Detailed Review
Hotel Holt is situated on a quiet street in central Reykjavik, only a few minutes walk from the main business center, with government and cultural institutions, embassies, theatres and shops within easy reach. It offers a refined combination of comfortable elegance and fastidious efficiency.
Independent Reviews
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Hotel Holt
By Joanna MonkhouseHotel Holt is a strange place. My first impression is of a Saloon bar in a Western, but maybe that’s just the type of lettering used to spell out ‘Hotel Holt’ and that holt sounds a bit like colt. I half expect the staff to be wearing cowboy boots. The interior has a distinctly 70s feel to it – lots of leather sofas and chairs in fluid shapes, dark wood, subtle lighting – stylewise, it’s hard to see that it was completely renovated in 1996. Yet Hotel Holt is considered quite ‘establishment’ in Iceland. Maybe the Icelanders are just much cooler than the rest of us, but there is definitely an air of self-assured charm emanating from the Holt. The largest private collection of art in Iceland – most of it by native artists – covers the walls of the public rooms, lines the corridors and each room is graced with another couple of examples. More inspiring collections are found in the bar, lounge and library – the large number of cognacs and single malts, the books behind the glass doors, and portrait sketches by Kjarval. The award-winning Gallery restaurant is renowned in Iceland and has impressed many over the years both with its art and its cuisine – it is the only Relais & Chateaux in the country. Each room has an individual layout and décor, and of course a painting or two on display. Imagine a fusion of art gallery, slight kitschness of hotel furniture and a few patterns here and there, and now imagine it all coming together in a rather indescribable but fundamentally pleasing kind of way. Rooms on the 4th floor are a little smaller as they have a balcony and some also benefit from sea views. Only the suites have baths, the rooms have showers. All mod cons are provided – tv, minibar etc. They even have a shoe shining machine on each floor. I’ve always wanted to use one of those… With only 42 rooms (including 12 suites), Hotel Holt is small enough to give their guests personal attention. Many return again and again, lured by the quirky atmosphere, friendly service and convenient location – on a quiet residential street yet only a few minutes walk from the centre of Reykjavik.
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"Delightful business-oriented hotel with a fine collection of Icelandic art"
Hotel Holt
By Matthew Barker
Three floors of plush modernism a hop, skip and jump from the steps of the Icelandic parliament and bang in the centre of this resolutely It-city. Home to the country’s largest collection of Icelandic art (300 canvases and counting). 42 rooms (12 suites). Member of Relais & Chateaux. Facilities:The Gallery restaurant is one of the city’s finest; a shrine to tingling seafood deck-fresh from the most unpolluted waters in the world. Spa groupies will find nirvana with a dip in the Blue Lagoon just outside the city, but will have to bring their own fluffy slippers. Location:Maddeningly expensive, pongs of sulphur, rigorous licensing laws… and yet, and yet: the European City of Culture 2000 with endless museums, concert halls and galleries; roaring nightlife; plenty of decent restaurants - loads of shops too (notably on Bankastræti), but you might want to take a rain check once you’ve worked out the exchange rate.
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