Reykjavík bike tour: worth it, or just rent a bike?

Take the group tour if it is your first day in Reykjavík and you want someone to explain what you are looking at. Rent a bike if you already know the city, or if you would rather stop where you like. The Classic Reykjavík Group Bike Tour is from €84 for two and a half hours with a guide. City bike rental is from €30. The difference is the guide, and in Reykjavík the guide is doing real work for the first few hours only.

Reykjavík is a good city for a bike. It is compact, the shore path runs most of the way around the peninsula, and the hills are short. It is also windy, and the weather changes several times an afternoon. Neither is a reason not to ride. Both are reasons to dress properly.

The group tour

The group tour leaves at 11:00 and runs all year. It takes you through the old neighbourhoods, along the waterfront and past the main sights, with a local guide, a bike and a helmet included. The operator offers child bikes, trailers and tag-along bikes, so it works for families.

What you get for the extra €54 over a rental is context. Why the houses are clad in corrugated iron. What the harbour was. Where the parliament sat. On a first day, that is worth having, and a bike covers more ground than a walking tour in the same time. The downside is the single departure. If your flight lands at 06:00 and you are asleep by ten, it does not fit.

Renting and riding it yourself

Rental runs from €30, with a helmet and lock included, and you can pick up from 09:00 to 16:00 in half-hour slots. Half-day and full-day options are available.

An easy loop, if you want one: follow the shore path west from the Old Harbour past Grótta lighthouse, come back along the south side of the peninsula to Nauthólsvík, the geothermal beach, then ride up past the Nordic House and Tjörnin pond into the old town. It is mostly flat, mostly on dedicated paths, and you cannot get badly lost with the sea on one side. Allow two to three hours with stops.

Ride into the wind first. It is normally blowing, and it is a much nicer ride home with it at your back.

The private tours

Private tours start at Coast of Reykjavík, from €320 for two and a half hours: the Old Harbour, the shore past the lighthouse and golf course, the geothermal beach, the university, the Nordic House and Tjörnin. It is roughly the loop above, with a guide and at your own pace.

Nature of Reykjavík is from €407, three and a half hours and 25 to 30 km on paved paths and quiet roads. City bikes or e-bikes, easy difficulty, April to October. Reykjavík MTB is from €431 for three and a half hours on hardtail or full-suspension mountain bikes, 20 to 40 km, for people with some fitness. The guide talks less and you ride more. It leaves at 17:00, and groups are capped at four.

These are private bookings and they cost several times the group tour. For two adults, we would rather rent and use the difference on dinner. For a family with young children, a group of friends with mixed fitness, or anyone who wants the ride tailored, they earn it.

What to wear

The operator is blunt about this and right: hat and gloves even if the forecast says sun. Add a windproof layer, and trousers you do not mind getting splashed. Wind makes a bright 10°C day feel like 3°C on a bike.

Our honest take

First visit: take the group tour at €84, and do it early in the trip so you know the city for the rest of the stay. Second visit, or confident cyclists: rent from €30 and ride the shore loop yourself. Private city tours are for families and groups, not couples.