Laekur Hostel

We stayed in the guesthouse this past August, and it was very enjoyable. We would have liked to stay longer than we did. Access was easy and the instructions were clear, the facility was clean and Oliver was very helpful and friendly. The attached cafe was amazing, such good food! We walked to the botanical gardens, the park & zoo, and other locations, it was very convenient. Parking was also easy.

Good value for money. Perfect room and facilities in a nice environment within walking distance (enjoy the walk via the waterfront) from the city centre. I stayed there for three nights with my daughters and would go back if I decide to return to Reykjavik

Very clean very nice the staff was very helpful and understanding it’s comfortable, safe and close to a supermarket and the bus station great location great showers/bathrooms I loved staying there 100% recommend

This is an exceptionally clean, safe, and comfortable hostel. It is next to a very nice cafe and walking distance to cruise ship port and botanical gardens.

Good for a quick stay in Reykjavik. Close to the Hotel there are a Bakery (good) and a small Supermarket

Very affordable for reykjavik, and the place was very clean, with a kitchen and attached bakery; lockers are provided, but you have to bring your own lock

I was staying at the Guesthouse part of this business and as such expected a better standard than was presented with - especially having just stayed at a brilliant guesthouse for 3 nights near Vik. ||I'd received the email instructions to let yourself in the morning of check-in so I assumed all good. Took a note of them, just in case my signal was poor as it had been in various places.||On arrival, I entered through the hostel side which looked fairly grim to be completely honest, and thought, not to worry I'm staying in the guesthouse part so should be ok, and it's only one night...||Following the instruction I get to the outdoor terrace where it's dark (no lights coming on to aid at all), it's cold and it's extremely windy. I follow the instructions entering the code on the keypad to be let in the guesthouse, but it doesn't work. I try another few times, but nothing's working. I try to go back to the hostel side to get back into the warmth so I can call the 'emergency contact for check-in only', but find I'm locked out there too... Not a great start!!!||So I call the emergency contact 5 times with no answer... ||Eventually trying to get back into the hostel side another guest spotted me and let me in, showing me the completely hidden and invisible black keypad on the actual door handle. It's the same on the door handle for the guesthouse too, but the problem there is they have a second one which is thoroughly lit up so you assume you need to use this one. A simple light outside would help arrivals at night time, as would clearer instructions on the email to say ignore the lit up one, and use the one on the door handle itself... Very annoying and could have easily avoided me freezing , locked outside for 10 minutes.||As I get in and find my room, it really is tiny, and not in great condition. It's freezing since the window has been left open all day, and the common areas where the kitchen is has all the windows open too (it was around -2 but windchill was bringing that down a fair bit more than night!). ||The room itself is essentially a bed - the bed is wall to wall. There is just enough space for a suitcase, and then there's a shelving rack, and a bedside table. It could all do with a repaint, and the window could be resealed/neatened up to make it more attractive. It really wouldn't take much.||At this point I receive a text message from the emergency number asking if they can help - around 45 minutes after I needed help! I explained the issue, explained I couldn't see the second keypad in the dark and was trapped outside for 10 minutes. Not a single reply back from them. No 'we're sorry to hear that', or 'good point we'll look into outdoor lighting' or 'we'll make it clearer in the instructions' or even a ' apologies, we hope you have a good night' - literally, no response at all. Customer service is lacking for sure! ||I wanted to get some dinner/breakfast locally, but heck, I wasn't using their cafe downstairs to give them my money if that's the lack of care of their customers they show. ||By the way, I've stayed in everything from hostels to 5 star hotels around the world and this is one of the worst, probably a lot based on the lack of 'emergency check-in service'/customer service. I don't care it was a sunday evening. If you have a number for emergency check-in help, you know you have issues and should resolve them quickly... I'm also european, so am used to small rooms in european cities. that's not an issue, but they need to reinvest some finance into the guesthouse rooms to bring them up to standard...

Free wifi was reliable and quick. I chose to stay here based on location for my first two nights in Iceland since I am doing an eight day G Adventure trip out of the couple of minutes walk away Hotel Cabin. Just fyi you can buy a return Flybus voucher which drops you off right outside Lækur Hostel and picks you up outside Hotel Cabin to go to the airport. I walked everywhere in Reykjavik (it isn't that big a city) and this is by far the better area than downtown (the CBD), which is an easy 20 minute walk away. More of the things you want to see are out this way. Such as Nature Gallery of the Recycled House, any fan of horror movies wants to experience this place, and it's a minute walk from the hostel. There's also a nice pathway along the ocean here going left to the CBD or going right, around to the cruise ship terminal. The main pool, well pools there's all different ones is also a minute or two walk away in the other direction. Every Icelandic person you meet tells you, you have to go there, it's their pastime. The main stadium for the city is also next to the pool if there was a concert or sporting you are visiting for. Botanic Gardens and zoo are to the left of those with the HI and campground in between. If you're going to Perlan, and you should be, it's about a 20 minute walk, you're closer to that then if you stayed in the CBD. There really isn't much to see or do in the CBD so unlike most other European capitals, there is no advantage really to need to stay in it. ||This was an awesome small hostel, one of the best I've ever stayed at. It's obvious whoever designed it has been a backpacker themselves as small things like free lockers (if you have a padlock (you can rent on if you don't, but who doesn't have a couple on their zippers on their bags?) are located outside of the dorm rooms. Important as someone looking for things isn't noisily doing that in room with others. Likewise the toilets and showers (all seperate individual stand alones, I think there were about six showers, and probably the same amount of toilets, were not like poorly designed dorm rooms, inside the dorm room. This meant if you wanted to get up earlier in the morning and use them, you didn't have to worry about who was complaining they had an early flight needing access, as there's plenty to choose from. They were high quality showers with both a normal showerhead and one on a hose you could switch between. The only thing I would have maybe liked was a few hooks in the change room part of the shower. Couldn't fault the cleanliness of the showers or toilets though, they were always clean. Liquid soap is provided at the sinks where there is also a hairdryer. ||The bed was really comfortable. I liked how they have this brilliant idea of giving you a magnet with a letter on it that you put on the upper or lower bunk that you have chosen, so any later arrival know that bed is taken, and two if a tour company or someone rings and leaves a message they know which bed is yours to leave a note on. These are the kind of things that only someone who has been backpacking, walked into a room and can't tell which bed is available due to people putting their stuff on vacant beds. ||On the downside they don't provide a towel, but you can rent one, so try and remember to bring one. There's a kitchen and eating area (not the cafe) which has the nicest tasting tap water, no need to buy water.