Grandagarður

About Grandagarður

Grandagarður is the main street of Grandi, the harbour district on the western side of Reykjavík's Old Harbour, a 10 to 15 minute walk from the city centre. Grandi was built on land reclaimed for the fishing industry, and it is still a working harbour, but many of its old fish-processing buildings and warehouses now hold museums, galleries, food halls and shops, making it one of the easiest places in the city to fill a few hours.

The Reykjavík Maritime Museum, in a former fish-freezing plant on Grandagarður, covers the city's fishing history and includes the coastguard vessel Óðinn. At the harbour end of the street, the building at Grandagarður 2 houses Aurora Reykjavík, a northern lights exhibition, and the Saga Museum. A short walk further into the district are Whales of Iceland, with life-size models of the whale species found around Iceland, and FlyOver Iceland, a ride-style film flight over the country.

The Marshall House at Grandagarður 20, a herring factory built in 1948 with Marshall Plan money, reopened in 2017 as an arts centre. It holds the Living Art Museum (Nýlistasafnið), the artist-run gallery Kling & Bang and the studio of Ólafur Elíasson, plus a restaurant. Along the street are cafés, a food hall and seafood restaurants, and the Omnom chocolate factory is close by.

The street and harbour are free to walk at any time, while museums charge admission and keep their own hours, so check them before visiting. At the end of the breakwater stands Þúfa, a grassy spiral mound with a fish-drying shed on top, which you can climb for views back over the harbour and across to Mount Esja. Whale-watching boats leave from the neighbouring Old Harbour piers, and many visitors combine a trip with an afternoon in Grandi.