Cocktail barCraft beer bar$$$101Mon-Wed 12:00-23:00; Thu 12:00-00:00; Fri-Sat 12:00-01:00; Sun 12:00-23:00
Skuli Craft Bar on Adalstraeti pours fourteen mostly Icelandic taps plus bottles, a focused Reykjavik beer bar named for an 18th-century town father.
Signature drink: Icelandic craft taps
Food: Snacks
Tip: Most taps are local, so it is a fast way to taste the Icelandic scene. Happy hour early in the evening.
Cocktail barCraft beer bar$$$101Sun-Thu 15:00-00:00; Fri-Sat 15:00-01:00
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.
Signature drink: Icelandic and import taps
Food: None
Tip: Happy hour daily 15:00-18:00. Five-beer and ten-beer flights are the way to taste the Icelandic scene.
Cocktail barLGBTQ club$$$101Thu 21:00-01:00; Fri-Sat 21:00-04:30; Sun-Wed closed
Kiki Queer Bar on Laugavegur is Reykjavik's main LGBTQ club, two colourful floors of pop and dance that fill up at weekends with a mixed, welcoming crowd.
Signature drink: Cocktails and dance floor
Food: None
Tip: The entrance is on the Klapparstigur side. Friday and Saturday are the big nights for the dance floor.
Cocktail barTheme bar$$$101Sun-Thu 11:00-01:00; Fri-Sat 11:00-04:30
Lebowski Bar on Laugavegur runs a Big Lebowski theme with a wall of White Russians and burgers, a Reykjavik bar that turns into a dance floor late at night.
Signature drink: White Russians
Food: Burgers
Order: A White Russian, the bar's whole reason for being, with a burger.
Tip: Bowling memorabilia and film posters fill the room. Burgers by day, a louder dance scene after midnight.
Cocktail barCafe and hip-hop bar$$$101Mon-Thu 09:00-01:00; Fri 09:00-04:30; Sat 11:00-04:30; Sun 11:00-01:00
Prikid on Bankastraeti is one of Reykjavik's oldest bars, a 1951 diner-cafe by day that becomes a hip-hop bar by night, famous for its hangover breakfast.
Signature drink: Beer and hip-hop nights
Food: Diner food and brunch
Order: The hangover breakfast by day, or a beer once the hip-hop starts.
Tip: Founded in 1951 and still central to the scene. The greasy breakfast is the morning-after institution.
Cocktail barHostel bar and live venue$$$101Daily until 23:00
The bar at Kex Hostel fills a former biscuit factory on Skulagata, a Reykjavik gastropub and live-music room with harbour views and a steady gig calendar.
Signature drink: Local beer
Food: Gastropub plates
Tip: Concerts and jam sessions run most weeks in the old factory hall. The kitchen does proper gastropub plates.