The Radisson Blu 1919, Reykjavik

AIM: Our Trip to Amsterdam, Iceland and Munich
Iberia Business Class Between Chicago and Munich
The Kimpton DeWitt, Amsterdam
AIM: Our Time in Amsterdam
The Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel and Conference Center
The Radisson Blu 1919, Reykjavik
The Center Hotel Plaza, Reykjavik
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part I
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part II
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part III
The aloft Munich
AIM: Our Time at Dachau
AIM: Our Time in Munich
The Hilton Munich Airport

After a delay leaving Amsterdam, we arrived in Reykjavik on a rainy Sunday afternoon.  We would soon learn that there was a chance of rain almost every day in Iceland this time of year.  After the unexpectedly warm hot temperatures of Amsterdam, we had to quickly become accustomed to the cooler temps in Iceland though at least it was not a surprise and we'd packed for it.  C and I could have stayed at the Center Hotel Plaza for the first night, where we'd be staying with the group for the rest of the week, but we decided to use some Radisson Rewards points and stay two blocks away at the Radisson Blu 1919 instead.  Due to construction it's hard to tell that the building is actually rather nice and historic-looking.  In 1919, this building was the headquarters for the first steamship company in Iceland and that's where the hotel gets its name.

Since we only stayed the one night and we were more interested in getting out to see the city than investigating the hotel I didn't get photos of the gym or the restaurant.  We did consider eating breakfast there but decided to go elsewhere.

Our room was at the end of the hall on the second floor.  I have seen setups like this at other hotels, where you reach the end of the hall and open the door, then there are two separate room doors behind that.  It's not quite a suite and it's not connecting rooms in the usual sense but it allows a family to have a king bed in one room and twin beds in the other yet still be behind a single door.  Or, like now, they can let two unrelated parties have each of the rooms.

Yet when we arrived the twin beds were pushed together and made up as a single king bed so we had to notify the front desk.  To their credit, it didn't take housekeeping very long at all to come up and rearrange things.  A side benefit of this was that I was able to get another sheet so I'd have something between me and the duvet.  I was hoping this would keep me from getting so hot at night.  We did leave the window cracked open just a little and I do think it helped some.  When the beds are arranged as a king, there is an outlet beside each nightstand.  When they rearrange and put one nightstand between the beds, one person loses easy access to their outlet.

Unlike a lot of European hotel rooms, this room was quite big.  We had two very large windows though not much of a view.  But there really wasn't much of a view anywhere in downtown Reykjavik.  Radiators were beneath each window and there were two very comfortable chairs there with a table between them and a floor lamp.

We once again had a large, multi-purpose piece of furniture across from the bed.  It doubled as a desk and the cabinet for the mini-fridge.  The TV was mounted on the wall above.  We received two complimentary bottles of Iceland water (which is really, really good).

Behind the cabinet door was the mini-fridge as the kettle with makings for coffee or tea.

The wardrobe was to the left of the desk, near the front door.  Robes and slippers were provided though we didn't use them on this stay.  The safe was on a very low shelf which made it not as easy to access.

To the left of the entry door was the rather large bathroom.  It had tons of counter space but no real storage area below the sink.  However if you were going to be staying awhile and wanted your empty suitcases out of the room you could easily store them in here behind the door.

The shower/tub was on the back wall and I liked the extra foot or so of tile between the back end of the tub and the wall as it meant we didn't have to try to cram toiletries in one of the corners.  But that terrible glass panel meant we did get the floor more wet than we intended.  I'm not sure I'll ever understand the logic of those.  If you don't want to deal with shower curtains, I can understand that but my goodness, make the partition at least half the length of the tub!  As is usual in Europe, it's a bit of a high step to get into the tub and even trickier getting out.

We were given plenty of towels and with the extra space beyond the end of the tub, at least they managed to stay dry while we showered.

While I'd never heard of thisworks brand of toiletries, I found they worked quite well and brought them along with us (thank goodness).  I still had some left over when I left the country and I did find they didn't work quite as well without the pure Icelandic water.

Wrap-Up

Old town Reykjavik is not that large and all the hotels are within few block radius.  It was two blocks but only a 3 minute walk from this hotel to the group's hotel so all the hotels are convenient.  I liked the large rooms and bathrooms and the prompt attention when we had to get the bed converted.  The restaurant seemed expensive but Iceland is not a cheap place since so many things have to be imported.  I liked that there's a hotel with a usable points system right in the old town and I would much prefer to stay here again over the next hotel, chosen by the group tour.