Viðey is Reykjavík's island escape and its strangest art venue: the low green island in Kollafjörður bay — five minutes by the little ferry from Skarfabakki (the summer schedule adds the Old Harbour departure), yet far enough that the city becomes skyline and the silence becomes the point — layering more history and art per square kilometer than anywhere in Iceland: the historic core (Viðeyjarstofa, Iceland's oldest stone house (1755) and its church — the island was a medieval monastery seat, then the estate of Skúli Magnússon, the father of Reykjavík whose workshops founded the city's industry: the house's café serves soup in the governor's rooms), the art pilgrimages (Yoko Ono's IMAGINE PEACE TOWER — the wishing-well base that fires a pillar of light kilometers into the sky on the dark months' calendar: lit annually from John Lennon's birthday (October 9) to the anniversary of his death (December 8) plus other dates — the light column over the bay is visible from the whole capital, but standing at its base on the island is the pilgrimage; and Richard Serra's Áfangar, the paired basalt stelae ringing the island's western half — the landscape-scale sculpture walk (the pairs frame sea and mountain at surveyed heights) is among the artist's major works and almost nobody's there), the nature (eider colonies and 30-odd breeding species, the grass-and-shore paths, the basalt columns of the island's own geology, and the bay's seals making rounds), and the register that binds it: Viðey runs unhurried by construction — no cars, a café-and-church cluster and then paths, picnic lawns and the weather. The honest frame: the island is a half-day in good weather and a bracing hour in bad (the ferry's schedule thins off-season — check it both ways), the Peace Tower's base visit needs the lit-season calendar (the light fires at dusk; the island evening trips during the lit weeks are the move), and the escape is the product: twenty minutes from Laugavegur, the city goes quiet. Fit: couples (the picnic-and-Serra circuit), families (ferry adventure, eiders and lawns), art pilgrims (Ono and Serra in one walk), and every trip wanting one island hour.
The island's history outruns its size
The Augustinian monastery (1225) made Viðey medieval Iceland's wealthy seat (the Reformation's violent 1539 dissolution — the island was raided and the monastery seized — is a national-history hinge), Skúli Magnússon's 18th-century estate planted the Innréttingar workshops that seeded Reykjavík itself (Viðeyjarstofa was his governor's house — Iceland's first stone building, now the café-and-exhibition cluster with the 1774 church beside it holding the country's oldest original interior), the 20th century ran a fishing village on the eastern spit (the abandoned village's foundations make the melancholy walk), and the art era crowned it: Ono chose Viðey for the IMAGINE PEACE TOWER (2007) — the white stone well inscribed imagine peace in 24 languages, firing its light column (geothermal-powered, like everything here) through the dark months' calendar — and Serra's Áfangar (1990) staked the western moors with nine pairs of basalt columns cut to surveyed heights (each pair frames the horizon at matched elevations — walking the full ring is reading the landscape through the sculptor's level).
The visit craft
Take the ferry timetable seriously (Skarfabakki year-round, Old Harbour summers; the last return is the one that matters), build the loop by appetite (the historic cluster and café make the short version; the Serra ring adds the western hour; the village ruins the eastern one), pack the picnic in good weather (the lawns by the church are the venue), and time the Peace Tower season deliberately — during the lit weeks (Oct 9-Dec 8 and the other calendar dates) the evening ferries run the pilgrimage, and the light column from the island's base is the capital's most moving art experience. The practical notes: no cars and few services (the café holds the cluster), weather rules everything (the island is exposed — the bracing version has its devotees), and winter visits check the schedule twice.
Practicals and fit
Ferry from Skarfabakki (five minutes; summer adds Old Harbour), modest fare, free roaming on the island, Peace Tower lit Oct 9-Dec 8 plus calendar dates. Fit: couples' picnic-and-sculpture circuit, families' ferry adventure, art pilgrims — and the capital's quickest total escape.
What to expect
The experience
The bay island five ferry-minutes from town — Iceland's oldest stone house and church, Yoko Ono's Imagine Peace Tower, Richard Serra's basalt-pair sculpture ring, eider colonies and car-free grass paths.
Best time
Good-weather days for the picnic-and-Serra loop; the Peace Tower's lit season (Oct 9-Dec 8 plus calendar dates) for the evening light-column pilgrimage; check the ferry's off-season schedule both ways.
How long
A half day with the full loop; the historic cluster alone fits an hour.
Tips
The last return ferry is the timetable line that matters. Walk Serra's Áfangar ring — nine basalt pairs framing the horizon, major land art with nobody there. Soup in the 1755 governor's house is the island lunch.
Quick picks
- Best for
- The twenty-minute total escape — city to island silence in one ferry hop.
- Families
- The ferry adventure, eider colonies and lawns — plus ruins to explore on the east spit.
- Couples
- Picnic by the 1774 church, then the Serra stones framing the sea — the bay's quietest date.
- Pair with
- The Old Harbour day connects in summer (the ferry's second port); the Peace Tower's column shows from the Sun Voyager shore all lit season.
- Time needed
- One island half-day, ferry times checked twice.
Good questions
What is the Imagine Peace Tower?+
Yoko Ono's memorial to John Lennon — a white wishing-well base inscribed imagine peace in 24 languages, firing a geothermal-powered column of light kilometers into the sky from October 9 (Lennon's birthday) to December 8 and other calendar dates: the base-of-the-column island evening is the pilgrimage.
What is the Serra work?+
Áfangar (1990) — nine pairs of basalt columns staking the island's western moors at surveyed heights, each pair framing sea and mountain at matched elevations: landscape-scale Richard Serra, walked in near-solitude.
How do we get there?+
The little ferry from Skarfabakki runs five minutes year-round (summer adds Old Harbour departures) — check the schedule both ways, because the last return is the line that matters.
Why is the island historic?+
A medieval monastery seat violently dissolved in the Reformation, then the estate of Skúli Magnússon — whose workshops founded Reykjavík's industry: his 1755 Viðeyjarstofa is Iceland's oldest stone house, with the country's oldest original church interior beside it.
Is there anything on the island — food, shelter?+
The café in the governor's house holds the cluster (the soup lunch is the ritual); otherwise it is paths, lawns, ruins and weather — car-free and gloriously unserviced.
