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Fire Near Elliðavatn Contained After Four-Hour Battle
A brush fire broke out near Elliðavatn on Sunday and spread rapidly, reaching Guðmundarlundur and the Þingahverfi neighbourhood in Kópavogur, reports RÚV. Fire crews fought the fire for around four hours, assisted by police and search and rescue teams. The Capital Area…
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Capital Area Police Prepare For Busy Holiday Weekend
Police in the capital area will have traditional patrols during the shopping weekend, focusing on monitoring speeding, the use of mobile phones when driving without hands-free equipment, coaches/trailers, and dangerous passing, according to a news release. [su_pullquote]We are having a summer sale…
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Over Blue Ice: A Day Spent Hiking And Climbing On Sólheimajökull Glacier
Gripping my axes tightly, I kick the ice as hard as I can, until the spike on my boot finally pierces the wall. I do the same with my other foot, but it skims the surface and I lose my balance, dangling…
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Buggy Adventures: Muddy Wheels And Grins
“Up for some splashes?” I ask. The engine is roaring and the wind beating at the visors of our helmets as we approach a deep, icy pool of muddy water in the middle of the road. The noise and hellish turmoil turns…
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Drive-Through Towns: A Day In The Kópacabana
I’m not going to lie—when I suggested to my editor that we should write a travel article about Kópavogur, I was joking. Kópavogur, for non-Icelanders, is a suburb of Reykavík—technically a separate municipality—best known for Smáralind, the largest mall in Iceland. While…
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Summon The Whales! In Search Of The Sea Giants
“I understand and acknowledge the risks I’m undertaking by choosing to participate in activities and assume all responsibility for exposing myself to these risks/dangers,” states the last sentence of the contract. I consider these words before signing. It’s a necessary step before…
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A Seabound Saga: Sailing Like a Viking In Reykjavík
It’s a picture-perfect Reykjavík morning—clear skies, bright sunlight, a calm current—one of the last of summer, maybe. I stand on a wobbly dock in front of a ship that looks quite out of place next to the fancy coast guard and fishing…
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Between Xmas And NYE: Melt For Hot Yoga
While working as an artist in Iceland in 2009, yoga expert Lana Vogestad realized two things were missing in Reykjavík: hot yoga and stuff to do in the days between Christmas and New Year’s. Thus, an annual holiday hot yoga retreat tradition…
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Some Thoughts On Reykjavík Escape
Interns at the Reykjavík Grapevine are encouraged to go on short trips or to events and then write about them. They go on spelunking and whale watching trips, and to all sorts of concerts and festivals. I, however, would rather be at…
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VIDEO: Whale Watching In Reykjavík Harbour
Grapevine’s resident filmmaker Timothée Lambrecq has continued to tour around Iceland over recent weeks. From looking at the working lives of fishermen in the Westfjords to documenting a road trip through the Icelandic landscape, he’s made some beautiful work documenting his stay.…
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I Woke Up Like This: Making 101 Flawless With Reykjavík’s Morning Cleaning Crew
Seagulls bicker over a pile of soggy vomit. House music and drunk banter pour out an open window. Smashed glass, cigarette butts, and pizza crusts pepper Laugavegur’s cheery, pastel-painted asphalt. Yesterday’s lingering carousers tumble home, ceding the streets to the waterproof tourists…
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A Day In The Life Of Friðrik Dór Jónsson
As part of our Day In The Life series, we caught up with Friðrik Dór, local RnB artist and co-owner of the newly opened Reykjavík Chips. What’s up, Friðrik? These days most of my time goes into my new side project, Reykjavík Chips,…
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Weekly #GVpics: The 10 Best Iceland Instagrams
We had a nice visit yesterday from Julia, the winner of last week’s #GVpics Instagram competition, who dropped by with her eight-year-old son Ágúst to pick up their two t-shirts. Here’s what went down: Our #GVpics winner @juliamai popped in the collect…
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This Week’s Iceland Instagram Hitz: #GVpics Contest Round 2
After last week’s inaugural #GVpics Instagram contest, it’s time for round two. The first week had a joint winner featuring maximum sheep, with Grapevine t-shirts now on their way to @ingibjorgolafs and @hannes_nrm. This week, the prize is modeled by part-time comedian…
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This Week’s Instagram Contest – 177 Entries And TWO Winners!
Last week we launched the first #gvpics Instagram competition – asking you, dear readers, to use the #gvpics tag on your best Instagram photographs of Iceland. But not just the oft-seen aurora and landscapes shots – we asked for characters, towns, wilderness,…
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Twelve Hours In Reykjavík: Sunny Day Edition
So the sun is out, the sky is blue, and Reykjavík is your oyster. And while the downtown area is more than compact enough for you to wander the side streets, discover favourite spots, and wend your leisurely way across the city…
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5 Great Running Routes In Reykjavík
As a running city, Reykjavík has improved immensely over the past few years. Good running paths are never far away, and new ones are being made every year. The number of runners has also grown significantly, with over 70 running events being…
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Flashback: Tourism In Iceland Thirty Years Ago
I recently stumbled upon a Q/A in the New York Times that made me a bit nostalgic for my annual trips to Iceland in the nineties, long before this great post-crash tourism boom that we are experiencing today. The question, “I plan…
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Every Swimming Pool In The Greater Reykjavík Area, Rated
Any visitor to Iceland simply must visit one of the island’s ubiquitous public swimming pools. This is not a request. A point of pride for most locals, the pools are generally first rate, and admission is dirt-cheap (around 5-600 ISK). There is…
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VIDEO: Downtown Reykjavík Aurora, OMG
Those Iceland Aurora Films guys have really outdone themselves this time. You might remember their 130 Nights Of Aurora Borealis project, which we reported on last year (and do click through, that video’s crazy), but we dare say their latest venture is even more…
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Whales Of Iceland: Eye-To-Eye With The Giants
Upon entering the newly opened Whales of Iceland exhibition, we are greeted by a life-size orca hanging from the ceiling. As we venture further into the blue-lit room, it’s as if we are underwater. Whales of all sizes seem to be eying…
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WHERE WERE YOU? REMEMBERING THAT TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
Boy, feels like it was only yesterday that we were running down the street in a screaming panic, all excited to witness a total solar eclipse. Remember that solar eclipse? It was great! Aren’t you glad you didn’t sleep in? We sure…
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Reykjavík’s First Soundwalk: Listening To The Sounds Of The City
The wind blows, the sea hisses. Cars putter and splash. The sounds of Reykjavík are all around you and, if you’re like most, the ambient noise goes largely unnoticed as you navigate through your day. But what if it were brought into…