Gardur Student Hostel
Summer-only student dorm turned hostel — 8.4 rated, €42 beds (cheapest 8.0+ pick in 101), 8 min to the BSÍ bus terminal for tour departures.
Gardur is the seasonal summer hostel on the University of Iceland campus — an actual student residence that converts into a budget hostel from June to August. 8.4 from 1,298 reviews, €42 dorm beds (the cheapest 8.0+ rated pick in 101), and an 8-minute walk to the BSÍ bus terminal where every Golden Circle and South Coast tour departs.
Gardur is what happens when the University of Iceland's student housing sits empty for a summer — the uni rents it out as a hostel through Hostelling International. The building is on Hringbraut next to the National Museum and a 10-minute walk from the Ring Road into town. It opens around mid-June when the students leave for summer and closes in late August when they return. You are getting an actual university single/twin/triple dorm room, with the university's geothermal-heated water and a shared kitchen on each floor. The 8.4 rating from 1,298 reviews reflects what you'd expect: clean, functional, spartan.
What makes Gardur work as a backpacker base is the location. BSÍ (Reykjavik's main long-distance bus terminal) is 8 minutes on foot — this is where every Golden Circle, South Coast and Blue Lagoon tour departs at 07:30 or 08:30, so if you're doing day-trips you want to be here, not at KEX across town. Laugavegur and the bar-crawl scene are 15 minutes up Skólavörðustígur. The National Museum of Iceland is a 2-minute walk and honestly the most underrated wet-weather move in the city. The BSÍ cafeteria serves Icelandic lamb soup for €12 — the cheapest proper meal in 101.
What you won't get is a hostel social scene. There's no bar, no lounge that's bigger than a common room, no organised activities. The kitchen is a shared student-kitchen-with-a-cleaning-rota and you should bring washing-up liquid if you plan on serious cooking. The 9.1 location score is the draw; the 7.8 facilities score is the trade. But for €42/night in July Reykjavik, we'll take the trade.
- 01€42 is the price floor for a decent bed in 101 Reykjavik — saves €250-300 over a 10-day ring-road trip vs KEX or Loft
- 02Eight-minute walk to BSÍ means the 07:30 Golden Circle bus becomes a wake-up-at-06:30 morning, not a wake-up-at-05:30 taxi booking
- 03The National Museum of Iceland (Þjóðminjasafn) is literally next door — €13 entry, 3 hours of Viking-to-Reformation Iceland, underrated and never crowded
- 04Summer-only means you're surrounded by other backpackers rather than year-round dorm veterans — different crowd, more first-timers, friendlier
- Cheapest 8.0+ rated hostel bed in 101 Reykjavik — €42 dorm in July beats Loft by €12/night and KEX by €10
- Eight-minute walk to BSÍ main bus terminal — where every Gray Line, Reykjavik Excursions, and Sterna Golden Circle tour departs
- Next door to the National Museum of Iceland (Þjóðminjasafn) — the underrated winter-afternoon museum with €13 entry, most backpackers miss it
- Summer-only: mid-June to late August, closed September-May (the building reverts to student housing) — book 3-4 months ahead for July/August
“Great location for BSÍ and easy walk into town. The room was a proper single with a desk — it's clearly student housing, which is a plus in my book. Clean, quiet.”
“Happy and interesting choice in Reykjavik. Very central for the BSÍ tours and the museum next door. Basic but clean and well-priced.”
“All good. Basic but clean. Lots of equipment in shared kitchen. Minutes away from city centre and the BSÍ tour terminal.”
- BSÍ main bus terminal (tour departures)600 m / 8 min walk
- National Museum of Iceland150 m / 2 min walk
- Vesturbæjarlaug geothermal pool1.1 km / 15 min walk
- Laugavegur main drag1.2 km / 15 min walk
- Hallgrímskirkja1.0 km / 13 min walk
- Bónus supermarket (Hallveigarstígur)900 m / 12 min walk
