A day in Reykjavik with a 24-hour City Card
A 24-hour Reykjavík City Card gives you a gentle way to explore the city without overplanning. Museums, buses and pools are included, so you can move through the day at your own pace, stopping for art, harbour views, hot water and the occasional coffee break.
It’s a gentle option for your budget, too.
Here’s one way to spend a day in Reykjavík using the 24-hour City Card, where entry fees alone could add up to around 16,400 ISK. But with a 24-hour City Card, you pay 6,100 ISK — saving about 10,300 ISK, or 63%.
Start with history and art
Begin the day where Iceland's story is told from the ground up.
The National Museum of Iceland is just a short walk from the city centre. Inside, the timeline stretches from the first settlers to modern Reykjavik. Step by step, you move through centuries, with Viking tools, religious artefacts, and even old human remains.
From here, you can take the bus with Strætó to Kjarvalsstaðir. A short journey brings you to Klambratún, where Reykjavík Art Museum - Kjarvalsstaðir is located, a building filled with natural light. This is where you'll find works by Jóhannes S. Kjarval, one of Iceland's most recognised artists, alongside rotating exhibitions of modern and contemporary art.
After the museum, the park is right outside. A place to sit for a moment, or simply walk through before continuing the day.
Entry to the National Museum of Iceland and the Reykjavik Art Museum - Kjarvalsstaðir is included with the City Card, along with unlimited travel on the public bus Strætó.
Walk through the heart of Reykjavik
From Kjarvalsstaðir, head back towards the centre, where you will soon see the famous Hallgrímskirkja, a steady landmark to guide you. You can pass by or step inside, depending on your pace. From here, the path naturally leads downhill.
Skólavörðustígur stretches out in front of you, marked by the rainbow colours underfoot. It’s a familiar street, but easy to experience in your own way. Small galleries, cafés and design shops line both sides, and the view down the hill slowly opens towards the city and the sea.
Take your time here. Notice what draws you in.
At the bottom, continue towards the Settlement Exhibition.
Below street level, the atmosphere shifts. This is where Reykjavík’s earliest chapter is preserved with the remains of a Viking-age longhouse, uncovered during excavations. The exhibition builds around it, using light and sound to bring the settlement period into focus.
It’s a quiet contrast to the walk you’ve just taken. Above ground, the city moves forward. Down here, it begins.
Entry to the Settlement Exhibition is included in the City Card.
Follow the harbour route
From the Settlement Exhibition, the harbour is close by. As you walk, the air shifts slightly as you feel the breeze, and just before you reach the harbour, you find the Museum of Photography and Reykjavík Art Museum - Hafnarhús, which sit side by side, making it easy to step into one after the other.
At the Museum of Photography, moments are captured in still frames that show everyday life, history, people, and places through different lenses.
Next door, Hafnarhús, part of the Reykjavík Art Museum, leans into contemporary art. The space is larger, more industrial, with exhibitions that often invite you to look twice.
From here, continue along the harbour path.
The Maritime Museum is just ahead, set right by the water. Inside, the focus turns outward to the sea that has shaped Iceland’s story for centuries, through fishing, trade, and, ultimately, survival. The connection feels close when you’ve just walked along the shoreline yourself.
Take your time between each stop. The distance is short, and the route is as much a part of the experience as the places along it.
Entry to the Museum of Photography, Reykjavík Art Museum-Hafnarhús, and The Maritime Museum is included in the City Card.
Make room for what's free
Keep walking the shoreline toward Harpa. With its glass panels catching the light from every angle, shifting with the weather and the time of day. You can step inside if it’s open, or simply walk around it and watch how the building reflects the sea and sky.
A little further along the coast, the Sun Voyager waits by the water. Steel curves shaped like a ship, or maybe a dream of one. It’s a place people stop without planning to, some for a photo, while others just to look out across the bay.
Then drift back into the streets. Downtown Reykjavík is easy to wander without a plan. Small shops, quiet corners, familiar routes that still leave room to notice something new. Stay as long as you like, or move on when something else catches your attention.
End the day like a local
As the day slows, enjoy something that has been a part of life here for generations. Geothermal pools are where Reykjavík unwinds, with warm water, cool air, a friendly chat and really no need to do anything once you’re in.
Sundhöll Reykjavíkur sits just behind Hallgrímskirkja; it is a simple, central place to finish the day. You can swim a few laps or ease into one of the hot tubs and stay there for a while.
With the Reykjavík City Card, you’re not limited to one spot. There are several pools across the city included in the card, each with its own setting, but the same feeling once you step into the water.
Just remember the routine: shower first, then in.
After that, it’s easy. Stay as long as you like.
Get around by bus
When your feet need a break, jump on the next bus - or as we call them, Strætó.
Reykjavík’s buses (Strætó) connect the centre with neighbourhoods, museums, pools, and the various city areas. With the Reykjavík City Card, you can step on and off as you like, without thinking about tickets.
It’s an easy way to stretch the day a little further. Sit by the window, watch the streets shift from busy to quiet, from harbour to neighbourhood.
Or simply take the next bus that comes, and see where it leaves you
