Painted on the wall at Hotel Klettur:
“Welcome to Hotel Klettur
Klettur means a big rock. Or a cliff.
If your name is Cliff Rock we will make you our guest of honor.”
It’s always cold in Iceland – there’s nothing to stop the cold wind ripping across the island from Greenland and the Arctic – so it’s great to have such a warm welcome to the Hotel.
Hotel Klettur is one of the hotels in Reykjavik centre that’s far enough away from the town to enjoy its own quietness, while still being close enough so that you don’t miss too much of the action.
The entrance has a cosy library/lounge vibe with couches and reading lights if you should need to wait for your room to become available. We’d arrived before 3pm and had a bit of a wait for our room to be ready so availed ourselves of the facilities to get a bit of work done (or pretend to as I checked out the other parts of the reception area).
Opposite us was a tour desk, and behind that I could see souvenirs for sale. In front of the tour desk was an impressive shelf of brochures and leaflets advertising all manner of tours and activities. On our arrival we had walked past a group of people waiting outside the door, and it became apparent that they were waiting to be picked up for one of the any tours available. Great to see that Klettur was on the map for tour pickups!
The Room
From the entrance the hotel looks like a small boutique sort of place, I had thought maybe 20 rooms at the most. So I was a little surprised to learn that they had over 160! Ours was a standard room with a view into the central courtyard, away from any street noise.
The room wasn’t overly large with two single beds pushed together in the Continental European way, creating a surprisingly large sleeping area. Ange loves the individual duvets but I’m not sold. We didn’t like the pillows that were there, as they were a bit flat, but a quick call down to reception sorted that out.
The furnishings aren’t extensive but appropriate given the size of the room. An armchair and a seat at the desk allow you to do some work, and there are tea-making facilities. The blackout blinds were amazing and necessary – not a smidgen of light got through.
The bathroom features Duke & Lyle toiletries and is compact and functional. The room is warm enough and the windows do open so you can get fresh air if you want.
Most of the time you’d be out and about in Iceland, so investing in the comfort of the room would probably go unnoticed.
Breakfast
So normally we go into great detail about the breakfasts at hotels, and what they do or do not include. It was important to us to have a good breakfast at Klettur because it was included in the room rate and everything was just sooo expensive in Iceland.
Breakfast was scheduled between 6 and 10 each morning in the basement dining room, while check out is at 11. Unfortunately with the jetlag of the flight over from Portland and the all night dusk the night before at the Silica, we’d had our sleep cycles messed up and so ended up sleeping through our alarm.
So at 10:20 I found myself sprinting down the stairs to the dining room in the desperate hope that the breakfast hadn’t all been put away.
Upon arriving at the dining room (I must admit I must have looked just a little manic), I could see that two staff members were in the process of clearing away the breakfast food. Uh.. I managed.. guess I missed breakfast? One of them smiled over to me and said “You can grab something now if you like.”
Lifesaver! I grabbed a plate and filled it up blindly from the continental section, looking wistfully at the hot food section, already sparkling clean and devoid of food. I loped back up to the room with my booty and shared it with Ange as we packed, the twin deadlines of check-out and airport bus pickup looming.
Pros and Cons
Pros
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Cons
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Would I Return?
Definitely! Hotel Klettur is one of the more reasonably priced places to stay in Reykjavik. It’s geared to help you maximise your stay in Iceland, connecting you to the touristy side of Reykjavik, as well as being close enough to the amenities that the locals use, like the supermarkets and the local rooftop public pool, Sundhöll Reykjavíkur.
