Visiting Reykjavik with kids

Travelling with children in Reykjavík is actually very easy. The city is compact, stroller-friendly, safe, and filled with activities specifically designed to help Icelandic parents survive nine months of darkness and sideways rain.

Here are some of the best activities near Refurinn Reykjavik Guesthouse, including how far away they are and the easiest way to get there without carrying a screaming four-year-old uphill for 40 minutes.

The Mandatory Icelandic Swimming Pool Experience

And yes, everyone showers naked before entering. Iceland takes this more seriously than airport security. The importance cannot be overstated, lest your experience be marred by being chased back into the showers by an angry local and scolded like a child for your grubbiness.

Vesturbæjarlaug

Distance from Refurinn: About 1 km, 15-minute walk

Best way to get there: Walk.

This is the local neighbourhood pool and possibly the most authentic Reykjavík family experience you can have without accidentally joining a children’s birthday party.

The Big Pool With Maximum Child Chaos

Laugardalslaug

Distance from Refurinn: About 4 km

Best way to get there: Bus or taxi.

If Vesturbæjarlaug is the cool local neighbourhood pool, this is the full family water-complex experience. Here you will find waterslides, shallow wading pools, hot tubs, steam baths and approximately 9000 Icelandic children charging around at dangerous speeds.

It is one of the most family-friendly pools in Reykjavík and a guaranteed success for children with excess energy. Which is all children.

Perlan

Distance from Refurinn: About 3.5 km

Best way to get there: Bus or taxi unless your children enjoy uphill suffering.

For the children who need to touch absolutely everything; Perlan is what happens when Iceland decides museums should also include:

• glaciers

• volcanoes

• ice caves

• northern lights

• dramatic sound effects

  
  

Children love it because nearly everything is interactive. Adults love it because it makes Icelandic nature look cinematic enough to justify the flight prices.

The indoor ice cave is particularly impressive because Iceland apparently looked at normal museums and thought:“What if we refrigerated part of it?”

Bonus points for the observation deck, where you can show children the entire city while they remain completely uninterested because they found one button that lights up.

Reykjavík Family Park and Zoo (Húsdýragarðurinn)

Distance from Refurinn: About 4.5 km

Best way to get there: Bus or taxi.

This is not a giant international zoo with pandas and elaborate safari infrastructure.

This is Iceland, after all. So instead you get fluffy Icelandic sheep, horses, seals, arctic foxes, reindeer, goats, chicken, geese and other barnyard friend favorites. And honestly, it is delightful.

The attached family park has rides and playgrounds in summer, absolutely fantastic playgrounds and the surrounding Laugardalur area is excellent for picnics and wandering around while your children burn off some energy.

Hljómskálagarður

Distance from Refurinn: About 1 km

Best way to get there: Walk around the pond.

This playground sits beside downtown Reykjavík‘s pond. Bring a bag of bread and let your kids feed the ducks and swans from the water‘s edge and try to keep them from jumping in. Classic Reykjavík parenting atmosphere.

The surrounding park is excellent for scooter rides, meltdowns, and emergency pastry breaks.

Saga Museum

Distance from Refurinn: About 1 km

Best way to get there: Easy waterfront walk through Grandi.

This museum for viking-obsessed children (and adults) contains dramatic Viking scenes featuring:

• warriors

• storms

• blood feuds

• terrifyingly realistic wax figures

Some children will find this fascinating. Others will only ask if Vikings had iPads.

Either way, it is a wonderfully weird and very Icelandic experience. Nearby Grandi also has cafés, ice cream, whale-themed everything, and plenty of space to wander.

Nauthólsvík Geothermal Beach

Distance from Refurinn: About 4 km

Best way to get there: Bus, taxi, or ambitious family bike ride.

Yes, Reykjavík has a beach. No, this sentence should not make sense geographically.

Nauthólsvík combines golden sand with freezing Atlantic Ocean and geothermal hot tubs. The water is heated to comfortable sea temperature, so don‘t be afraid to let your little ones run in. On sunny days, local families appear here instantly like migrating birds.

There are changing rooms, hot tubs, shallow areas, and enough space for children to run around until they collapse into exhausted happiness.

Borgarbókasafn Grófinni

Distance from Refurinn: About 500 metres

Best way to get there: Walk. Very easily.

The Reykjavík City Library is one of the greatest emergency parenting tools/rainy day survival hacks in the city. It has children‘s books in several languages, toys, soft seating, warmth and a calm atmosphere.

In other words: paradise.

Even if your children do not speak Icelandic, they will happily spend time exploring, drawing, climbing around the children’s section, and generally calming down after too much tourism.

Also, libraries are free, which after several days in Iceland starts to feel especially important.

Frístundagarðurinn í Gufunesi

Distance from Refurinn: About 8 km

Best way to get there: Car, taxi, or bus if your children tolerate public transport.

Gufunes has a large playground, ambitious climbing structures, wide open spaces, a zip line and a free to use outdoor grill and covered seating area.

It is essentially an outdoor exhaustion facility for kids. Next door there is a minigolf course and a paintball range, for those who prefer a bit more action.

Frisbee Golf

There are nine frisbee golf courses in Reykjavik, all of them free to use. This is a great, fun, family bonding activity in the outdoors. And it‘s free!

Elliðaárdalur

Distance from Refurinn: About 6 km

Best way to get there: Bus, car, or bike if your family enjoys optimistic cycling plans.

Elliðaárdalur is a true Reykjavik nature gem, right in the heart of the city. The enormous, green Elliðaárdalur valley running through the city has walking paths, large rivers, a beautiful waterfall, picnic areas and play areas. It feels so peaceful and removed that you tend to forget that you are still very much inside the capital city.

If your children are the type who become absolutely feral indoors after too much museum time, Elliðaárdalur is where you bring them to reset everyone’s mood before somebody melts down.

On one edge of the park there is a new outdoor playground and a nice café.