Verified without staying. No editor stay. Compiled from the hotel's own published material, the national licence register, aggregated guest data and operator contact. Checked 11 August 2026. How we review.
Hotel Víking is the accommodation half of Fjörukráin, the Viking Village in Hafnarfjörður: a themed complex ten kilometres south of Reykjavík, turf roofs and carved dragon heads, staff in costume, trading on Norse pastiche since long before Iceland’s tourism boom. It is the least subtle hotel in the capital region and entirely unapologetic about it.
Whether that reads as charming or exhausting is genuinely a matter of taste, and this review is not going to pretend otherwise.
The facts
- Address
- Víkingastræti 1-4, 220 Hafnarfjörður
- Rooms
- 108 (was 41 rooms and 14 cottages before the 2026 extension)
- Room types
- Single 12 m², Standard double and twin, Superior 13-19 m², Superior Queen 24 m², Deluxe Queen 28 m², Deluxe Double with side sea view 28 m², Junior Suite with balcony 32 m², King Suite with balcony 63 m², Cottage 25 m²
- From Reykjavik centre
- 10 km, 15-20 minutes by car; Strætó bus 1 from downtown
- From Keflavik airport
- 40 km, about 30 minutes by car
- Geothermal water
- Geothermal hot tub and sauna, free to guests
- Restaurant on site
- Fjörukráin, 350 covers, open from 11:30 daily
- Breakfast
- Included
- Parking
- Free on site
- Operating licence
- Licensed operator – verify current status on the Ferðamálastofa register
- Telephone
- +354 565 1213
- Official site
- www.fjorukrain.is
Sources: fjorukrain.is (operator, rooms and facilities); Ferðamálastofa licence register; Aggregated guest data.
Who it is for, and who it is not
Book it if you are travelling with children, who almost universally find the whole production brilliant. Book it if you have a car and want to be near the airport without staying in Keflavík. Book it if you have already done a Reykjavík city break and want a first or last night with some character attached. Groups do well here too, because the restaurant is built for long tables rather than couples.
Look elsewhere if you came to Iceland for the pared-back Nordic thing. This is the opposite of the minimalist concrete-and-oak aesthetic that most of Reykjavík’s newer hotels do well. Look elsewhere too if you are carless and want to walk to Laugavegur at midnight: the bus runs, but a fifteen-minute drive becomes a real errand at 1am. And if you are a light sleeper, be aware that the feast nights are loud by design.
The rooms
The hotel now lists 108 rooms. That is a recent and substantial change: until the 2026 extension it ran 41 rooms plus 14 cottages, and the new wing added 54 rooms and a suite along with a new reception, bar, lounge areas and an outdoor courtyard. If you stayed here before 2026, this is materially a different hotel.
The range is wide. At the bottom, a 12 m² single or a compact standard double — genuinely small, fine for a night, tight for three. In the middle, Superior rooms at 13 to 19 m² and Superior Queens at 24 m². At the top, a Junior Suite with balcony at 32 m² and a 63 m² King Suite with a balcony and an infrared sauna. Every room has a private bathroom, tea and coffee making, and a flat-screen with satellite channels.
The pick for families is the cottage: 25 m², one double and one twin bed, and its own private entrance, which matters more than it sounds when you are coming back from a late dinner with tired children.
One detail worth knowing before you book: the décor is themed by floor. First floor is full Viking. Second floor is a lighter West Nordic treatment. If the theme is the reason you are coming — or the reason you are hesitating — say which you want when you book, because the room type alone will not tell you.
Location in practice
Hafnarfjörður sits 10 km south of central Reykjavík. That is 15 to 20 minutes in a car outside rush hour, or Strætó bus 1 from downtown.
The number that actually matters, though, is the airport one. Keflavík is 40 km away, roughly 30 minutes — which makes this hotel closer to the airport than central Reykjavík is. For a 7am departure that is a meaningful half-hour of sleep, and it is the strongest practical argument for staying here rather than in town.
The Blue Lagoon is about half an hour west, which makes a last-day lagoon-then-flight run straightforward from here in a way it is not from Reykjavík. The town itself has a working harbour, a lava park, and the folklore that Hafnarfjörður is better known for locally. There is more on that in our guide to staying in Hafnarfjörður.
Eating here
Fjörukráin seats 350 and opens from 11:30 daily, serving traditional Icelandic food. The evening Viking feast is the thing the property is known for: food served on old-style trays, costumed performers, songs and skits. It is a show. Treated as a show it is good fun; treated as a quiet dinner it will be a disappointment.
Breakfast is included in the room rate.
What to book instead
Hótel Vellir — the same town, without the theme
Three minutes away by car, 68 rooms, renovated in 2024, with a restaurant, two bars, a gym, a sauna and a hot tub, plus free breakfast and parking. If you want Hafnarfjörður’s location and airport proximity but none of the costume, this is the straight swap.
Central Reykjavík — if you want to walk to dinner
The trade is obvious: you lose the airport advantage and gain a city you can cross on foot. Our Reykjavík hotels guide covers the neighbourhoods properly.
Keflavík — if it is purely an airport night
If the only job is to be near the gate, skip the capital region entirely. See where to stay in Keflavík.
Three practical notes
1. Ask which wing your room is in
The hotel’s own room listings now show 108 rooms, but at the time of writing its homepage still describes the extension as due to complete at the end of July 2026. The two pages disagree. If you are booking a room type that only exists in the new wing, confirm by email that it is open before you pay.
2. Specify the floor, not just the room type
Viking décor on the first floor, West Nordic on the second. The booking flow does not surface this. A one-line note on the reservation is the difference between the room you pictured and a surprise.
3. The hot tub is the underrated part
Geothermal hot tub and sauna, free to guests, and largely ignored by people who book here for the restaurant. On a clear winter night it is a perfectly good aurora-watching position without leaving the property.