Reykjavík is the capital, and it is not the whole place people mean when they say they are “in Reykjavík” after landing at KEF. Visit Iceland’s geosites article says the capital region, höfuðborgarsvæðið, includes Reykjavík and the connected towns of Kópavogur, Garðabær, Hafnarfjörður, Seltjarnarnes, and Mosfellsbær. Much of the land around the towns is used for walking. The airport is not in this region. It is on Reykjanes, a drive away.
People and place
Visit Iceland’s geography page, which dates its numbers 8 May 2026, says Iceland’s population was 395,050, that Reykjavík sits at 64.1° north and is the world’s northernmost capital, and that the city had about 147,067 people. Almost two-thirds of the country, it says, lives in the capital area in the southwest. The rest is spread along the coast in fishing towns and farmland. Akureyri is the largest town outside the southwest. An earlier practical-information page, dated January 2025 in its population line, gave a national total of 389,444 and a Reykjavík figure of 138,772, with Kópavogur 40,040 and Hafnarfjörður 31,525. The two pages do not match, which is what happens when counts are updated. This guide reports both dates instead of inventing a newer census.
The same practical page says Icelandic is the national language, that English is widely spoken, and that Danish is the third language taught in schools. The country is on Greenwich Mean Time all year. There is no seasonal clock change to plan around.
A city on a rift
The geosites article says the capital stands on bedrock spanning about the last 3.2 million years, on the west edge of the active volcanic belt. The oldest rocks it points to are in Esja, the mountain across the bay. The youngest are in the south of the region: Garðabær and Hafnarfjörður stand partly on lava from after the settlement, which the article places around 870. It names Kapelluhraun, the Chapel lava, from an eruption in 1151. Grótta, at the western tip of Seltjarnarnes, is a lighthouse, a bird spot, and a place the article says works for the northern lights. It also warns that the reef to the small island is tidal: you can be cut off. Viðey is a short ferry from Sundahöfn, and in summer also from the Old Harbour. The article says to check the ferry’s own schedule and prices. Those are not reprinted here.
Getting in and getting around town
From KEF, the verified rides are on the transport page. Inside the capital, Visit Iceland’s getting-around article says Strætó city buses are yellow, marked with an S, and that they cover the metropolitan area. It mentions the EasyPark and Parka apps for parking in Reykjavík. The airport’s drop-off page says those same apps can pay for airport parking. None of that is a metro. Visit Iceland’s getting-around page says plainly that exploring Iceland without a car still means buses, tours, ferries, and domestic flights, not trains.
The domestic airport, Reykjavíkurflugvöllur, is in the city, not at Keflavík. Visit Iceland says Icelandair flies daily from there to Akureyri, Egilsstaðir, and Ísafjörður; that Eagle Air flies several times a week to Höfn and to Vestmannaeyjar (Heimaey); and that Norlandair has twice-weekly flights to Bíldudalur, Gjögur on Strandir, and Grímsey. It says domestic flights have no security gates, and that the flight to Akureyri is around 45 minutes. It also says the domestic airport is an hour’s drive from KEF. A connection is a transfer across the capital area, not a corridor inside one building. Confirm the airline, not this paragraph, on the day.
Food, pools, and the long summer evenings are part of how the city is used, not a separate “top ten.” Those subjects are on the food, pools, and seasons pages. A short stay that never leaves the capital is a real trip. It is not the Ring Road, and it is not the Westfjords.
Sources
- Visit Iceland, Reykjavík geosites
- Visit Iceland, Geography of Iceland
- Visit Iceland, Practical information
- Visit Iceland, Getting around
- Visit Iceland, Getting around (short page)