Reykjavik City Card with Museums & Thermal Pools

Reykjavik's thermal pools

Swimming in a geothermal pool is the heart of daily life in Reykjavik, and the City Card gives you entry to all eight city pools. Laugardalslaug, in the Laugardalur valley, is the largest, with a long outdoor pool, hot pots, a steam bath and water slides. Sundhollin, opened in 1937, is the oldest public indoor pool in the city and has rooftop hot tubs with views over the centre, while Vesturbaejarlaug in the west is a favourite with locals.

The pools are heated with natural geothermal water and are open all year, early in the morning until the evening. Do as the locals do: shower before you swim, then sit in the hot pots and chat. A visit costs very little time and fits easily between museums, which is one reason many travellers decide the Reykjavik City Card is worth it.

National Museum of Iceland, National Gallery and the Culture House

The National Museum of Iceland tells the story of the nation from the first settlement in the ninth century to the present day. Highlights include carved church panels, medieval manuscripts and tools, silver jewellery and objects from Viking Age graves. Plan about two hours for the permanent exhibition, which is clearly laid out and easy to follow in English.

The National Gallery of Iceland stands by the Tjornin pond and holds the country's leading collection of Icelandic art from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with landscapes that show how artists saw the island's light and lava. Nearby, the Culture House, in an elegant building from 1908, presents an exhibition on the visual heritage of Iceland, mixing ancient pieces with contemporary works. All three are included with your card.

Reykjavik City Museum: Settlement Exhibition and Arbaer

The Reykjavik City Museum runs several sites included with the card. In the centre, the Settlement Exhibition is built around the excavated ruins of a Viking Age hall from the tenth century, found beneath the street in 2001, and a section of wall even older than a volcanic ash layer dated to about 871. Interactive displays show how the first settlers lived.

On the eastern edge of the city, the Arbaer Open Air Museum gathers old turf houses, a small church and timber buildings moved from central Reykjavik, with displays on daily life in past centuries. The Maritime Museum at the Grandi harbour tells the story of fishing and the sea, and the Reykjavik Museum of Photography holds a large collection of Icelandic images. Together they form the best introduction to the capital.

Reykjavik Art Museum and the Kopavogur museums

The Reykjavik Art Museum has three sites, all open with the City Card. Hafnarhus, a former harbour warehouse, shows contemporary Icelandic and international art. Kjarvalsstadir, in the green Klambratun park, is dedicated to one of the country's most celebrated landscape painters and to modern art, and Asmundarsafn, a striking white domed studio, is surrounded by a garden of large sculptures.

The card also covers museums just south of the city in Kopavogur: Gerdarsafn, a modern art museum, and the Natural History Museum of Kopavogur, with displays on Iceland's geology and wildlife. The Sigurjon Olafsson Museum, a sculptor's former studio by the sea, completes the list. With a 72-hour card you have time to visit several of these at a relaxed pace.

Videy Island and the Reykjavik Zoo and Family Park

The City Card includes the ferry to Videy, a peaceful island in Kollafjordur just off Reykjavik's coast. The crossing from Skarfabakki pier takes only a few minutes. On the island stands Videy House, built in the 1750s and one of the oldest stone buildings in Iceland, next to a small eighteenth-century church, with grassy paths, bird life and open views of Mount Esja. The ferry runs more often in summer, so check the timetable in winter.

Back on the mainland, the Reykjavik Zoo and Family Park in Laugardalur introduces Icelandic farm animals such as horses, sheep, goats and cows, as well as seals, reindeer and Arctic foxes. It is right next to Laugardalslaug pool, so families can combine a morning with the animals with an afternoon swim.

City buses and how to use the Reykjavik City Card

Your card also works as a bus pass, giving unlimited travel on Reykjavik city buses for as long as it is valid. That makes it easy to reach places outside the centre, such as Arbaer, Laugardalur or the Kopavogur museums, without taxis. Simply show your card to the driver when you board. Many visitors ask how to get to the pools and museums: almost all of them lie on regular bus routes.

The 72-hour card starts the first time you use it, at a museum, a pool, the ferry or on a bus, and runs for three full days from that moment. Plan two or three museums a day with a swim in between and you will make the most of it. Remember that pools in neighbouring towns and privately owned museums are not included.