Museums in Reykjavik

Reykjavik has more museums than a city this size has any right to. You can walk between most of them in the old centre, and a few of the best sit out on the harbour in the Grandi district. If the weather turns (and it will), this is where I'd spend the afternoon.

A few things have changed since I first wrote this page. The saga manuscripts now have a home of their own, the Saga Museum left Perlan for the harbour, and almost nothing is free anymore. Prices below are adult tickets as of 2026. Under-18s get in free at most of the public museums.

History and the sagas

Aðalstræti: the Settlement Exhibition

If you only go to one museum in Reykjavik, make it this one. It's built around the excavated ruins of a Viking-age longhouse, sitting right where it was found under the main street in the old town. I'm not one to linger in museums, and I still spent well over an hour in what is basically one underground room. The interactive displays do a good job of showing how the first settlers lived. A newer section, added in 2022, carries the story forward to the modern town.

The entrance is at the corner of Aðalstræti 16 and Túngata. It's open daily 10:00-17:00, and an adult ticket is 3,100 ISK (students 2,000 ISK). Read more about the Settlement Exhibition.

The National Museum of Iceland

This is the big overview: Icelandic history from the settlement to the present day, in a permanent exhibition called Making of a Nation. Give it two hours. It's on Suðurgata 41, open 10:00-17:00, with adult tickets at 3,300 ISK (students and seniors 1,600 ISK). The same ticket works as an annual pass, so you can come back.

World in Words: the manuscripts at Edda

The old Culture House used to show the saga manuscripts, but that exhibition closed in 2013. In November 2024 the Árni Magnússon Institute moved 20 medieval manuscripts into its new building, Edda, and opened World in Words, now the only place in Iceland where you can see the manuscripts themselves. The exhibition is built around the ideas in the sagas and Eddic poems (the beginning of the world, death, travel, power) with games and multimedia that keep kids interested.

Edda is at Arngrímsgata 5, right next to the National Museum, so the two make an easy pair. It's open Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-17:00 and closed Mondays. Adults pay 2,500 ISK; students and seniors 1,200 ISK. The Codex Regius, the manuscript of the Poetic Edda, goes on display from 5 October 2026.

The Saga Museum

The Saga Museum tells the settlement story with wax figures and an audio guide. The figures can look a little silly, but the history is solid and it's a good overview if you're new to the sagas. It has moved from Perlan to Grandagarður 2 in the harbour district, open daily 10:00-17:00. Adults pay 4,000 ISK and children 6-12 pay 1,200 ISK. See more on the Saga Museum.

Art

Reykjavik Art Museum

The Reykjavik Art Museum is three buildings, and one ticket gets you into all of them. It's 2,550 ISK for adults and valid for 24 hours, so you can spread the three over two days.

• Hafnarhús, Tryggvagata 17, by the old harbour. Contemporary shows plus a long-running Erró exhibition. Open 10:00-17:00, Thursdays until 22:00.
• Kjarvalsstaðir, Flókagata 24. Built around the landscape painter Jóhannes Kjarval. Open 10:00-17:00.
• Ásmundarsafn, Sigtún, in Laugardalur. Dedicated to the sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson, alongside shows by living artists. Open 13:00-17:00.

Ásmundarsafn is an easy add-on if you're already out at the pools or the zoo in Laugardalur. More on the Reykjavik Art Museum.

National Gallery of Iceland and the House of Collections

The National Gallery has two city-centre buildings: the main gallery at Fríkirkjuvegur 7 and the House of Collections at Hverfisgata 15. The House of Collections is the old Culture House, built in 1908 for the National Library, and it now shows Icelandic art from the late 1800s to today. Both are open daily 10:00-17:00, and an adult ticket is 2,500 ISK.

The Einar Jónsson Museum

Right beside Hallgrímskirkja, Einar Jónsson, the pioneer of Icelandic sculpture, designed his own house, Hnitbjörg, and it's been a museum since 1923. Entry is 1,500 ISK, or 2,900 ISK combined with the National Gallery. The sculpture garden behind it is open to everyone, year-round, for free, with 26 bronzes. I'd walk through it every time I went up to the church.

Photography, the sea and the old town

Reykjavik Museum of Photography

This used to be free. Now it's 1,400 ISK, still the cheapest ticket on this page. It's at Tryggvagata 15 and runs changing shows drawn from a huge archive of Icelandic photography. Hours are Monday-Thursday 10:00-18:00, Friday 11:00-18:00 and weekends 13:00-17:00.

Reykjavik Maritime Museum

In a former fish-freezing plant at Grandagarður 8, this one covers 150 years of the fisheries that built modern Reykjavik. The former coast guard ship Óðinn is tied up at the pier outside and you can tour it. Museum entry is 2,550 ISK, or 3,850 ISK with the Óðinn tour, and it's open daily 10:00-17:00.

Árbær Open Air Museum

Out in the east of the city, Árbær is a village of more than 20 old houses, most of them moved here from the old town, with free-range chickens and, in summer, sheep and horses. It's the best one for kids. June-August it's open 10:00-17:00, and 13:00-17:00 the rest of the year, with a guided tour daily at 13:00. Adults pay 2,550 ISK.

Grandi's newer exhibitions

The harbour district has filled up with private exhibitions since I first wrote this page. Whales of Iceland (Fiskislóð 23-25) has life-size models of the whales found around Iceland, and it's 4,000 ISK for adults at the current discounted price. Aurora Reykjavik (Fiskislóð 53, 3,900 ISK) is a small northern lights centre, useful if the real thing doesn't show. Up on Öskjuhlíð hill, Perlan now houses the Wonders of Iceland exhibition, with an ice cave, a planetarium show about the aurora, and an observation deck. It's open 9:00-21:00; check the site for current ticket prices.

Saving money on museums

If you'll hit three or more of these, look at the Reykjavik City Card: 6,100 ISK for 24 hours, 8,500 ISK for 48 or 10,500 ISK for 72. It covers 17 museums, including the National Museum, National Gallery, House of Collections, all three Art Museum buildings, Aðalstræti, the Maritime Museum and Árbær, plus the city pools and buses. It gives a discount, not free entry, at the Saga Museum, Whales of Iceland, Aurora and Perlan. The National Museum plus Aðalstræti plus the Art Museum already comes to 8,950 ISK, so the 24-hour card pays for itself fast. More on the Reykjavik City Card, and a list of free and cheap things to do in Reykjavik.

For the rest of the country, see museums in Iceland, and for everything else in the city, attractions in Reykjavik.

Photo by Bjørn Giesenbauer