This was our second stay at the Hotel Leifur Eiriksson, the previous stay being 12 and a half years ago! The reason we stayed again is the central location of the hotel and stunning view of Hallgrímskirkja, which was illuminated pink during our stay in celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness month. You get great views over Reykjavik from the bell tower.
If you turn left out of the hotel and walk down Frakkastigur you reach the Sun Voyager sculpture and if you turn right and walk down Skólavördustígur, to Rainbow Street, there are plenty of shops. There are plenty of places to eat, just a short walk away. The only downside is it's an uphill walk back to the hotel!
The hotel is a short walk from bus stop no. 8, where tour buses pick-up from now that are no longer able to pick up at the hotel, as they did in our previous stay. If you do any excursions, during the pick-ups and drop-offs of the other travellers you'll see how far out of Reykjavik some of the other hotels are - definitely not within walking distance.
The staff are really friendly and we had a breakfast-to-go bag made up by Maria when we told her what time we were checking out.
For me the two downsides are the lack of a lift (thankfully I was with my husband who carried my case up to the room) and the size of the room and bathroom. I didn't have a bedside table, but managed to improvise using my suitcase and I'd forgotten how tiny the bathroom was. Once we'd got ourselves organised everything was fine in the room and bathroom.
We'd definitely stay again should we visit Reykjavik in the future as I don't think you can beat the location of the hotel.
