It’s time to dethrone Copenhagen from its smug position as the sophisticated weekend away of choice.
Don’t get us wrong; we love the place. If you’re looking for friendly people, highfalutin cuisine, a compact and navigable city, a thousand year history that stretches from Viking ships to the avant-garde, and a diverse arts and music scene…then there are few cities that rival Copenhagen.
But there are some. Like Reykjavík.
And based on the data we’ve compiled here at KAYAK, it looks like travellers are thinking this way too: comparisons between 2015 and 2014 show there’s been a 22% increase in flight searches to Reykjavík. And our median airfare graph also makes it clear that now is one of the best times to snag yourself a Reykjavik weekend break.
So if people are flocking from one edge of Norden to another we thought it’d be useful to point out what else can be swapped.
Sights: The view from Hallgrímskirkja over Rundentaarn
With populations of 120,000 and 500,000 respectively, Reykjavík and Copenhagen are the perfect size for weekends away in which you actually get a sense of the city. Their compact size also means you can get a comprehensive view of the entire place if you venture up high, and both cities offer great places to do so.
In Copenhagen, you can snag an aerial view of the city from the Rundetaarn – a seventeenth century astronomical observatory made with a spiral ramp wide enough for a horse. Architecturally, it’s a striking building, but for our money it doesn’t beat the phenomenal, concrete expressionism of Reykjavík’s Hallgrímskirkja.
Hallgrimur’s church was designed by Guðjón Samúelsson in the 1930s, and has a lift to take tourists up to the top so they can see the city and the surrounding mountains in one go.
Music: Sonar Reykjavik over Copenhagen’s great venues
Evidence of Reykjavík’s newfound popularity is that the city is hosting the world famous Barcelona-based Sonar music festival from 18-20 February (you can bag last-minute flights here). The expertly curated festival of electronic music will have an “intimate” series of shows at the Harpa concert house on the docks. London jazz impresario Floating Points, Glaswegian beat-builder Koreless and Detroit’s hottest rapper Angel Haze are all on the bill – it’s a line-up eclectic and energetic enough to stave off the Arctic winter.
That said, there’s no want for good music in Copenhagen. Adele, Iggy Pop and Stereolab frontwoman Lætitia Sadier are all gracing the city this March and May. Moreover, the city is renowned for its jazz clubs – which hosted the likes of Miles Davis all the way back in the early 60s – like La Fontaine and Jazzhaus Monmartre. But, for now, our money’s on Sonar.
Food: Fermented Shark over Hot Dog stands
Copenhagen is the foodie capital of northern Europe and the jewel in the crown is Noma, often cited as the best restaurant in the world. But the regal imagery is apt – Copenhagen’s fine dining is tilted toward the 1%. But the way to get around that is visiting one of the city’s excellent hot dog stands (no, really): hot dog stalls like ‘Harry’s Den’ have been endorsed by two former prime ministers, and DØP in the city centre was voted the city’s best eatery in a city-wide vote.
But if the choice is between Noma’s poached Dodo eggs for billionaires or an American hot dog, you can see why we’re opting for Reykjavík – specifically the Kolaportid Flea Market. The market is truly an institution of the city. Held indoors near the port, you can find vintage clothes and toys, but more importantly, food stalls selling the most typical of Icelandic delicacies at decent prices: fermented shark, fresh liquorice, earth-baked rye bread, birch cheese, lamb testicles, and more.
Art: The Living Art Museum over Kunsthall Charlottenburg
Both cities have a strong culture of state-funded arts institutions, meaning they’re full of free and cheap places to imbibe weird art. At Copenhagen, a great place to check out is the Kunsthall Charlottenburg – a 17th century palace that’s been transformed into a gallery, with an art book and zine store and a great little café to match. On at the moment is an exhibition called Sight and Wonders, in which you sit in the middle of six flight simulators that fly around the landscape of Papua New Guinea.
But Reykjavík’s art scene is hard to beat. If we had to choose one venue to go to, it’d be the Living Art Museum. Founded in 1978 as an alternative to the National Gallery of Iceland it puts on provocative exhibitions and events. They’ve got one coming up called Women’s Day Off, which is all about a famous strike in 1975 when 90% of all Icelandic women refused to work, cook or look after children for one day.
(Oh yeah and the city also has the world’s only museum dedicated to collecting penises – the Icelandic Phallological Museum. Inspiring feminist history or a collection of knobs? The choice is yours.)
So we’ve made it clear that Copenhagen’s got a lot to offer but if you feel like making a more adventurous journey away from mainland Europe whilst keeping the Nordic spirit alight, then Reykjavik’s the place.
Remember, the median airfares to Iceland’s capital are cheapest around this time of year – you can get flights for a quick break in March for as little as £167! Oh and, it goes without saying, use KAYAK to find the best offers from hundreds of travel sites.
