Harpa Concert Hall

Harpa opened in 2011 after the financial crash famously halted then restarted its construction, becoming a symbol of Reykjavik's recovery. Designed by Danish firm Henning Larsen with facades by artist Olafur Eliasson, its skin is a shell of 714 twelve-sided glass modules that shift colour with the light. Inside it houses the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Icelandic Opera and Reykjavik's biggest conference space. It sits on the old harbour, and the foyer is a public building — you can wander in any time and take the stairs to the top for a free harbour view. The address is Austurbakki 2, on reclaimed land between Saebraut and the quay, and the concrete frame stood empty through one winter before the state and city agreed to finish it — a decision still argued over in the city council every time the running subsidy comes up. Go in through the main plaza doors facing the town rather than the harbour side, which is often locked outside event hours.

The best visit is at two moments: a free tour of the auditoriums at 3:30pm in summer (English, 45 minutes, book ahead online) explains the acoustics and Eliasson's design, and an evening concert lets you sit inside Eldborg, the main red-toned hall named after a volcanic crater. Even without a concert, the foyer's changing coloured lights after dark are the highlight. There are two bars, a bistro (Munnharpan) and a shop stacked with Icelandic design. The Iceland Design Centre has a small free exhibition on the ground floor. The tour is the only way into the halls on a non-concert day, so if you arrive in winter and want to see Eldborg from the inside you either pay for the guided walk-through or buy a ticket to whatever is playing that night — there is no self-guided route past the foyer barriers.

Combine with a walk along the Old Harbour and a hot dog at Baejarins Beztu 400 m south. Concerts run most nights year-round; the biggest are the Iceland Symphony subscription evenings and the annual Reykjavik Midsummer Music. Book classical concerts at least a week ahead. Parking underneath the building is ISK350/hour. In winter, the aurora sometimes shows behind the glass wall — take the top-floor lounge for the view. Symphony evenings usually begin at 19:30, doors open an hour before, and latecomers are held at the back of Eldborg until the first break, so treat the published start time as firm rather than Icelandic-flexible.

Inside, nothing is square, and it takes a few minutes to work out which staircase serves which room. Eldborg seats about 1,800 across four steep tiers, lined in red-stained birch with an adjustable canopy over the platform; the cheap upper-tier seats hear it better than the side stalls. Silfurberg, roughly 750 seats on a flat floor, is the box used for amplified gigs, awards nights and conference plenaries. Norduljos, walled in colour-changing glass, takes chamber music, jazz and recitals for around 450. Kaldalon, the small room behind the ground-floor foyer at about 195 seats, runs films, talks and the long-running visitor comedy show How to Become Icelandic in 60 Minutes. Bjortuloft, the glazed loft on levels 7 and 8, is the free viewpoint over the harbour, Esja and Faxafloi bay — but it is booked for private receptions more often than visitors expect. If the door is roped off, the level 4 landing gives most of the same view.

Straeto lines 12 and 14 stop at Harpa/Zimsen on Geirsgata, barely 100 m from the doors; buy the single on the Klappid app, because drivers accept cash but give no change, and an adult single costs a little over ISK600. Lines 1, 3, 6, 11, 13 and others all pass Laekjargata, a flat five-minute walk away, which makes that the more useful hub. On foot it is five minutes from Laekjartorg, eight from Ingolfstorg, about ten from Hlemmur along Laugavegur and Kalkofnsvegur, and twenty downhill from Hallgrimskirkja. Drivers enter the underground car park from Geirsgata at ISK350 an hour; it backs up 20 minutes before curtain, so either arrive early or leave the car at a street bay off Saebraut. From Keflavik airport the Flybus reaches the BSI terminal in about 45 minutes for around ISK4000 one way, and Harpa is a further 20-minute walk or one bus after that.

The building costs nothing to enter and that includes the staircases, the viewing levels, the WCs and the Iceland Design Centre display. Concert tickets start at ISK4900; Iceland Symphony seats typically run ISK5000-9000 depending on tier, with reduced rates for students and under-25s and cheaper prices for the Maximus Musicus family concerts. The guided tour is ISK2500 outside the summer 15:30 slot, which is free. Everything else is optional spending: parking at ISK350 an hour, a coffee around ISK700, a happy-hour beer at Munnharpan roughly ISK1000-1200 before 19:00, and an Epal-style design shop where a small ceramic piece is ISK5000 and up. Skip the sit-down meal here unless you have a concert to catch; the hot dog stand at Baejarins Beztu, 400 m south, costs about ISK650. Cards work everywhere in the building and no cash is needed at any counter.

Hour by hour, 10:00-12:00 is the quiet window — staff setting up, sunlight raking through the glass, nobody on the stairs. Midday to 15:00 from May to September brings cruise-ship groups shepherded through the foyer, and the honeycomb wall is hard to photograph without shoulders in it. The 15:30 tour empties again by 16:30, then the pre-concert crowd builds from 18:30 and the bars get busy. Month by month, December is the best value for the facade: it is dark by 15:30, so the coloured modules glow all afternoon. June is the worst for that reason — the lights barely register before midnight. Late January brings the Dark Music Days new-music festival, June the Reykjavik Midsummer Music, and October the Arctic Circle Assembly, when 2,000 delegates in lanyards occupy every hall and casual visitors are politely funnelled into a corner of the ground floor. February and March give the best aurora odds.

It suits a rainy hour better than almost anything else downtown: free, warm, dry, 60-90 minutes of stairs and views, and no ticket queue. Wheelchair users and prams get level access from the plaza and lifts to every floor including Bjortuloft; ring the box office ahead for accessible seating in Eldborg, which is limited and allocated by row. Families do well at the Maximus Musicus children's concerts, and small children treat the angled staircases as a playground, though there is no play area and no children's exhibition. Teenagers will give the foyer fifteen minutes and be done. If you have a one-hour gap before the Flybus, it works — but there is no left-luggage room, and the cloakroom is for ticket holders on event nights. Anyone hoping for a museum should not come: beyond the small design display there is nothing to read, look at or queue for.

Fold it into a half-day along the shore. The Sun Voyager sculpture is a ten-minute walk east along Saebraut; Hafnarhus, the harbour wing of Reykjavik Art Museum, is five minutes west; the Kolaportid flea market is six minutes away and only worth it on Saturday and Sunday. Whale-watching boats leave from the Old Harbour docks eight minutes on, the Reykjavik Maritime Museum is fifteen, and Grandi with FlyOver Iceland and Whales of Iceland is a 20-25 minute walk past the Thufa mound. For a bed within sight of the glass, The Reykjavik Edition is next door, Center Hotels Arnarhvoll sits across Saebraut, and Radisson Blu 1919 Hotel Reykjavik, Canopy by Hilton Reykjavik City Centre and Kvosin Downtown Hotel are all five to eight minutes on foot. Honest caveat: the facade is a slow colour shift, not a light show, so do not stand on the pier at 21:00 waiting for something to happen.

Hours & entry

Foyer free; concert tickets from ISK4900

Foyer daily 10:00-22:00 · Box office 10:00-18:00 · Free guided tours summer daily at 15:30

What to see

• Eldborg main auditorium — Red-panelled hall on level 2, guided tour access
• Top-level harbour viewpoint — 8th floor by the honeycomb east facade
• Olafur Eliasson facade at night — Best from the pier 100 m north of the entrance

Tips from the ground

• Book the 3:30pm free-tour in summer online — walk-up spots are usually full
• The Munnharpan bistro on level 1 does a good happy-hour beer before 7pm concerts
• Coloured facade lights come on at dusk; go around 9pm in winter, 11pm in summer