six hours to spend in Reykjavik

Does the five (or six) hours include your travel time from airport and to the cruise ship? The bigger cruise terminal is a couple miles from city center and it takes at least 45-60 minutes to get from the airport to Reykjavik city center proper. With such limited time, I'd suggest catching a walking tour to hit the highlights - an example of several are here: https://yourfriendinreykjavik.com/reykjavik-walking-tours/ Or you could follow the RS walking tour in his Iceland guidebook https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/iceland-guidebook

Much appreciated. Thank you!

Hi Larry, have you considered spending a few hours at the Blue Lagoon? It would be easy to catch a taxi from the airport to the spa and then from the spa to the cruise port. We visited for the first time in August and really enjoyed the experience. Just curious, which cruise line/itinerary? We were on Viking from Bergen to Reykjavik. Loved it.

I am going to offer a word of caution about flying into a location and planning to board a cruise the same day. Particularly, Iceland. I strongly encourage you to change your flight to arrive the day before your cruise leaves. Lots of opportunities for irregular operations, not to mention volcanic activity at this time. You are taking a risk greater than I would feel comfortable with by flying in the same day as boarding.

PS FYI Blue Lagoon closed and area evacuated at this time. I wouldn't plan on it.

It's risky to arrive the same day as any cruise departure. Do you have a direct flight? Are you going to the downtown cruise terminal or the western edge terminal? Do you know the latest possible check-in time? (We did Windstar July, 2023.) KEF is not "near" the city, and there is no train.

Carol now retired, Larry is traveling in July 2024. Hopefully, things will have cleared up with the volcano by then.

Larry, if your ship is overnighting in Reykjavik, I think you’ll be fine. Enjoy your trip!

+1 for Donna.

If you truly have 5 hours, you can see quite a bit. It is about 45 minutes from KEF into Reykjavik, so that may shave off an hour if you did not account for that. So say worst case, 4 hours in Reykjavik. That time would pass so quickly! You could opt for the Citywalk "free" walking tour which is 2 hours and you tip what you want at the end. It is really good as you see many of the city sights and learn a lot about the city/country. Or a food tour, which is 3 hours and again very informative. Or just wander. You can see so much right in town. If you want a private tour, I have several friends that used Nice Travel and were very happy. We always just go on our own, but have not had the time constraints you have. The thing with a private tour is they can pick you up at KEF and then drop you at the ship, so that would be helpful.

Other things in Reykjavik that we have enjoyed are Harpa (inside as well as out), the Sun Voyager, Braud for the best cinnamon rolls. check out the beautiful murals and street art and make sure to get off the main drag and wander blocks away for some wonderful surprises, visit a local pool in town, walk up rainbow road to the church and then buy tickets to go up to the top of the church as the views are phenomenal, visit the hand knitting association store on rainbow road, and wander the wharf. There is more, but these things would be a nice day in Reykjavik.

How much luggage will you be hauling around with you? It seems like a private tour would be the best choice as they can take care of that for you.

Larry did you book your air through the Cruise Line? If so then then the cruise line should be handling all of your transportation, delays etc. If not then I would recommend that you arrive a day earlier. You can spend a full day in Reykjavik wiht many things to see.