Reykjavik Food Tour: Tastings, Prices and What to Skip

A single hot dog does not answer the question of whether a Reykjavik food tour is worth booking. It answers what one stall charges, not what a proper meal, a bakery stop and a pour of local beer add up to across an afternoon. This page sets the two side by side: what a guided tasting route covers, and what the same ground costs walked alone with a map. Reykjavik's small centre means both approaches cover roughly the same streets, so the difference comes down to how many stops are included, how much guessing is removed, and where the prices actually sit once VAT and Iceland's restaurant costs are counted in. What follows uses only prices and hours that are published by the places themselves, not averages, so the comparison holds up stop by stop.

What a hot dog stand actually tells you

A single stall price is easy to find and easy to over-read. At Baejarins Beztu Pylsur, one hot dog with everything costs 880 ISK, and the hot dog and Coke combo that Icelanders themselves price-watch runs to 1330 ISK. The classic order is called "eina med ollu", one with everything: raw onion, crispy fried onion, ketchup, sweet brown mustard and remoulade, as described by Visit Reykjavik. Order it plain, mustard only, and the stand calls that the Clinton. The original stand sits at Tryggvagata, by the old harbour opposite Harpa, open Sunday to Wednesday 09:00 to 01:00, Thursday 09:00 to 02:00 and Friday to Saturday 09:00 to 06:00. A second branch at Austurstraeti 10 to 11 stays open 24 hours every day, which matters more than the menu for anyone arriving late.

One stand's prices do not stand in for what Reykjavik food tours are built to cover. A hot dog is one stop of many, and a walking food tour Reykjavik operators run typically threads a bakery, a fish stall and a restaurant course into the same outing, which is the part a single stand cannot show. Braud & Co, the original bakery at Frakkastigur 16, opens 06:30 to 17:00 daily, though it does not publish a price for its cinnamon roll. Sandholt, at Laugavegur 36, opens 07:30 to 18:00 every day; its cheapest breakfast plate is 1390 ISK, its brunch plates run 2,690 to 3,290 ISK, and a coffee there costs 650 ISK. Comparing those figures against a tour's inclusions, rather than against one hot dog, is the honest version of this question.

Where the price difference is real, not a stall's markup

Assuming Reykjavik is expensive because of any one stand misses where the real gap sits. Eurostat's comparative price level survey puts Icelandic restaurants at an index of 167.3 against an EU average of 100, and Statistics Iceland records restaurant and cafe prices rising roughly 4.9 percent a year. That gap sits on top of the 11 percent VAT charged on restaurant food and hotel rooms, so a menu price already includes that tax rather than adding it at the till. A best food tour Reykjavik operators sell folds several courses and a guide's route-planning into one fixed price, which is the trade that matters against Eurostat's number: fewer decisions, and a spread across several kitchens rather than one meal at one restaurant's markup.

The same logic extends past food to what is brewed here. An iceland brewery tour puts a reader inside a working brewery rather than at a bar ordering off a menu, and pairs tastings with an explanation of what is being poured, which a solo visit to a bottle shop cannot offer. Anyone assuming a brewery visit is interchangeable with a bar crawl is missing the difference: one shows the process, the other only the glass.

Beer, booze and what counts as a proper tasting

Treating any bar stop as a tasting undersells what a structured route offers. An iceland beer tour usually pairs several breweries or taprooms with someone explaining what separates them, rather than leaving a reader to order at random off an unfamiliar menu. The same applies to food: a Reykjavik food walk tour strings bakery, fish and meat stops together on foot, in an order a guide has already worked out, rather than a reader hunting for the next stop between courses.

None of this replaces the plainer option. Tap water is free and drinkable everywhere in the city, so a bottled water on a menu is money spent for nothing, as Visit Reykjavik states plainly. Anyone eating alone on a tighter budget does better shopping at Bonus, Kronan or Pris, the supermarkets Visit Reykjavik names as the cheapest in the capital area, and cooking rather than eating out for every meal.

A route built by someone who knows the stops

Assuming every food tour follows the same route is a mistake worth correcting before booking. Your Friend in Reykjavik food tour is built around a host's own picks rather than a fixed script, which changes what gets served and in what order compared with a larger operator's set menu. That kind of route suits a reader who wants the stops explained as local choices rather than as a checklist.

The dishes worth knowing before any tasting starts are the same ones that turn up across menus and tours alike. Kjotsupa is Icelandic lamb soup, built from lamb, potatoes, carrots and turnips. Plokkfiskur is the fish stew locals actually eat, boiled cod or haddock mashed with potato and onion. Skyr looks like yoghurt on a menu but is a fresh cheese, not a yoghurt, which is worth knowing before ordering it as a dessert. Fermented shark is sold in Reykjavik supermarkets and taken with a shot of brennivin, and it turns up on tasting routes as the dish visitors remember longest, for reasons that have nothing to do with its price.

The brewery tour worth naming directly

Assuming any brewery visit in Iceland is interchangeable overlooks the country's largest brewer. An olgerdin brewery tour iceland operators run takes a reader inside the country's biggest brewing operation, rather than a smaller craft taproom, and pairs the visit with tastings poured on site. That scale is the difference from a bar crawl: the brewing itself is on view, not just the finished pours.

For a reader working out whether to book this alongside a food tour or on its own, the same VAT and price-level facts apply. Restaurant and bar service in Iceland carries the same 11 percent VAT as food, and the 167.3 Eurostat index applies just as much to a taproom pour as to a restaurant plate. A brewery tour does not sidestep that cost, it simply bundles several pours and an explanation into one price rather than leaving a reader to order each one separately at bar prices.

Common questions

Is a hot dog from Baejarins Beztu included on a typical food tour?

The 880 ISK hot dog is a standalone stop, not part of the tours listed here; those build their route around bakeries, fish and meat courses and, on some routes, breweries or distilleries.

Is tap water really free everywhere?

Yes. Tap water is drinkable and free across Reykjavik, so buying bottled water on a menu adds an unnecessary cost to any meal or tour.

Are Braud & Co and Sandholt on the same street?

No. Braud & Co's original bakery is at Frakkastigur 16, and Sandholt is a short walk away at Laugavegur 36, both in the 101 postcode.

Does VAT get added on top of the menu price?

No. The 11 percent VAT on restaurant food is already built into the price shown on the menu.

Is fermented shark actually served on food tours?

It appears on some tasting routes and is sold in Reykjavik supermarkets for anyone who wants to try it outside a tour, usually with a shot of brennivin.