Bar and club101
Kaffibarinn on Bergstadastraeti has anchored Reykjavik nightlife since 1993, a cafe by day that turns into the city's most packed DJ bar by midnight.
Signature drink: Beer and DJ nights
Food: Snacks
Tip: Part-owned over the years by Damon Albarn. Queues form after 23:00 at weekends, so arrive early.
Cocktail bar101
Slippbarinn on Myrargata was Reykjavik's first cocktail bar, a harbourside room at the Marina hotel mixing inventive drinks with a long daily happy hour.
Signature drink: Cocktail of the Month
Food: Bar food and burgers
Tip: The rotating Cocktail of the Month is the order. Happy hour runs 15:00 to 18:00 every day by the harbour.
Wine and cocktail bar101
Rontgen on Hverfisgata is a two-floor wine, beer and cocktail bar above Dill, a Reykjavik room of candles, art and curated low-intervention wines that won the Grapevine's best bar nod.
Signature drink: Curated low-intervention wines and draft beer
Food: Bar menu from Hosilo
Tip: Bar menu from Hosilo runs Tuesday to Saturday until 21:00. Happy hour weekdays 16:00 to 20:00.
Cocktail bar and club101
Pablo Discobar on Veltusund pours tropical, mezcal-forward cocktails over two loud floors, a 70s-and-80s disco Reykjavik party bar with a huge mirrored ceiling.
Signature drink: Tropical disco cocktails
Food: None
Tip: Open from 17:00 daily, until 03:00 Friday and Saturday. Happy hour 16:00 to 18:00; karaoke later.
Craft beer bar101
Skuli Craft Bar on Adalstraeti pours fourteen mostly Icelandic taps plus bottles, a focused Reykjavik beer bar named for an 18th-century town father.
Signature drink: Icelandic craft taps
Food: Snacks
Tip: Most taps are local, so it is a fast way to taste the Icelandic scene. Happy hour early in the evening.
Craft beer bar101
Microbar on Laugavegur pours ten rotating taps and dozens of bottles, a Reykjavik craft-beer bar run by the founder of Gaedingur, Iceland's first craft brewery.
Signature drink: Icelandic and import taps
Food: None
Tip: Happy hour daily 15:00 to 18:00. Five-beer and ten-beer flights are the way to taste the Icelandic scene.