Kvosin Downtown Hotel

To focus on the ups and downs of the local travel scene to risk missing the point of Reykjavík entirely. A hotel like Kvosin is built to last. In one sense, it already has — the building that’s now home to Kvosin Downtown Hotel has stood on this site, alongside the Icelandic parliament, since 1900. And while its interiors have been continually updated, adding plenty of 20th-century modernist furnishings and more contemporary pieces, there’s something timeless about it — you get the sense this isn’t the sort of urban boutique hotel that’ll be refurbishing its rooms every season.

And why should they? The rooms are straightforwardly named, from Normal to Bigger to Biggest and beyond, but they’re all quite reasonably spacious, open and sunny — when seasonally appropriate — and while the interiors are well-crafted, the vibe (and, to be fair, the comfort level) is more akin to a hip urban apartment than a fussy luxury hotel. Kvosin is a boutique hotel for self-starters: the ground-floor restaurant is open from seven to seven, and after that you’re turned loose on the town, or at least on Vinbarinn, the wine bar.