Fosshotel Baron

Stayed here before and after an Arctic cruise having stayed here for a weekend 3 years ago . Friendly helpful staff, basic breakfast, but clean and comfy. This time had a newly refurbished family room which was lovely and had small kitchenette. Good for the price . Would use again as easy location for harbour and town centre.

We were quite happy with our time at Fossbaron Hotel. Iceland is so expensive that as a foreign traveller, you just have to accept that you will never really get true value for money. This is a comfortable hotel which covers the basics. We had the family suite which comprises of two bedrooms, bathroom and a living area, and a small balcony with a fabulous view down to the sea. We were more than happy with his. The suite was clean and cosy (great blackout curtains to keep the long daylight hours out). Yes, you do smell sulphur when you run the taps but even my ultra-sensitive daughter coped with this. Breakfast is the only meal available - although you can buy soup and bread in the bar area in the evening. There's a wide choice of continental items, but if you are looking for traditional full English fare, the nearest you will get is scrambled egg and baked beans. Breakfast runs between 7am and 10 - and the staff do like you out as close to 10 as possible. They do provide a smaller selection of foods between 3am and 7am for those, like us, who had an early flight which was really useful - you do need to inform the desk staff though at least a day before. The staff are really friendly and helpful. We had pre-booked all our trips beforehand, and the staff were happy to make phonecalls to clarify pick-up times etc. Which leads to my final point: we weren't in Iceland for the hotel stay, we were there to explore! And this hotel is a fantastic base for that. The location is superb - minutes from the coastline, and a short walk to the magnificent Harpa Concert Hall, and a couple of blocks away from the main downtown street. There's a small - but expensive - supermarket just behind the hotel and a Dominoes pizza place directly opposite. And if you want to save money on your Grey Line day trips pick up, you get free pick up from Bus Stops 13 and 10 which are less than 10 minute walk away. So if you are looking for a luxury stay - go elsewhere. But if you want a comfortable base for exploring Reykjavik and Iceland, I definitely recommend Fosshotel Baron.

Our seniors coach tour group of 22 arrived here for our final (7th) night's stay during our week's journey clockwise around the circumference of the island, starting, and now ending, in Reykjavik. While the hotel is in a clean, professional neighborhood, just a half-block from the Sculpture and Shorewalk, at the sea's edge, my wife & I were in no mood to go walking about. But more than that, we certainly were in NO MOOD to encounter a very HOT room with sunny summer exposure. It felt like it was 85 plus degrees (F) in the room. Of course, with no A/C in the room, as is the norm in Iceland, we had to hope our one-inch window opening would provide some cooling ventilation. We closed the room-darkening curtains and went downstairs for dinner, hoping the room might cool down after a couple of hours. Before going to dinner, I asked at the front desk if they had any table fans available, as the room was so HOT. The lady at the desk said something to the effect that they don't have hot weather there, and, as such, they don't have air conditioning, and have no fans. When I retorted that it WAS HOT there on that day, the lady said they would see if they had any fans, and would check the room to see what could be done to help cool the room. Well... upon our return from dinner a couple of hours later, when we went to our room, we found that: (1) there was no fan in the room; and (2) the hotel staff had re-opened the room darkening curtain (ostensibly to allow for the one-inch window ventilation, I'm sure) and allowed the northern clime's late day sunshine to again beam into the room. Sheesh! As for dinner, there is NOT... this was the ONLY hotel during our week's visit in Iceland that does not serve the dinner meal. I realize our travel agent's choice of hotels controls such matters, but as tired - and HOT - we were, my wife & I didn't feel like traipsing about the city to find dinner. As it turned out, our travel guide learned from the front desk that we could walk (groan) about three (l-o-n-g) blocks to a different Foss Hotel to have dinner. Once we did that, I pondered aloud to our travel guide, why couldn't we have been lodged at THAT Fosshotel instead of the Baron?! Oh... as for breakfast... yes, they do provide a breakfast at the hotel. We were told by our travel guide to be sure to get to breakfast early, at 5:30 a.m.(!) since we needed to load-up our coach for the run to Keflik Airport at 7:00 a.m. When my wife & I got down to the lobby at about 6:45 a.m., I thought we'd at least take a look at breakfast, and maybe grab some coffee. Nope! One of our fellow travelers told us the hotel had indeed opened the breakfast room at 5:30 a.m.... and then CLOSED it at 6:15 a.m. It wasn't to re-open until 7 a.m. So, for many travelers, the breakfast normal opening time of 7 a.m. probably is AOK. In our case, it simply reinforced our mood about how unhappy-HOT we had been the previous evening. A few other points that didn't help assuage my attitude toward offering up a higher rating for this property... The single elevator sure did cause our group of 22 to stand in line to trudge up to our rooms with our luggage. The raised threshold moldings that occur in the hallway and the doorway sure did cause our rolling luggage to "ka-thunk" repeatedly, I noticed such unusual (to me, anyway) flooring preparation in other Icelandic hotels. Finally... the shower... such a tiny, corner, wrap-around-curtain bit of a bathroom fixture. This was the smallest shower fixture we'd had during our week's journey throughout Iceland. I've posted a photo of the tiny shower fixture.