Things to Do in Reykjavik Old Harbour

Whale watching departure

You board a small oak-decked boat. Diesel coats the breeze as engines throb and the harbour wall slides away. Out on Faxaflói Bay the water turns ink-black. A humpback surfaces. You hear the whoosh of breath. Spray hits your face sharp as needles.

Víkin Maritime Museum

Inside the 1947 fish factory the floor still carries a faint whiff of brine and engine oil. You walk beneath the 900-ton coast-guard ship Óðinn. Its riveted belly looms like a grey whale. Audio recordings of fishermen shouting over gales fill the air.

Harpa sunset stroll

From the western pier you watch the concert hall's glass facets catch the late sun. Honey-coloured shards scatter onto the water. The evening air carries the smell of cinnamon from a nearby waffle truck. Buskers' guitars echo off the basalt-inspired walls.

Microbrewery tasting

In a former bait shed, stainless tanks release wafts of toasted barley and citrusy hops. Between sips of a smoked porter you peek through portholes at the harbour's working docks. Nets are still hand-mended there.

Geirsgata coffee crawl

The old cooperage turned roastery smells of caramelising beans drifting onto the pier. Sit outside with a cortado. Terns dive between masts. Fishermen in bright orange overalls shuffle past carrying newspaper-wrapped pylsur for breakfast.

Stay right on the eastern docks for 19th-century timber warehouses turned into loft hotels. You'll fall asleep to halyard clinks.

Austurstræti, five minutes inland, gives you bar-lined cobblestone streets and cheaper rooms above cafés.

The western marina's new builds have balcony views of Esja mountain and morning sun hitting the water.

Harpa precinct apartments suit self-caterers. Groceries are a block away and the midnight sun streams through tall windows.

Budget guesthouses cluster around the old naval barracks, still smelling faintly of tar from the 1940s.

For a splurge, the 1906 coal crane has been converted into a single-suite tower hovering above the north slip.