Bravó pours cocktails and local beer from Laugavegur 22, on Reykjavik's main shopping and nightlife street in the city centre. My Guide Reykjavik and the local nightlife guides file it as one of the street's most reliable bars, a relaxed room known as much for its daily happy hour as its drinks. The pitch is a quirky living room rather than a polished cocktail bar. Locals treat it as a first stop, the place to start a night before the later clubs along Laugavegur and Bankastræti open up.
The room
The space runs to mismatched furniture, bold wall colours and eclectic decoration, which reads as a comfortable living room more than a designed bar, per LikeALocal and local reviews. Live music is a regular fixture, with performances through the week that pull a mixed local crowd. The room is small and warm, and it fills quickly once a band starts or the happy hour lands. On a quiet afternoon it works as a cafe-style hangout, while late on a weekend it tips toward a packed bar with the music up. The lack of pretension is the point, and regulars rate it for exactly that.
What to order
Order a cocktail from the rotating list or an Icelandic craft beer, and time the visit to the daily happy hour, which runs from 6:30pm to 9:30pm and is the reason many locals start the night here. The drinks lean creative without the price tag of the city's high-end rooms, which matters in a city where a standard cocktail rarely comes cheap. Ask the bar what is on tap, since the beer line changes and the staff steer toward local brews. The happy-hour pricing is the standout, and it is worth planning the evening around the window.
Who it is for
Bravó fits a traveller after an affordable first drink on Laugavegur, a group warming up before a late night, and anyone who rates live music over a quiet corner. Skip it if a refined, seated cocktail experience is the plan, since the room is loose and loud once it fills. It rewards drinkers who come for the happy hour and stay for the band. Couples after a calm conversation should arrive early, before the evening crowd and the music take the room over.
Best time to go
The daily happy hour from 6:30pm is the easy window, before the room fills and the music starts. Weekends run latest, with the bar open into the early hours on Friday and Saturday. A weekday evening buys a calmer seat and the same well-priced drinks. For live music, check the week's listings, since the schedule shifts and a gig night changes the whole mood of the room. Summer brings the longest nights, when the street outside stays light past midnight and the bar keeps pace with it.
The bottom line
Bravó is a Laugavegur mainstay, a relaxed Reykjavik bar with creative cocktails, Icelandic beer, live music and a happy hour that locals plan around. My Guide Reykjavik and the city nightlife guides back its standing. Come at 6:30pm, take the happy hour, and let the night build from there. It is the rare central Reykjavik bar that stays affordable without feeling like a compromise, and that is why it stays on every local's short list of first stops on Laugavegur.
Keep exploring with our best cocktail bars in Reykjavik guide, the full Reykjavik bar guide, and our edit of cocktail bars worldwide. Pair Bravó with Kaffibarinn in Reykjavik, Kex Hostel Bar in Reykjavik, and Prikið in Reykjavik.
Sources: My Guide Reykjavik; LikeALocal Guide (Reykjavik); Iceland Places; Evendo; Google Maps reviews.
