Háaleiti og Bústaðir, Reykjavík — Area Guide & Where to Stay

What are the main landmarks in Háaleiti og Bústaðir?

Kringlan anchors the district. It is the largest shopping centre within Reykjavík itself, gathering a branch of the city library and a cinema beneath one roof, with a food hall alongside. Beside it on Listabraut stands Borgarleikhúsið, the city theatre and home of Reykjavík's main theatre company.

Skeifan and Múlar add big-box retail and warehouse outlets, with design shops worth browsing. The Fossvogur valley threads walking and cycling paths along a wooded stream that runs the length of the district's southern edge. Above the houses rises the modernist Bústaðakirkja.

What is the history of Háaleiti og Bústaðir?

Growth pushed east from the early 1950s, once Reykjavík had run out of room in the older quarters of Vesturbær and the centre. Háaleiti and Hvassaleiti rose first, dense blocks of four- and five-storey flats. To the south, Bústaðir filled instead with single-family houses on quieter streets, set well apart from the taller apartment rows.

Kringlan became the commercial core. Large public projects followed, among them the city hospital in Fossvogur and the national broadcaster's headquarters. Work carried on into the late 1990s.

Where is Háaleiti og Bústaðir?

The district occupies the higher ground east and south-east of downtown Reykjavík, bracketed by the arterial roads Kringlumýrarbraut and Miklabraut. It rises inland, away from the coast. Its southern edge drops into the green Fossvogur valley, which marks the boundary with neighbouring Kópavogur.