Miðborg, Reykjavík — Area Guide & Where to Stay

What are the main landmarks in Miðborg?

Hallgrímskirkja is the skyline marker. Tall and concrete, the church crowns Skólavörðuholt hill at the top of the climb up Skólavörðustígur. Down by the water sits Harpa, the glass-fronted concert hall.

Made of steel, the Sun Voyager sculpture rests on the Sæbraut shore path. The old harbour runs whale-watching and puffin boats next to the Kolaportið flea market. Around Austurvöllur square stand the Alþingishúsið parliament building and Dómkirkjan cathedral, while the Settlement Exhibition nearby reveals Viking-age ruins beneath Aðalstræti, the oldest street in the city.

Sundhöllin on Barónsstígur is the oldest public pool. For a green walk, Tjörnin and the park of Hljómskálagarður sit right in the middle of downtown.

What is the history of Miðborg?

Reykjavík traces its founding to the Innréttingar, the wool and weaving workshops set up around Aðalstræti by Skúli Magnússon in the eighteenth century, the first cluster of buildings on what had been farmland. The charter came late in that century. From the Kvos, the low ground between the harbour and Tjörnin, the town grew outward.

Parliament returned and the Alþingishúsið rose in the nineteenth century, and building the harbour in the early twentieth century turned the shoreline into the working centre of the capital. As the city spread into newer suburbs, Miðborg held its place as the seat of government and the heart of nightlife.

Where is Miðborg?

Miðborg sits at the tip of the Reykjavík peninsula. Northward the land falls toward the bay, where the old harbour edges the shore and Mount Esja rises across the water. The small lake Tjörnin marks its heart. Vesturbær adjoins it to the west. Hlíðar borders the south, while the Laugardalur valley opens out along the eastern side.