Reykjavík at Christmas: What’s Open, What to Do, and How to Save

Reykjavík at Christmas is quiet, dark, and better than you think

I love it in Reykjavik in December. I have been big on Christmas all my life; after all, it is the season to be merry! I am no exception. December in Iceland without the festivities and lights would be rather challenging. Therefore, we Icelanders go all in on Christmas. That means Iceland pretty much shuts down over Christmas. Properly shuts down. If you land on the 23rd expecting to shop and eat your way through the holidays, you’ll spend the 24th and 25th staring at locked doors and wondering what went wrong. No worries, though. Notable exceptions exist, and you can plan accordingly.

So let’s start there, and then get to the good part.

What actually closes, and when

Hours change every year, so confirm anything that matters to your plans directly with the place you are going. But the shape of the holiday is always the same, and it goes like this.

23 December, Þorláksmessa. The best night in town. Shops stay open late, the streets are full, and people buy the last presents and eat fermented skate you can smell from the next street. If you only get one evening in Reykjavík at Christmas, have it be this one. Our downstairs neighbors always have a big skate-party at lunch for their extended family. I have become their photographer; I am called downstairs to snap a picture of the whole bunch. In return, I get a beer. Fair deal if you ask me.

My family has a long-standing tradition of going out on the evening of Þorláksmessa. We sometimes follow the annual peace march where people walk solemnly, candle in hand, singing Christmas songs. Last-minute shopping, where I buy the books I really want to read over Christmas. We have a nice dinner and bump into friends. I get a cheeky Glühwein or two to fortify myself against the cold. An evening that nourishes the soul.

24 December, Aðfangadagur. This is the day that surprises people. Shops close around midday. Restaurants are mostly shut. Buses stop running in the early afternoon. At six in the evening, the church bells ring, and the entire country sits down to dinner at the same time and does not get up for several hours. The town goes completely still. It is genuinely lovely to walk through, and there is nothing open.

25 December, Jóladagur. Closed. Almost all of it. A handful of hotel restaurants serve, and that is about it. This is my favorite day of the year. My wife prepares a nice lunch; we go for a walk, read books, drink coffee, and eat chocolate. In the evening, we cook a feast and watch The Muppets Christmas Carol. What better way to spend a day? We should do it every day!

26 December, annar í jólum. Things come back. Shops reopen, restaurants reopen, and the bars get busy — this is one of the bigger nights out of the year here. I usually continue with my reading binge with a cat on my lap. Chocolate and coffee close by.

31 December and 1 January. Shops close early on the 31st and buses stop in the afternoon again. New Year’s Day is quiet and mostly shut.

6 January, Þrettándinn. The thirteenth day, and the official end of Christmas. Bonfires, last fireworks, and the elves supposedly have a party. Most visitors have flown home by then, and they miss the season’s best-kept small tradition.

Three practical things follow from all that. Buy your food and your presents on the 23rd or earlier. Book any restaurant you actually care about weeks ahead, not days. And do not plan anything that needs a bus or a shop on the afternoon of the 24th.

Where the savings actually are

I run reader discount codes with around fifty Icelandic operators. They are free, most of them are not available except through the newsletter signup. For a Christmas trip to Reykjavík, these are the ones that move real money.

Then, in no particular order:

• Hvammsvík Hot Springs 10% off with STUCK10
• Secret Lagoon 15% off with STUCK25,
• Laugarás Lagoon 5% off with STUCKINICELAND
• Iceland Cover outdoor clothing rental 10% off with Stuck
• Krauma: 10% off with code STUCKINICELAND

There are many more discount codes available that you can get instantly by signing up for my free newsletter.

The markets and the thirteen Yule Lads

The Christmas market on Austurvöllur, in front of parliament, runs through Advent under the tree that Oslo sends Reykjavík every year. It is small. Do not arrive expecting Nuremberg. Arrive expecting hot chocolate, some decent handmade things, and a square full of people you would like.

The bigger one is the Christmas Village in Hafnarfjörður, twenty minutes south of the city, open on Advent weekends. More stalls, more for children, and worth the short bus or drive.

And then there are the Yule Lads. Thirteen of them, one arriving each night from 12 December, each with his own bad habit — one steals skyr, one slams doors, one licks the spoons. Children put a shoe on the windowsill and get a small present, or a raw potato if they have been difficult. Their mother Grýla eats badly behaved children, and their cat eats anybody who did not get new clothes for Christmas. We tell this to small children, and they sleep fine. Most of the time!

If your kids are with you, put a shoe in your hotel room window. It works.

I wrote the whole cast up properly here: the thirteen Yule Lads and the rest of Iceland’s Christmas monsters.

The dark is the point, not the problem

Around the solstice you get four or five hours of daylight in Reykjavík, and it is not really daylight — it is a long blue and orange hour that lifts around eleven in the morning and is gone by half three. Photographers pay money to get light like that. You are getting it for free, all day.

Walk Skólavörðustígur up to the church while the lights are on. Sit in a café and watch the harbor go dark at two in the afternoon. Nobody sensible is trying to squeeze six activities into that.

For the northern lights, you need to get away from the streetlights. Grótta lighthouse out on Seltjarnarnes is the best spot you can reach on foot or by bus, and there is a small hot footbath out there to stand in while you wait. Öskjuhlíð and Klambratún also work. Cloud cover matters more than anything else, so check the forecast and be prepared to go out on a different night than you planned.

If you want a tour, Elding runs a northern lights cruise out of the old harbor, and Reykjavík Excursions run coach tours, both 10% off with my exclusive discount code

More on the lights themselves: how to actually see the northern lights in Iceland.

Hot water is the answer to a dark afternoon

This is the single best thing you can do in Reykjavík in December, and locals do it constantly. Get in hot water outdoors while it is dark and cold. Nothing else fixes a grey day so cheaply.

Start with the city pools, because they are what we actually use. Laugardalslaug is the big one, Sundhöllin is the handsome old one downtown with an outdoor section, and Vesturbæjarlaug is the neighborhood favorite. Entry costs a fraction of what the lagoons charge; there are hot tubs and steam rooms, and the Reykjavík City Card covers admission. Holiday hours are reduced and most close on the 24th and 25th, so check the day before you go.

Here they all are: the swimming pools of Reykjavík.

If you want the full lagoon experience, the ones I have reader codes for are worth your money. Hvammsvík is closest — about forty-five minutes north, a set of pools right on the fjord edge, 10% off with STUCK10. Secret Lagoon and Laugarás Lagoon both sit on the Golden Circle route, so pair one with a day trip rather than driving out specially: 15% off with STUCK25 and 5% off with STUCKINICELAND. Krauma, up in Borgarfjörður next to Europe’s most powerful hot spring, is 10% off with STUCKINICELAND.

Two straight answers about the famous ones. Blue Lagoon doesn’t give discount codes to anyone, me included, so there is nothing I can do for you there. Sky Lagoon is a fine building in a fine spot, and I do not have a reader code for it either. I would rather send you somewhere I can actually save you money.

The full list, all fifty-five of them: every hot spring and geothermal pool in Iceland.

Indoor things for when the weather wins

It will win at least once. Have a plan.

FlyOver Iceland at Grandi is a flight simulator over the whole country; it takes half an hour, and at 20% off with STUCKINICELAND20 it is the best-value ticket I can get you in this city. Good with children, good with a hangover, good with both.

Lava Show pours real molten lava into a room a few meters from where you are sitting. I should say plainly that I work there in my day job, so take my enthusiasm with that in mind — but it is genuinely the only place in the world doing it.

The Lava Tunnel at Raufarhólshellir is half an hour out of town, underground, and the same temperature no matter what the weather is doing above it. 10% off the standard tour with my exclusive discount code.

Harpa runs Christmas concerts all through December — choirs, carols, the big festive singalongs — and the building alone is worth the walk down to the harbor. More on Harpa here.

Perlan has the observation deck and a planetarium northern lights show. Ingólfstorg square has an outdoor ice rink before Christmas. Essential fun, especially if you have kids. To be fair, I am so bad at skating that I would probably break my neck on that thing.

Christmas food, and how to get some

Icelandic Christmas food is smoked, cured, salted, and sweet, and most of it is better than its reputation. Hangikjöt is smoked lamb, served cold in slices or hot with white sauce and peas. Laufabrauð is thin fried leaf bread that families cut patterns into together. Hamborgarhryggur is glazed pork. Malt og appelsín is a malt drink mixed with orange soda; it looks alarming, and it is delicious. And on Þorláksmessa, the 23rd, people eat kæst skata — fermented skate — which smells like a chemical accident and which you should try once so you can say you did.

For eating out: book early. Matarkjallarinn, Grillmarkaðurinn and the Icelandic Bar all do Christmas menus and all fill up. The food halls at Hlemmur and Grandi are easier if you have not booked, and better for a group that cannot agree.

If you want somebody to walk you round and explain it, the Wake Up Reykjavík food tour is 10% off with my exclusive discount code.

The whole tradition, written out: how to celebrate Christmas the Icelandic way.

One-day trip, not three

You have four hours of usable light. Please do not try to drive the south coast to Jökulsárlón and back in a December day. People attempt it, and they spend most of it in the dark on an icy road, having seen very little.

Pick one. The Golden Circle is the right choice for a short winter trip: Þingvellir, Geysir, and Gullfoss are all within the daylight you have, and Gullfoss half-frozen is better in winter than in summer. Reykjavík Excursions runs great Golden Circle tours. Unlock discount codes for these and many more by signing up for my newsletter.

Whale watching runs year-round from the old harbor, and December is quieter and often better for white-beaked dolphins. Elding is 10% off with my discount code on single tours. Dress for it — it is colder on the water than you think.

Into the Glacier, the man-made ice tunnel inside Langjökull, is 10% off with my discount code and works as a full day out with a super jeep transfer.

If you are driving

A car gives you freedom in December, and it also gives you weather, ice, and darkness. Be honest with yourself about which you want.

If you are renting, my partners are Europcar with 10% off using my discount code, Konvin with 10% off, and Go Car Rental and Lava Car Rental at 5% off with no code needed. Take the four-wheel drive in winter. Take the insurance. Check road.is and vedur.is every morning before you set off, and accept that a closed road means a closed road. Follow the advice given on the Safetravel website, and read my tips on how to stay safe while traveling in Iceland. Furthermore, read my tips on how to avoid common issues when renting a car in Iceland.

All the car rental codes sit on one page: discount codes for renting a car in Iceland.

What to wear, and what not to buy

Reykjavík in December is not as cold as people expect — usually hovering either side of freezing — but it is wet, and the wind does the damage. Waterproof outer layer, wool underneath, proper shoes with grip, and small spikes you strap onto them for the ice on the pavements. Those spikes cost almost nothing and will save you a fall.

Do not buy a whole winter wardrobe for one trip. Iceland Cover rent proper outdoor clothing and readers get 10% off with Stuck.

Detail here: how to dress for Iceland and renting outdoor clothes instead of buying them.

Presents to take home

Icelanders give books at Christmas. The publishing industry dumps its entire year into November and December, a catalog lands in every house, and on Christmas Eve people go to bed early with a new book and a box of chocolates. It is called the jólabókaflóð, the Christmas book flood, and it is the best tradition we have. Buy somebody an Icelandic novel in translation.

Otherwise: wool from a shop rather than the airport, and Aurum on Bankastræti for jewelry. Laugavegur and Skólavörðustígur are where to walk for all of it.

And then it is New Year’s Eve

If you are staying through, you are in for the loudest night of your life. Neighborhood bonfires in the early evening, the whole country watching a satirical TV review of the year at half ten, and then private fireworks going off from every street at midnight, all of it funded by the volunteer search and rescue teams. It is wonderfully mad.

I have written that one up separately: New Year’s Eve in Iceland. Special Tours run a fireworks cruise if you want to watch it from the water — readers have a 10% code with them, so ask whether it applies to the New Year sailing when you book.

Uncle’s advice

You are on holiday. It is dark by half three, and everything worth doing is indoors, warm, or in hot water. So do less than you planned.

Sleep in. Book one thing each day, and nothing after it. Spend the blue hour walking with no destination and the evening in a pool or at a long dinner. The people who come back from a Reykjavík Christmas saying it was the best trip they ever took are not the people who fitted in the most. They are the ones who let a dark, quiet town slow them down for a week.