Hotel Borg

Hotel Borg was built in 1930 by Jóhannes Jósefsson, a wrestler who had toured the world with a circus strongman act and returned home to give the young capital its first true grand hotel. The white Art Deco block on Austurvöllur square, facing Iceland's parliament and cathedral, quickly became the stage for the nation's public life — state receptions, dances and, in later decades, concerts that folded the Borg into Reykjavík's music lore.

Restoration has leaned into the building's period character: geometric Deco detailing, monochrome photography and furniture that echoes the thirties, with a tower suite occupying the landmark's crown. Rooms are crisp and comfortable rather than opulent, in keeping with Nordic taste, and the square-facing categories watch Reykjavík's civic life go by below.

The location is the best in the city — the old town, harbour, Harpa concert hall and the cafés of Laugavegur are all within a few minutes' walk — and the basement spa adds an unexpectedly complete thermal circuit for a city hotel. As a base for Golden Circle days, northern-lights hunts and Reykjavík's creative food scene, the Borg pairs history with practicality like nowhere else in Iceland.