Reykjavik
A working shortlist for a city that had to invent its bar culture from a standing start. Iceland legalised beer in 1989; the first serious cocktail bar opened in 2012. The six rooms below are the answer to what happened next.
Vesturbær · $$$
Iceland's first serious cocktail bar, opened 2012 at the Reykjavík Marina hotel. Smoking Lavender, angelica-and-birch cocktails, Arctic-char garnishes. The bartenders' bar.
Miðborg · $$
Laugavegur outpost of Bruggsmiðjan Kaldi, the small north-Iceland craft brewery. Fourteen Kaldi beers on tap, wood-panelled sitting-room interior. The bar that taught Reykjavík what its own beer can do.
Miðborg · $$
Basement bar on Vesturgata pouring fourteen taps of Icelandic-only craft beer, rotating weekly. Kaldi, Borg, Einstök, RVK Brewing. A working tasting flight in a small room.
Miðborg · $$$
Austurstræti 16 — an apothecary since 1772, current bar since 2014. The pharmacy framing is real: prescription drawers behind the bar, mortar-and-pestle display. Order the Apothecary's Gin & Tonic with Vor and Arctic thyme.
Miðborg · $$
Upstairs natural-wine bar that doubles as a Neapolitan sourdough pizza place. Sixty bottles of small-grower European wine, twelve by the glass. The marinara plus a Ligurian Vermentino is the visit.
Miðborg · $$
Veltusund late-night room divided into four colour-coded sections — pink entry, amber lounge, teal serious-cocktail bar, violet basement dance floor. The right Reykjavík bar for the third drink of the night.
Reykjavik · $$$
Petersen Suite Reykjavik: hidden speakeasy with black walls and serious cocktail programme using Icelandic ingredients. Detailed editorial notes —
What Reykjavík does have that older drinking cities do not is the rúntur - the weekend pub-crawl tradition that survived prohibition because Icelanders refused to let the law stop them socialising. The right Reykjavík evening, even now, is a four-or-five-bar walk through the compact downtown rather than a single long visit. The bars below are positioned to support exactly that: three cocktail rooms, two beer bars, one natural-wine room, and a late-night four-room finisher. All within fifteen minutes' walk of each other.
A practical note. Drinks in Iceland are expensive by international standards (a craft beer is around 1,500 ISK, a cocktail 2,000-2,800 ISK) but the bars run honest pricing relative to each other and the food at most of them is the best-value part of the visit. Tipping is not expected. Most rooms close at 1am Mon-Thu and 3-4am on weekends. The light, in summer, never quite goes; in winter, the bars open at 2pm and run with the dark.
A working editorial ranking. Three cocktail rooms, two beer bars, one wine bar, one late-night room. Plan as a four-bar rúntur or pick three for a single slower evening.
Looking beyond Reykjavik? See our guide to the best hidden gem bars worldwide, or compare hidden gem bars city by city.