Iceland! – Our Hotel

We are staying at the Leifur Eiriksson hotel in Reykjavik.

The Good:

1. It’s cheap. I think we’re paying about $40/night.
2. The location is great. Quick walk to the main shopping/restaurant drag, great view of the big church.
3. The front desk has been super helpful at setting up tours, taxis, reservations.
4. Free breakfast spread that’s better than many cheap European hotels’.

The Bad:

1. There’s no elevator. We’re only on the 3rd floor, so it’s not too bad, but if you’re higher up, or elderly, or otherwise don’t like stairs, it could be an issue.
2. The walls/doors/windows are paper thin. You will hear everything that happens on your floor or outside.
3. There are no amenities. I don’t mean “they don’t have Aveda bath products”, I mean “there’s no alarm. there’s no extra towels. there’s no bath mat. there’s one ‘do not disturb’ sign shared by the entire wing. there’s no room service. there’s no shoe shine. there’s no shampoo. there’s no hair dryer (apparently there’s one for the whole hotel, but it hasn’t been available yet – and we’ve asked twice a day since we arrived). there’s only one room key for the two of us. there’s no bathrobes. there’s no paper, pens, pencils, envelopes. there’s no thermostat. there’s no bathroom exhaust fan, so after your shower the whole room is a now a steam room. there’s no tub. there’s no separate shower basin, it shares the same floor as the bathroom. there’s no clock.”
4. The bed is hilarious. It’s a full size, since there are two of us. However, apparently they don’t have full size sheets, blankets, or pillows. For sheets, they’ve used two twin sheets put on horizontally, overlapping about 1/2 way down the bed. For blankets they’ve used two twin blankets put on vertically, overlapping about a foot in the middle of the bed. The pillows are the smallest, flattest, bags of dust mite dander that I’ve ever seen. The mattress is marginally better than sleeping on the floor.
5. The room is tiny. There is probably about 2 feet on any given side of the bed. One side of the bed has a bedside table/micro-desk since there’s no room for both bedside stands AND a desk. The “closet” is about 12″ wide, and has four hangers. The shower is so small that I can’t physically be in the shower, without part of my body touching the shower curtain. Which when you’re wet means the shower curtain clings to your body like a cape, while you try to not think about the fact that it’s done that for every person who’s stayed in that room. When you have a cape like that, your only super power is “Fungal Infection!”

If you are broke/used to European hostels/a hospitality masochist it could be a fine option. If not, I’d highly recommend trying the Raddisson 1919 SAS, or Hotel 101 (a bit spendy).