Ian Schrager's 253-room harbourfront EDITION on Austurbakki — central Reykjavík's only five-star, beside Harpa concert hall, with the Tides restaurant by Gunnar Gíslason and the Roof bar at the top of the building.
"The first proper five-star in central Reykjavík — Ian Schrager's eleventh EDITION, on the Old Harbour beside Harpa. Roof bar at sunset is currently the city's only horizon-line cocktail. The address is the trip."
The Reykjavík EDITION opened on 30 November 2021 as Ian Schrager's eleventh EDITION property and the brand's first Nordic flagship — designed by Schrager with Reykjavík's Studio Granda as architectural collaborators on the Austurbakki harbourfront immediately east of Henning Larsen and Olafur Eliasson's 2011 Harpa concert hall. The building is a deliberate architectural counterpoint to Harpa: where Harpa is glass and basalt-form geometry, the EDITION is dark zinc cladding, deep eaves, and a low harbourfront massing that reads as a contemporary Icelandic warehouse vernacular. The site, on the western edge of Reykjavík's Old Harbour at Austurbakki 2, was the harbour's working fishing-and-customs zone until the early 2000s; the building stands directly on what was the customs jetty, with the harbour water two metres from the property's eastern facade.
The 253 rooms — including 33 suites — are arranged across the building's eight floors. Standard categories begin at 26 square metres; Premium categories add the harbour view, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing east toward Mount Esja across Faxaflói bay; the Penthouse Suite at 167 square metres on the eighth floor is the milestone unit, with a private terrace and direct line of sight to Harpa, the harbour, and Esja. Bathrooms are travertine; bath products are Le Labo Hinoki, EDITION's signature.
The food-and-bar programme is the headline operational layer of the building. Tides is the harbour-facing restaurant under chef Gunnar Gíslason — the Reykjavík-born chef who held the Michelin star at Dill (Iceland's first Michelin star) until 2017 — running an Icelandic tasting programme rooted in the country's regional produce: skyr, lamb, langoustine, bilberry. The Lobby is a 24-hour drawing-room programme. Punch Room (the EDITION signature cocktail bar, in the basement) runs the bartender-led 14-seat reservation programme. Roof, on the top floor, is the city's only true rooftop bar with horizon views, with the Sound music programme running through the late evening into the early morning. The basement Spa runs the 18-metre indoor pool, the only pool of any Reykjavík hotel within the city's centre.
The Old Harbour position is the booking proposition. From the front door it is a 60-second walk to Harpa, four minutes to Hallgrímskirkja via Skólavörðustígur, six minutes to Laugavegur retail axis, eight minutes to Reykjavík's Old Town centre at Austurvöllur, and ten minutes to Tjörnin pond and Reykjavík City Hall. Whale-watching boats depart from the harbour 50 metres from the front door. For travellers prioritising the central walking-Reykjavík brief over the Blue Lagoon resort proposition, the EDITION is the unambiguous answer; for the Reykjavík stay element of an Iceland trip pairing the city with the Retreat, this is the central-base half of the booking.
For Reykjavík honeymoons — typically the city-and-country half of an Iceland trip — the EDITION is the central five-star booking. Penthouse Suite for the harbour-and-Esja view; dinner at Tides; cocktails at Roof at sunset; a private aurora-chasing evening with the concierge between October and March.
The EDITION is the unambiguous Reykjavík bachelor-bachelorette base — the Roof rooftop bar is the city's after-9-PM destination, the basement Punch Room runs the cocktail programme, and the Sound nightclub programme runs Friday and Saturday until 4 AM. Group of 8 to 12 books a Penthouse Suite plus connecting categories.
A Reykjavík anniversary booking benefits from the EDITION's central walkable address, the Tides tasting programme, and the harbour-facing suites with the Esja view. The hotel handles milestone-anniversary stays without ceremony; private dinner-for-two on the Penthouse terrace is the staff's signature set-up between June and August (when the midnight sun makes the terrace usable through the night).
Austurbakki 2
101 Reykjavík
Iceland
Harpa 60 sec on foot; Hallgrímskirkja 4 min; Laugavegur 6 min; Tjörnin pond 10 min; Whale-watching dock 50 metres; Keflavík Airport 50 min by car
253 rooms (incl. 33 suites)
Standard from €640/night
Premium Harbour from €860/night
Junior Suite from €1,400/night
Penthouse Suite from €5,200/night
Check-in: 4:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Opened 30 November 2021
Marriott Bonvoy / EDITION
Tides restaurant (chef Gunnar Gíslason)
The Lobby — 24-hour drawing room
Punch Room cocktail bar
Roof rooftop bar with Esja view
Sound nightclub (Fri-Sat to 4 AM)
18m indoor pool — only city-centre hotel pool
Le Labo Hinoki bath products
From €640/night. Penthouse Suite books six months ahead for July–August midnight-sun and December–January aurora peak. Tides reservations recommended at booking.
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