Harpa Concert Hall

Harpa is Reykjavik's concert hall and conference centre, opened in 2011 on the city's old harbour waterfront. Designed by Henning Larsen Architects in collaboration with Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, the building's cascading geometric glass facade — composed of thousands of steel-framed hexagonal glass panels — was inspired by Iceland's basalt column landscapes and changes colour depending on the light and your angle of approach. It quickly became one of the most photographed buildings in Iceland, and in 2013 it won the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture. It's the home of both the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Icelandic Opera, making it the cultural heartbeat of the city.

You don't need a concert ticket to visit. The public areas — the lobby, the main atrium, and several of the upper levels — are open during the day, and wandering through them is genuinely worthwhile. The interplay of natural Icelandic light through the coloured glass panels is different every time you visit, and on a sunny day the interior becomes a kaleidoscope of shifting colour. The building houses multiple performance spaces of different sizes, a gift shop with quality Icelandic design goods, and a restaurant. Guided architectural tours run regularly and give you access to parts of the building most visitors miss, including backstage areas and detailed explanation of Eliasson's geometric system.

Harpa sits right at the edge of the old harbour, which means the views from inside — across the water toward Mount Esja and the Snæfellsnes peninsula on clear days — are exceptional. If you're in Reykjavik for a few days, checking what's on at Harpa before you arrive is worth doing; even a smaller performance in one of its intimate halls makes for a memorable evening. The building is also one of the best spots in the city to photograph the northern lights in winter, when the glass exterior catches and refracts the aurora in ways that are genuinely hard to describe.