Iceland · Höfuðborgarsvæði · Reykjavík
Breiðholt, Reykjavík — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Breiðholt is a residential district spread across the hills of eastern Reykjavík, built in stages as the city's largest postwar housing scheme and now among its most international neighbourhoods.
About Breiðholt
Where to stay in Breiðholt
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Stays here are mostly apartments and guesthouses among the residential blocks rather than hotels. Prices tend to run below the downtown core. The Mjódd interchange, the largest bus hub in the city, puts most routes within reach, so the centre is an easy ride despite the distance.
The setup suits budget travellers, families, and longer visits, quiet streets, everyday supermarkets, and the neighbourhood pool in place of nightlife and front-door sights.
About Breiðholt
What are the main landmarks in Breiðholt?
Breiðholtslaug is the district's geothermal pool. Its outdoor lane pool draws swimmers year-round, and the hot tubs sit beside a sauna and water slides. In Upper Breiðholt stands Gerðuberg, a concrete cultural house that holds a branch of the city library.
It also runs classes and stages exhibitions and concerts. The Elliðaá river valley wraps the northern edge, carrying footpaths and cycle tracks past salmon water, and it serves as the main green space for walking and running. Fella- og Hólakirkja anchors the upper slopes.
Sharply modern and valued for its acoustics, the church hosts choral and instrumental concerts.
What is the history of Breiðholt?
It began as a farm of the same name. After the Second World War, a severe housing shortage pushed the city to plan a new district on the eastern hills, and construction ran in stages from the mid-1960s into the 1980s. Lower Breiðholt came first.
Seljahverfi and Upper Breiðholt followed, mixing apartment blocks and terraced rows with detached houses on a scale new to Reykjavík. Cheaper housing and steady arrivals of newcomers, many born outside Iceland, have since made it one of the most mixed parts of the city.
Where is Breiðholt?
The district rises on high ground in the city's east, well inland from the downtown waterfront, then falls away to the north towards the wooded Elliðaá river valley. It climbs in three tiers. Lower Breiðholt gathers around the Mjódd hub, while Seljahverfi and Upper Breiðholt step further up the slope.
Beyond them lie the lakes of Elliðavatn and Rauðavatn, out on the open land.
Good for
More areas in Reykjavík
Updated July 2026