Hotel Borg is Reykjavik's establishment address: the white art deco block on Austurvöllur square, built in 1930 by Jóhannes Jósefsson — circus strongman, Olympic wrestler, and national character — as the capital's first luxury hotel, facing Parliament and the old cathedral across the lawn where the city gathers for everything from Christmas lights to constitutional protests. Inside, the deco bones run restored and genuine (chrome, dark wood, period geometry) through 99 rooms and suites — the tower suite's parliament view being the city's most storied — plus the Borg spa's steam-and-treatment floor and the brasserie's grand corner windows. Everything downtown radiates from the front steps: Laugavegur's shops, the harbor, Hallgrimskirkja's hill. For travelers who want the city's history as their lobby, there's one answer. Booked directly.
The founding story is pure Iceland
Jóhannes "Jóhannes á Borg" Jósefsson toured the world as a circus strongman and Glíma wrestling champion, banked the fortune, and returned to build his young capital a proper grand hotel in 1930 — art deco at its Nordic cleanest, on the square where the nation's political life already lived. The building has hosted the history since: parliamentarians' breakfasts, visiting royalty, the 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev summit's press corps, and every Austurvöllur celebration and protest played out under its windows.
The restoration keeps faith with the era — chrome rails, ebonized wood, deco sconces, monochrome photography of the strongman himself — through rooms that run boutique-sized and sharply finished (the 2016-era renovations modernized the plumbing without sanding the period), up to the tower suite's wraparound: Parliament, the cathedral, and the square's life framed like state theater. The Borg spa in the cellar vaults handles steam, sauna, and treatments (a genuine city-hotel rarity here); the Borg Brasserie's corner windows do the grand-café register for breakfast and bistro dinners; and the doormen's umbrella-and-directions service completes the old-school stack.
Position is the practical luxury
Austurvöllur square is downtown's hinge — Laugavegur's shopping artery two minutes one way, the Old Harbour's boats six the other, Hallgrimskirkja's hill ten up, the City Hall pond behind — so the entire capital walks from the steps. Winter's square lights and summer's café-lawn sprawl both perform for the front rooms (light sleepers note: the square celebrates late on weekends; courtyard-side rooms hush it).
Why stay here
- ✓1930 art deco landmark
- ✓Parliament-square front rooms
- ✓Borg spa (steam, sauna, treatments)
- ✓Borg Brasserie grand café
- ✓Tower suite with square panorama
- ✓Two minutes to Laugavegur
- ✓Doorman old-school service
- ✓Walk-everywhere position
Good questions
What's the strongman story?+
Founder Jóhannes Jósefsson earned the fortune as a touring circus strongman and Glíma wrestling champion, then built the capital its first grand hotel in 1930 — the deco landmark still carries his name ("á Borg") and photographs.
Which rooms face the square?+
The front deco rooms and the tower suite overlook Austurvöllur, Parliament, and the cathedral — the city's ceremonial view. Weekend nights celebrate below; courtyard rooms trade the view for hush.
How central is it really?+
It is the center — Parliament across the lawn, Laugavegur's shops two minutes, the harbor six, Hallgrimskirkja ten up the hill. No Reykjavik address walks better.
