Iceland · Höfuðborgarsvæði · Reykjavík
Árbær, Reykjavík — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Árbær is a residential district in the east of Reykjavík, built around the Elliðaá river and its wooded valley where the city gives way to open ground.
About Árbær
Where to stay in Árbær
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Árbær is mostly low-rise housing from the 1960s and 1970s. Hotels are scarce here. Stays lean towards guesthouses and self-catering flats rather than large hotels, which makes the quiet streets around Árbæjarlaug a good fit for families or anyone arriving by car.
Parking is easy and the evenings stay calm. The valley paths and green surroundings reward walkers, with a quick run onto the Ring Road, though the centre's bars and restaurants sit a short bus ride away.
About Árbær
What are the main landmarks in Árbær?
Árbæjarsafn is the city's open-air museum. On the grounds of the farm that gave the district its name, it gathers more than twenty old timber and turf buildings, among them a small church moved from the north of Iceland. The Elliðaárdalur valley draws cyclists and anglers along a salmon river, its walking paths running down towards the shore and up to the red pseudo-craters of Rauðhólar.
The local pool, Árbæjarlaug, has an outdoor tank and hot pots. Water slides draw younger swimmers, and it stays calmer than the bigger pools nearer the centre. Football fans can watch the local club Fylkir at their ground here.
What is the history of Árbær?
The old Árbær farm stood here. For generations it served as a staging post for travellers heading in and out of Reykjavík, and the city turned its buildings into an open-air museum in the 1950s. Housing then spread across the surrounding hills, with the core neighbourhoods laid out in a Nordic functionalist style during the 1960s and 1970s.
Selás and Ártúnsholt came later. Newer streets at Norðlingaholt followed at the turn of the century, infilling the outer reaches of the district. The Elliðaá, once a boundary at the edge of town, now runs through the middle of a settled part of the city.
Where is Árbær?
The district climbs the slopes east of the Elliðaá, the river that long marked the edge of old Reykjavík. Through its centre runs the green Elliðaárdalur valley. Beyond the houses the land opens out.
It gives way to lava fields and the low Rauðhólar craters, while the city centre lies west along the coast.
Good for
More areas in Reykjavík
Updated July 2026