Hotel Borg

The Hotel

Hotel Borg opened on 18 January 1930 as the first proper hotel in Iceland — commissioned by Jóhannes Jósefsson, the Icelandic Glíma wrestler who had toured the United States as a circus strongman in the 1910s and returned with the capital and ambition to build the country its first European-grade hotel. The architect was Guðjón Samúelsson — the State Architect of Iceland from 1920 to 1950, the same architect who designed Hallgrímskirkja and the National Theatre — and Borg is his only Art Deco building, a deliberate counterpoint to his usual Icelandic-basalt vernacular. The building stands directly on Austurvöllur, the central public square of Reykjavík, opposite the Althingi (Iceland's parliament) and adjacent to the Reykjavík Cathedral. Borg was the principal Reykjavík hotel through the mid-20th century, hosting Niels Bohr, Marlene Dietrich, the Reykjavík summit press corps in October 1986, and every visiting head of state through the period.

The current ownership, the Keahotels group of Iceland, acquired the property in 2007 and completed a comprehensive restoration in 2010 to mark the 80th anniversary, with the entry into the Marriott Autograph Collection in 2014. The 1930 Samúelsson facade — limestone with the characteristic Art Deco vertical fluting and the original brass-clad entrance canopy — is preserved completely; the lobby, with its restored 1930 plaster mouldings, brass detailing and the original mosaic floor preserved beneath the front desk, is the building's signature interior space. The 99 rooms — including 8 suites — are arranged across the building's six floors, with categories ranging from Standard at 18 square metres to the Tower Suite at 65 square metres on the top floor with views directly across Austurvöllur to the Althingi.

Borg Restaurant in the original 1930 dining room runs the all-day Icelandic-Nordic register; Skuggi Bar in the basement runs the cocktail and evening programme. There is no pool or spa — the principal limitation of the offer relative to the EDITION and the Retreat. The four-star classification reflects the absence of these facilities, not room or service quality, which is at the upper end of the Reykjavík hotel register. The restoration has been deliberately conservative — the property reads as a 1930 Art Deco hotel, not as a 21st-century reinterpretation of one — and this is the principal booking proposition for travellers who want the heritage building over the contemporary hotel.

The Austurvöllur address is the unambiguous booking proposition. From the front door it is 30 seconds to the Althingi and the Reykjavík Cathedral, four minutes to Tjörnin pond and Reykjavík City Hall, six minutes to Hallgrímskirkja via Skólavörðustígur, three minutes to Laugavegur, and seven minutes to Harpa. For the heritage-and-walking Reykjavík booking — particularly for travellers paired with the Retreat at Blue Lagoon as the wellness half — Borg is the right central base. The EDITION is the harbour-and-design alternative; Borg is the parliament-and-Art-Deco alternative.

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