wind. The public transport was also unreliable, which meant we needed to plan for extra travelling time to cater for delays (or in our case, the scheduled buses didn’t show up for 30 minutes straight). 

That being said, Reykjavik housed the most unique church architecture I had ever seen. Looking up at the facade of Hallgrímskirkja, I thought it was a brilliant design that incorporated local signatures with iconic church symbols. 

Unlike many European cities I had visited, Reykjavik was laid back. Except for Hallgrímskirkja and Rainbow Street, there was hardly any crowd. Without overbearing skyscrapers looming overhead, it was a pleasure to stroll down the streets of downtown Reykjavik peering into its peculiar shops.

Reykjavik was also compact, and yes, there wasn’t a lot of sightseeing to do. This made it the place so easy to explore on a short day trip. For an introverted traveler like me, the peaceful atmosphere void of crowds was most welcoming. One could stop to admire the scenes around him without being shoved by impatient tourists. Many of the public facilities, like at the BSI Bus Terminal, had self service counters.

Parting Words

But of course, the beauty of Iceland lies with its nature outside of Reykjavik. The capital, for lack of better words, is just a place for tourists to settle down and prepare for their journey into Iceland’s backyard. Most of us would have spent just a little over a day in Reykjavik, so dropping by the likes of Hallgrímskirkja and Harpa Concert Hall would suffice. 

In between these 2 tourist spots, Rainbow Street offers an interesting POV of Hallgrímskirkja. I wondered if the designers of Rainbow Street had done it on purpose?

I didn’t cover all the tourist spots I had planned for. But considering that we needed to recuperate from the long flight from the other side of the globe, I thought being able to cover the most iconic places was already a great start to the week-long holiday.

I would be covering the main highlight of my holiday in Iceland – a 7 day tour around Iceland to experience the wild nature of the volcanic island – in the next few posts.

Till then, stay wanderlust!

All photos and videos were taken using Google Pixel 7 Pro, and edited with Google Photos.

p/s: I didn’t see the aurora that night, because it was rainy and we were in the city – which meant light pollution would obscure any chances of seeing the northern lights. But I remain hopeful of seeing the aurora in the coming week!