Since my final full day was so nice that I actually had to use the sunglasses I’d thankfully thought to pack, I decided to walk out to Laugardalur Valley and visit the zoo. It’s open all year round but I suspect that it’s a bit livelier in the summer than when I went.
The zoo’s speciality is, naturally enough, Icelandic animals, which mostly comprises of farm animals. Just as well, as this is the only place I came across in Reykjavik where all the signs were in Icelandic, with no corresponding translation into English.
I wasn’t terribly impressed, though I hadn’t actually been expecting much. All the animals looked well kept, but I’ve seen far happier animals in zoos than these ones.
It did seem like there were quite a few empty pens, so I’m not sure what would be there in the summer months, and if there would be more staff around (I think I saw two, and one of them was at the front desk selling tickets), though the reindeer was quite noticeable by its absence.
Not a bad place to visit, but there are better things to see and do in Reykjavik It also took me ages to find as there are absolutely no signs anywhere to indicate a zoo is nearby and the maps certainly don’t make it clear you need to travel down a path through the Park to get to the zoo. Especially do not use Google Maps to try and find your way – they tried to tell me the zoo was in the middle of an apartment complex!
Louise Jayne's Blog 