From a Viking Longhouse to Austurvöllur: Reykjavík’s Old Town

Reykjavík’s old town, the Kvosin, is a few streets between the harbour and the lake, and it holds the whole story of the city: a Viking longhouse under the pavement, its oldest building, its first square, and a photographic archive of the last century and a half. Here is a walk through it.

Reykjavík’s old town, the Kvosin, is just a few streets between the harbour and the lake. It holds the whole story of the city, from a Viking longhouse under the pavement to its oldest building and its first square. A morning is enough to walk it.

Under Aðalstræti

Start on Aðalstræti, the oldest street in Reykjavík. Below it, the Settlement Exhibition shows the excavated remains of a 10th-century Viking longhouse, and an underground passage leads to Aðalstræti 10, the oldest building left in the Kvosin. Together they tell how Reykjavík grew from a farm into a city.

Above the exhibition, Hotel Reykjavík Centrum fills Aðalstræti 16. At the bottom of the street, Matarkjallarinn cooks in the cellar of a house some 160 years old.

Austurvöllur

Walk east to Austurvöllur, the green square at the heart of the old town. Hotel Borg stands on one side; the Iceland Parliament Hotel, with its historic ballroom and Icelandic art, stands on another, and its Parliament Spa is open to visitors.

Towards the harbour

Head north towards the harbour. On Tryggvagata, the Reykjavík Museum of Photography keeps pictures of the city from 1860 to today, next to Hafnarhús, one of the three houses of the Reykjavík Art Museum. i8 Gallery is across the street, and Kolaportið, the weekend flea market, is a minute away.

Under the oldest street, a Viking longhouse still lies where it stood.

By the lake

End at Tjörnin, the lake on the old town’s southern edge, beside City Hall, where the ducks and swans wait for bread and, in winter, skaters take to the ice.

Did you know? Aðalstræti 10 is the oldest building still standing in the Kvosin, Reykjavík’s old centre.

Our advice

Our advice: start early at the Settlement Exhibition, and keep Kolaportið for a Saturday or Sunday. Everything here is a few minutes’ walk apart.