Top Cocktail Bars in Akureyri for a Properly Made Drink
Words by
Hanna Stefansdottir
Finding the Top Cocktail Bars in Akureyri for a Properly Made Drink
I have spent the better part of three winters in Akureyri, and if there is one thing I can tell you, it is that this town of barely 19,000 people punches absurdly above its weight when it comes to serious drinking culture. The top cocktail bars in Akureyri are not trying to impress you with flashy gimmicks or molecular smoke tricks. They are small, deliberate, and run by people who actually care about what ends up in your glass. I have sat at every bar stool in this town at least twice, and what follows is the honest, unfiltered guide I wish someone had handed me when I first arrived.
Akureyri sits at the head of Eyjafjörður, Iceland's longest fjord, and the town has always had a quiet confidence about it. The drinking scene here grew out of the same stubborn northern Icelandic character, resourceful, a little eccentric, and deeply connected to the land. You will find birch syrup in your Old Fashioned, crowberry in your gin and tonic, and sometimes a shot of Brennivín that appears unbidden because the bartender decided you needed it. The craft cocktail bars Akureyri offers are not copies of Reykjavik trends. They are their own thing entirely, shaped by long winters, short summers, and a community where everyone knows the person shaking your drink.
1. Bláa Kannan: The Living Room of Akureyri's Drinking Scene
Location: Hafnarstræti 96, right in the heart of the town center, just steps from the harbor.
Bláa Kannan is the first place I ever had a proper cocktail in Akureyri, and it remains the bar I return to most often. The name translates roughly to "The Blue Can," a nod to the building's history, and the interior feels like someone's well-loved living room, low ceilings, warm lighting, and a jukebox that leans heavily toward Icelandic rock from the 1990s. The bartenders here are not performing for you. They are making drinks the way they want to drink them, and that honesty comes through in every glass. Last Thursday I sat at the bar around 9 PM and watched the head bartender build a Negroni with Icelandic aquavit instead of gin, a substitution that sounds strange until you taste it and realize the caraway and dill notes actually make more sense than the original recipe.
The best time to visit Bláa Kannan is on a weekday evening, ideally between 8 and 10 PM, before the weekend crowd from the guesthouses floods in. On Fridays and Saturdays after 11, the place gets packed with a younger crowd and the cocktail quality can dip slightly because the bartenders are simply overwhelmed. Order the house Old Fashioned, which they make with a birch syrup that a local forager supplies in small batches. If you see a seasonal menu on the chalkboard, trust it completely. One detail most tourists miss is that the back corner booth, the one with the cracked leather seat, is where the regulars sit, and if you occupy it long enough, someone will eventually start a conversation with you. That is how Akureyri works.
Local Insider Tip: "Ask for the Brennivín Sour. It is not on any menu, but every bartender there knows how to make it. It is the best thing in the house and costs less than the cocktails on the printed list."
Bláa Kannan connects to Akureyri's character because it has been here, in one form or another, for decades. It survived the financial crisis, the tourism boom, and the pandemic, and it still feels like a place that exists for the people who live here, not the people passing through. That is rare, and it is worth respecting.
2. Ölstofan: Where Beer Culture Meets Cocktail Curiosity
Location: Aðalstræti 6, in the central pedestrian zone, above one of Akureyri's most beloved craft beer bars.
Ölstofan sits upstairs from the well-known Ölbarinn (sometimes called Ölstofan Kjarnaskjól in older references), and most visitors never realize there is a proper cocktail program happening up those stairs. I discovered it by accident two years ago when I ducked in out of a snowstorm and the bartender upstairs offered me a hot toddy made with Icelandic honey and a barrel-aged spirit I had never heard of. The room is small, maybe eight tables, with windows that look out over Aðalstræti and the church hill beyond. It feels intimate in a way that larger bars in town simply cannot replicate.
The cocktail list here is shorter than what you will find at Bláa Kannan, but every drink is considered. They lean heavily on local spirits, including products from the Eimverk distillery in nearby Flateyri, and the bartenders are genuinely curious about what you like. Last month I asked for something bitter and herbal, and the woman behind the bar spent five minutes building a drink with angelica root, rhubarb bitters, and a splash of birch liqueur that I still think about. Visit on a Sunday or Monday evening when the downstairs beer crowd has not yet migrated upward. The space is quiet enough to actually talk, which is increasingly hard to find in Akureyri's nightlife.
Local Insider Tip: "Sit at the bar and ask the bartender what they are experimenting with. They test new recipes on slow nights, and if you show genuine interest, they will pour you something that will never appear on a menu."
One thing to know: the staircase up is narrow and steep, and after a few drinks, the descent requires some care. I have seen more than one person misjudge the last step. Also, the heating system upstairs can be inconsistent, so bring a layer even in summer. The connection to Akureyri's broader character is clear here, this is a town that values craft beer above almost everything, and Ölstofan represents the natural evolution of that culture into spirits and cocktails without abandoning its roots.
3. Strikið: The Restaurant Bar That Takes Cocktails Seriously
Location: Skipagata 1, on the waterfront near the harbor, in one of Akureyri's most respected restaurants.
Strikið is primarily known as a restaurant, and most visitors come here for the lamb or the Arctic char. But the bar program, which has developed significantly over the past few years, deserves its own attention. I ate here on a Tuesday night in February and ended up spending three hours at the bar after my meal because the bartender, a young woman who had trained in Reykjavik before coming back north, was making drinks that rivaled anything I had tasted in the capital. The space itself is modern and clean-lined, with large windows facing the fjord, and the bar area has a quieter energy than the dining room.
The best cocktails at Strikið lean into Icelandic ingredients in a way that feels natural rather than forced. I had a drink last winter that used smoked reindeer moss as a garnish, not for show, but because the smokiness genuinely complemented the mezcal base. Order the house gin and tonic if they have it, they use a local tonic water and garnish it with Arctic thyme picked from the hills above town. The best time to visit the bar is after 9 PM on a weeknight, when the dinner rush has cleared and the bartender has time to focus on individual orders rather than churning out wine pairings for tables of four.
Local Insider Tip: "Do not order a martini here. It is the one drink they have not quite figured out yet. Everything else on the menu is excellent, but the martini is their blind spot, and the regulars all know it."
Strikið matters to Akureyri because it represents the town's growing food and drink sophistication. This is not a place that rests on its reputation. The kitchen and the bar are both pushing forward, and the fact that a restaurant of this caliber exists in a town this small says something important about what Akureyri values. The only real complaint I have is that the bar seating is limited to about six stools, and on a busy Friday, you might wait 20 minutes for one. Plan accordingly.
4. Hótel Kea Bar: The Quiet Powerhouse on the Main Street
Location: Hafnarstræti 87-89, inside Hótel Kea, Akureyri's largest and most prominent hotel.
I will be honest, I ignored the Hótel Kea bar for my first year in Akureyri because hotel bars are usually the last place I go for a serious drink. I was wrong. The bar inside Hótel Kea has quietly built one of the most consistent cocktail programs in town, staffed by bartenders who have been there long enough to know exactly what they are doing. The room itself is elegant without being stuffy, dark wood, soft lighting, and a view of the main street through tall windows. It feels like a place where important conversations happen, and in a town where the hotel hosts half the conferences and events, that is exactly what it is.
The cocktail list is classic in structure but Icelandic in execution. Their Manhattan, which I had on a rainy Wednesday last October, used a rye whiskey that had been finished in a barrel previously holding Icelandic birch liqueur, and the result was something I have never tasted anywhere else. The best time to visit is midweek, between 7 and 9 PM, when the after-work crowd of local professionals fills the bar with a low hum of conversation. Weekends can feel more tourist-heavy, and the energy shifts from relaxed to performative. If you are visiting in summer, try to grab one of the window seats around 10 PM, when the midnight sun casts a golden light across Hafnarstræti that makes the whole room glow.
Local Insider Tip: "Tell the bartender you are staying at the hotel, even if you are not. Hotel guests sometimes get access to a reserve spirits list that is not shown to walk-ins. It is a small thing, but the difference in what you can order is noticeable."
The Hótel Kea bar connects to Akureyri's identity as the service capital of northern Iceland. This is where business deals are done, where visiting dignitaries drink, and where the town's professional class unwinds. It is not the most exciting bar in town, but it might be the most reliable, and sometimes that is exactly what you need. One genuine warning: the prices here are the highest in Akureyri, sometimes 20 to 30 percent more than the independent bars. You are paying for consistency and atmosphere, and whether that is worth it depends on your budget.
5. GÖNG: The Newcomer Changing the Conversation
Location: Kaupvangsstræti 12, in the Kaupvangs neighborhood just south of the town center.
GÖNG opened relatively recently, and it has already become one of the most talked-about spots in Akureyri for anyone who cares about what goes into their glass. The space is industrial in a deliberate way, exposed concrete, steel fixtures, and a long bar that encourages you to sit and watch the work happen. I visited on a Saturday night in March and was struck by how the bartenders moved, efficient, focused, and clearly trained in a way that goes beyond the standard Icelandic bar education. This is one of the craft cocktail bars Akureyri has needed for a long time, a place where the drink is the point, not an afterthought to a meal or a night out.
The menu changes seasonally, and the spring menu I tried featured a drink built around fermented birch sap, green juniper, and a base of Icelandic vodka that tasted cleaner than any vodka I have had outside of Scandinavia. Another standout was a clarified milk punch that had been aging for three weeks, complex and smooth in a way that made me sit quietly for a moment after the first sip. Visit on a Thursday or Friday evening, ideally arriving around 8 PM before the line forms. GÖNG has become popular quickly, and weekend waits can stretch to 30 minutes or more. The best seat in the house is the far end of the bar, where you can see both the bartenders working and the door, which matters in a small town where you always want to know who just walked in.
Local Insider Tip: "If the seasonal menu has a drink with 'skyr' in it, order it immediately. They use skyr as a textural element in cocktails, and it works in a way that sounds wrong until you taste it. The last time I was there, the skyr cocktail sold out by 10 PM."
GÖNG represents the new Akureyri, younger, more connected to international trends, and less interested in doing things the way they have always been done. It is exciting, but I will say this: the music volume on weekend nights can make conversation difficult, and the concrete walls do nothing to absorb sound. If you want to actually talk to the person next to you, go on a weeknight. The neighborhood itself, Kaupvangs, is worth exploring on foot before or after your drink. It is one of the older residential areas in Akureyri, with colorful houses and narrow streets that feel a world away from the tourist center just a five-minute walk north.
6. Kaffi Ilmur: The Cozy Corner for a Nightcap
Location: Hafnarstræti 104, near the southern end of the main street, close to the Akureyri Art Museum.
Kaffi Ilmur is primarily a café, and most people know it as a daytime spot for coffee and cake. But in the evenings, especially on weekends, the back room transforms into something closer to a cocktail lounge, and the drinks they serve are surprisingly well made. I stumbled into this by accident on a Friday night when every other bar was full, and I ended up having one of the best hot cocktails of my life, a spiced rum drink with Icelandic honey, lemon, and a cinnamon stick that the owner made from her grandmother's recipe. The room is tiny, maybe five tables, and the atmosphere is so warm and close that you will be sharing life stories with strangers within 20 minutes.
The best time to visit Kaffi Ilmur for drinks is after 10 PM on a Friday or Saturday, when the café crowd has gone home and the evening regulars take over. There is no printed cocktail menu, you have to ask what is available, and the answer changes depending on what the owner has been working with that week. Last autumn she made a crowberry liqueur from berries she picked herself up in the hills, and she used it in a sour that was tart, floral, and completely unlike anything I have had in a proper bar. The detail most tourists miss is that Kaffi Ilmur closes earlier than the other bars in town, usually around midnight on weekends and earlier on weeknights. If you want a late night, this is not your spot. But if you want a perfect nightcap in a place that feels like a friend's living room, there is nowhere better in Akureyri.
Local Insider Tip: "Bring cash. The card machine in the back room is unreliable, and the owner will appreciate not having to run it for a small tab. Also, if she offers you a taste of whatever she is working on, always say yes. Those off-menu pours are the best part of being here."
Kaffi Ilmur connects to Akureyri's soul in a way that larger, more polished bars cannot. This is a town that still runs on personal relationships, on knowing the person who serves you, on small gestures that cost nothing. The café has been a gathering place for years, and the evening cocktail service grew organically from that tradition. It was not designed by a consultant. It happened because people wanted to stay, and the owner wanted to give them a reason to.
7. Ráðhúsbarinn (The Town Hall Bar): The Institutional Secret
Location: Inside the Ráðhús (Town Hall) complex on Hafnarstræti, though the entrance is not obvious and most visitors walk past it without knowing it exists.
Ráðhúsbarinn is not a bar in the traditional sense. It is a function room and bar space inside Akureyri's Town Hall that opens for private events, public receptions, and occasional community gatherings. But on certain evenings, particularly during the Akureyri International Music Festival in the spring and the Christmas market season in December, the bar opens to the public, and the cocktails served there are made by some of the best bartenders in town who pick up extra shifts. I first found this place during the music festival two years ago, when a friend who works in the municipal office told me to "go to the Town Hall at 10, ask for Jónas, and tell him I sent you." The drink I had, a gin fizz with rhubarb and Icelandic moss, was one of the most balanced cocktails I have had in Iceland.
The challenge with Ráðhúsbarinn is that it is not consistently open. You need to follow local event listings or ask around to find out when the bar will be serving. The Akureyri Facebook community groups are actually useful for this, and the tourist information center on Hafnarstræti sometimes has a schedule. When it is open, the atmosphere is unlike anything else in town, high ceilings, institutional architecture, and a sense that you are drinking in a space that usually hosts city council meetings. The best time to visit is during one of the festival evenings, when the energy is high and the bartenders are in a creative mood.
Local Insider Tip: "During the Christmas market in early December, the Town Hall bar serves a glögg-based cocktail that is only available for about two weeks. It is spiced, warm, and strong, and it is the single best seasonal drink in Akureyri. Ask anyone at the market where the Town Hall bar is and follow the smell of cinnamon."
Ráðhúsbarinn matters because it represents something essential about Akureyri, the blurring of public and private life, the way a town this small finds creative uses for its shared spaces. It is not a bar you can plan around, but if you happen to be in town when it is open, it is an experience you will not find anywhere else. The only real downside is the inconsistency. You cannot build a night around it, and if you show up on the wrong evening, you will find a locked door and a dark hallway.
8. Grímsey Bar at Hótel Akureyri: The Neighborhood Hideaway
Location: Hafnarstræti 108, inside Hótel Akureyri, just a few doors down from Hótel Kea but with a completely different character.
Hótel Akureyri's bar, sometimes called Grímsey Bar after the island that falls under Akureyri's municipality, is the quieter, more understated sibling of the Hótel Kea bar down the street. Where Kea is polished and professional, Grímsey Bar feels like a place where locals come to disappear. I have spent more evenings here than I can count, usually on weeknights when I want a good drink without the performance of a trendy bar. The room is small, with dark paneling and a fireplace that actually works, and the bartender, who has been there for over a decade, remembers what you drank last time and whether you liked it.
The cocktail list is short but well executed. Their Old Fashioned is the best in Akureyri, and I will die on that hill. They use a high-quality bourbon, a house-made bitters blend, and a touch of maple syrup that they somehow make taste Icelandic. I had one on a Monday night in January while snow fell outside the window, and it was one of those moments where everything in the world felt temporarily correct. The best time to visit is any weeknight between 6 and 9 PM. The bar is almost never crowded at those hours, and you will have the bartender's full attention. On weekends, the hotel's restaurant diners sometimes spill into the bar, and the intimate atmosphere gets diluted.
Local Insider Tip: "Ask for the 'Grímsey Special.' It is a shot drink, not a cocktail, made with Brennivín, a local herbal liqueur, and a drop of something the bartender makes himself. It is meant to be drunk in one go, and it will warm you from the inside out. It costs almost nothing and it is the reason I keep coming back."
Grímsey Bar connects to Akureyri's quieter side, the town that exists after the tourists go to bed, when the locals reclaim their own streets. It is not trying to be the best cocktails Akureyri has to offer in any competitive sense. It is simply trying to be a good bar, a reliable place, a warm room with a fire and someone who knows your name. In a world of constant novelty, there is something radical about that consistency. My only complaint is that the ventilation near the fireplace can be poor, and if the fire is going strong, the smoke can irritate your eyes after an hour or so. Sit on the opposite side of the room if you are sensitive to that.
When to Go and What to Know
Akureyri's cocktail scene operates on its own rhythm, and understanding that rhythm will make your experience significantly better. The town is quietest in the deep winter months of January and February, when daylight lasts only about four hours and the bars are populated almost entirely by locals. This is actually the best time to visit if you want to talk to bartenders and try experimental drinks, because they have the time and the freedom to play. Summer, from June through August, brings cruise ships and road-tripping tourists, and the bars get crowded, especially on weekends. If you are visiting in summer, aim for Sunday through Thursday evenings and avoid Friday and Saturday nights unless you enjoy waiting for a seat.
Prices in Akureyri are high by any standard. Expect to pay between 2,500 and 3,500 ISK for a cocktail, and some of the more elaborate drinks at GÖNG or Strikið can push past 4,000 ISK. This is not Reykjavik pricing, but it is close, and the portions are not larger to compensate. Tipping is not expected in Iceland, but rounding up or leaving a small tip is appreciated, especially at the smaller places where the bartenders are not on a hotel payroll.
Most bars in Akureyri open around 4 or 5 PM and close between midnight and 1 AM on weekends. A few, like Kaffi Ilmur, close earlier. There is no last call culture in Iceland the way there is in some countries, the bars simply stop serving when they close, and the staff will let you know when it is time to finish your drink. The Akureyri mixology bars covered in this guide are all within walking distance of each other, clustered along Hafnarstræti and the surrounding streets, so you can easily visit two or three in a single evening if you pace yourself.
One final thing. Akureyri is a small town, and the drinking community is tight. If you are rude to a bartender, word will spread. If you are kind and curious, word will spread faster. The best nights I have had in this town started with a simple question, "What do you recommend?" and ended with a drink I had never heard of and a conversation I will remember for years. That is what the top cocktail bars in Akureyri are really selling. Not just the drink, but the moment.
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