Suitcase Limbo: How to Kill Six Hours in Reykjavik Without Dragging Your Bags Around

Every Reykjavik trip has a villain, and it's never the weather or the prices. It's the six-hour dead zone between hotel checkout and your Flybus to Keflavik, when you're standing in the lobby with two suitcases, a duty-free bag, and no plan.

This problem generates thousands of searches a month and almost nobody writes about it, which feels criminal for a city that lives on tourism. So consider this your official permission slip: your last day in Reykjavik does not have to be a luggage-handling logistics exercise. Here's how to fix it.

Option One: The BSI Bus Terminal

The most straightforward solution is also the most logical. BSI Central Bus Terminal — the main hub for Flybus departures to Keflavik — offers luggage storage, and if your final day ends with a Flybus departure, you're already going there.

The play: check out, walk or take a short cab ride to BSI, drop your bags, and reclaim your day. When it's time to leave, grab your bags and walk ten feet onto the bus. Zero backtracking, zero stress. Rates are reasonable by Icelandic standards, and the terminal sits close enough to downtown that you're not stranded.

Option Two: Downtown Storage Services

If you'd rather not haul bags to the terminal at 10 AM, several operations around the city center offer short-term storage — some integrated with tour operators and visitor centers, others running app-based locker services similar to what you'd find in New York or Chicago. A quick search for "luggage storage Reykjavik" will surface current locations and hourly rates; the model changes fast enough that checking recent reviews beats trusting any fixed list.

The key questions to ask any storage provider: What are the hours (some close early, which defeats the purpose)? Is it per-bag or per-hour pricing? And how far is it from where you actually want to spend the day?

Option Three: Work the Hotel Angle

Don't overlook the simplest move. Most Reykjavik hotels will hold bags for guests — and here's the part many travelers don't realize: this often applies even after you've checked out, and sometimes even if you're not staying there.

If you're checking out, ask at the desk the night before. If you've already left one hotel and moved to a guesthouse, some will still store bags for a small fee or out of pure Icelandic hospitality. It never hurts to ask, and front-desk staff deal with this question constantly.

The Timing Game: Flybus Strategy

Here's where a little planning pays off big. The Flybus to Keflavik runs frequently — roughly every 30–45 minutes in summer from BSI — and the drive to the airport takes about 45 minutes. For a standard international departure, you want to be at Keflavik around 2.5–3 hours before your flight.

Working backwards: a 5 PM flight means a Flybus around 1:30–2 PM. That gives you from an 11 AM checkout until early afternoon in the city — a genuine bonus half-day, if your bags are handled.

A pro move for your arrival day too: many visitors fly in on a morning flight, and the Flybus drops you at BSI before any hotel will let you check in. Same solution applies — store bags at the terminal, go get breakfast and start exploring, and collect your luggage when it's check-in time. Your first day matters just as much as your last.

A Sample Bag-Free Final Day

With your luggage sorted, here's what six hours actually looks like:

• 11:00 — Checkout, drop bags at BSI or your storage spot
• 11:15 — Last walk down Laugavegur; pick up the souvenirs you couldn't carry before (they'll hold them too, or ship)
• 12:00 — Long lunch at Hlemmur Mathöll or a harborfront café
• 1:30 — One last soak at a downtown pool, or a slow loop around Tjörnin lake
• 3:00 — Collect bags, coffee at the terminal
• 3:45 — Flybus, relaxed, hands free, already planning the return trip

Compare that to the alternative version of this day: dragging suitcases over downtown sidewalks, guarding them at a café, cutting the day short out of exhaustion. It's the same six hours. The only difference is whether you spend them as a tourist or a bellhop.

Plan the storage first, and the rest of Reykjavik takes care of itself.