Nordurey Guesthouse

I booked through Expedia and expected a complete guesthouse, but the photos were deceptive. The room was extremely small, just about enough for a family of four, with hardly any luggage space. Bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry are shared. Parking was difficult, and there are no elevators.

It's good value in a great central spot. There is a shared bathroom, so make sure you're comfortable with that. Having a kitchen available was great, and the staff helped when I needed to talk to them.

The rooms are clean for a budget hotel, but the walls are so thin I could hear every time someone used the toilet, shower, or tap. Each floor has just one bathroom, with the sink, toilet, and shower all in the same room, so they can't be used at once. We ended up waiting over 30 minutes for each person to use the toilet and then shower. You can imagine how that goes on a busy night. I can't believe Guide to Iceland would book a place like this. There doesn't seem to be any standard at all, and I was very disappointed.

I wouldn't recommend this for families. This is based on our three-night stay in two rooms. The clean room and bed, mostly, had good heating, and the bathroom and shared spaces were clean too. The location was great, within walking distance of bus stops 11 and 9. That's about all the good I can say. The shared bathroom on our second floor had a door that stuck and wouldn't lock. We asked for it to be fixed, but it wasn't. There was no Wi-Fi, which especially doesn't work for a stay with kids. The TV had no signal when turned on and seemed mostly decorative. The building looked run down from outside. The tap water smelled like rotten eggs, maybe sulphur dioxide, but it was a nasty smell unlike other places I've been in Reykjavík, so something seemed off. In room 203, where we stayed one night, there was what looked like mold in a ceiling corner. We didn't do anything about it since we were only there one night. Room 304, where we stayed two nights, was cramped despite being called a “superior” double with a sofa. Other rooms on other floors are spacious, though. We asked to check out at noon instead of 11 am, just an extra hour, but they couldn't accommodate that basic request. There's no luggage storage either. Another family had to book an extra night to store their bags. If you're okay carrying yours, you can take it by bus to the BSI terminal and store it there for a fee.