The Reykjavik Art Museum is either one museum or three museums, depending upon how you think of it. One the one hand, paying for admission to any one of them gets you in to all three of them, as long as you go on the same day.
On the other hand, you can’t really walk between any two buildings. Here is my poor attempt at a map:
Hafnarhús is in the downtown / harbor area. Ásmundar is over by the zoo and family park. And Kjarvalsstaðir is … well, somewhere else over by a park.
I think that Hafnarhús is what people think of when they think of “the” Reykjavik Art Museum, since it’s in perhaps the main tourist area of Reykjavik. It has an interesting collection of art spread across 6 galleries on 2 floors. Here’s a sampling:
When we first came to this museum back in 2009, there was an incredible exhibit for the kids– there were large blocks with art on each side that they could arrange, stack, climb on … it was one of the highlights of our trip. But that was just luck of the draw, as there isn’t anything to climb on there right now. Hafnarhús is a very nice art gallery, but we didn’t find anything outstanding for families. We’ll try the other art museums and see if we think they would be better for families; Ásmundur Sveinsson is a sculpture museum, and so that might be a better for families with kids.
[Update: See our visit to the Ásmundur Sveinsson sculpture museum.]
Admission is 1500 krona per adult, and free for kids under 18. Remember that the one fee gets you same-day admission to all 3 museums …. er, buildings that are part of the one museum.
There is a small restaurant at Hafnarhús, which is apparently brand new. We didn’t eat there, since we had plans to seek out children’s menus in the area. But here is the menu the day we were there; it certainly looks ambitious for a museum restaurant:
After the art museum, it was time for our project of the day: Seeking out the best children’s menu in the harbor area. We didn’t find as many children’s menus as we had hoped. But there are a few, and here’s the list. Let me know if we missed any of them! In alphabetical order
American Bar. Children’s burger or ribs for 990, including fries and juice.
Cafe Paris. 4 entree choices, including a kid’s brunch.
We tried the kids brunch at Cafe Paris. Here it is, without the bacon that is included:
Caruso. I think this is just on the dinner menu, and you would have to order from the regular menu for lunch:
Dirty Burger and Ribs. These are the same 2 choices as you will find at American Bar, for the same price. Maybe they share a kitchen? Here you can also order a family option, which is 2 adult meals and 2 kids meals.
Grillhusid. 4 basic entree choices, plus a rice pudding.
Hressingarskálinn. Not so much a kid’s menu as a policy: Kids can get any entree for half price. Some, if not many, restaurants, without a kid’s menu also have this policy, but it’s nice to see it explicitly listed.
Laundromat Cafe. Kudos to them for having Plokkfish on the kid’s menu.
Shalimar Pakistani. We jumped at this one, as soon as we saw they have a “baby chicken mango.”
They were out of ice cream, which worked out on our favor, as the substitution was a mango lassi.
Edited to add: Carrie’s comment below made me realize we forgot to include Icelandic Fish and Chips, which has one of the best kid’s meal options in town. You won’t see the kid’s menu on the chalkboard when you walk in, but there are two kid’s options on the printed menu.
Those options are a kid’s fish and chips, served with potatoes (900 krona) or fisherman’s stew (800 krona). The fish and chips is shown below, missing a bunch of potatoes that my son already ate. I need to learn to take these pictures faster …
The kid’s fish had one large piece of fish; the adult portion had 3 medium sized pieces. Note that you can choose the type of fish that they will fry; the choices on this day are listed on the chalkboard– cod, tusk, or pollock. We were told that the pollock has a stronger taste, but it’s flakier. Ask your server for a description of each fish.
We also asked for a small mango skyr sauce with the kid’s portion; there are a variety of flavors. I’m not sure if we were charged extra for this. An extra “Skyronnes” dip normally costs 290 krona, but the one we got with the kid’s meal was smaller.
Kid’s menus can save you substantial money, as the prices can be half or even two-thirds less than a standard entree. There are a few interesting choices in the harbor area; we’ll continue to add to the list as we find more. Or let us know what you’ve found!
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Kids and grown-ups alike enjoyed our dinner at Icelandic Fish and Chips. Fish seemed really fresh and the salads were creative and tasty. I certainly appreciated the lighter/healthier approach to fish and chips (roasted potatoes, not fries), and since the kids meals were around 9oo kr., we were able to justify trying the skyr for dessert.
Also pretty cool that we could stroll through the volcano exhibit next door (no charge!) while we waited for the food to arrive.
My only caveat–they are always busy, so don’t go unless you can wait a while.
Thanks Carrie! We actually visited Icelandic Fish and Chips too, but on a different day from the rest of the restaurants. So I forgot to include it. I’ll update the post– thank you! I assume you didn’t watch the volcano movie next door?
You are correct–we did not view the movie (mainly because we were traveling with young kids). We all enjoyed looking at the exhibits, though. On a side note–I was able to buy postcards and stamps at the volcano museum and the kids were able to write postcards to friends while we waited for our food. That was convenient!
🙂
The postcards are a great idea!