4 Best Sights in Reykjavík, Iceland

The most impressive murals in Reykjavík are the work of Australia-born artist Guido van Helten, who carried out a series of commissions on buildings throughout Iceland between 2013 and 2014. His most noted works are those painted on the walls of an old theater building in the hip Grandi Harbor area of the city, featuring characters from a 1961 staging of Sartre’s No Exit. Guido frequently uses old photographs to guide his work; those used for this epic mural were sourced from the Reykjavík Museum of Photography.

A powerful light installation on Viðey Island, created by Yoko Ono, the Imagine Peace Tower is dedicated to the vision of world peace the artist passionately shared with her late husband, John Lennon. The artwork features a large stone wishing well with the words "imagine peace" etched into its white, shiny surface in countless languages. Inside the well are 15 powerful beams that merge into a magnificent force of light when switched on. Yoko visits every year on John's birthday (October 9) to lead the lighting ceremony, where about 2,000 people gather to watch and sing along to Lennon's "Imagine." The impressive tower of light illuminates the skyline until the date of John Lennon's death on December 8th. Yoko provides a free ferry service for those who wish to attend the annual lighting ceremony. The ferry departs from Skarfabakki pier, less than a 10-minute drive from the city center.

Ingólfur Arnarson is renowned as the first Nordic settler in Iceland. Beyond this statue lies the city's architectural mélange: 18th-century stone houses, small 19th-century wooden houses, and office blocks from the 1930s and '40s.

This steel sculpture resembling a Viking ship is hard to miss as you drive along the water in Reykjavík. If you're traveling on Sæbraut, you'll see it on the water right before you hit the Harpa Concert Hall (when traveling east to west). The Sun Voyager was created by local sculptor Jón Gunnar Árnason. The original intention was to create a dreamlike boat that appears to float off into the sun. If you visit during sunset, you'll feel immediately transported.