July 15, 2025

Review of Canopy by Hilton Reykjavik City Centre

Jess

Booking Award Travel, Europe, Hotels

On a recent trip to Iceland, my family of five decided to use Reykjavik as a home base (because hotel-hopping with a family for a four-night stay wasn’t ideal). We took a couple of day trips from Reykjavik and spent one day exploring the city itself. Canopy by Hilton Reykjavik City Centre proved to be an amazing choice for our family! Here’s how we did it on points and miles….

 

Getting There

We positioned from Houston to Chicago, then flew from Chicago (ORD) to Reykjavik (KEF) on Icelandair. Although we flew on Icelandair metal, we redeemed Alaska miles for the flights. Our flights actually went from Chicago to Dublin with a four-night stopover in Iceland. We paid 27,500 Alaska miles + $212 in taxes and fees per person for this redemption. You can often find great cash deals on Icelandair, and it’s one scenario where booking through a travel portal could make sense. (I have not been able to find a similar deal with Alaska miles recently.) 
 
We rented a three-row SUV through Blue Car Rental (a rental car is a must in Iceland in my opinion). We paid around $700 for our five days. Keep in mind that gas is also about $10/gallon in Iceland. 
 
 

The Redemption

I redeemed Hilton points for our four-night stay. (Yes, I could have gotten the fifth night free, but I booked our flights first. #fail) Maximum occupancy for standard rooms in Europe is often two people, and Reykjavik is no exception. Standard rooms at the Canopy by Hilton Reykjavik City Centre have either one queen bed, two twin beds, or one king bed, and they are 85,000 Hilton points/night.

 

 

We booked two standard rooms for our family of five, and then I emailed to ask about paying to upgrade one of the rooms to a room that slept three. They were accommodating and quoted me 25,000 ISK (around $200)/night to upgrade to a King Junior Suite. We took the upgrade offer, and our girls enjoyed their King Junior Suite (complete with king bed and sofa bed) very much!

Ted and I were ultimately upgraded to a one-bedroom suite thanks to my Diamond status (from holding the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire), but I didn’t want to roll the dice and wait until check-in to see if they’d be able to accommodate our family of five. 

All information about the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire has been collected independently by Travel Mom Squad. The American Express Hilton Honors Aspire is no longer available through Travel Mom Squad.

I was able to rack up enough Hilton points to cover both rooms through a combination of spend on my Hilton cards and taking advantage of the 2:1 transfer ratio from American Express to Hilton. (I also took advantage of a transfer bonus last year.) Hilton does not charge taxes or resort fees on award stays, which is also a great perk. 

 

We loved the vibe of the Canopy!

 

 

The Hotel

We loved the Canopy’s location. We were able to walk everywhere in Reykjavik and just used our rental car for our day trips. There is a parking garage directly across the street from the Canopy that we found very convenient, at a cost of around $20 per night. There is no valet or parking available at the hotel itself. 
 
Rooms do not have air conditioning, but we slept with the windows open and did not have an issue (and the hotel also provides fans in each room). The Saturday night that we were there we could hear people outside socializing late into the night, but noise was not an issue on any of the other evenings. It’s also daylight for about 21 hours/day in Iceland in the summer, and the curtains did not do a great job of blocking out the light. I recommend packing an eye mask, ear plugs, and a travel white noise machine. 
 
 

Cute seating areas are scattered throughout the Canopy.

 
 

The Food

We enjoyed the breakfast buffet each morning in Canopy’s restaurant, Geiri Smart. With Hilton Gold or Hilton Diamond status, you can enjoy complimentary breakfast for two adults at most international properties. They ended up wiping breakfast for all five of us which was greatly appreciated. 

I booked one room under my account (with Diamond status), and one room under Ted’s account (with Gold status). You can achieve Hilton Gold status simply by holding the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, Platinum Card® from American Express, or the Business Platinum Card® from American Express. 

The buffet was extensive and offered eggs, pancakes, potatoes, breakfast meats, pastries, fruit, cereals, juices, and more! Dining out in Iceland is very expensive, so filling up on our free breakfast each morning saved us a lot of money. 

All information about the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card has been collected independently by Travel Mom Squad. The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card is no longer available through Travel Mom Squad.

All information about the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card has been collected independently by Travel Mom Squad. The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card is no longer available through Travel Mom Squad.

All information about The Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Travel Mom Squad. The Platinum Card® from American Express is no longer available through Travel Mom Squad.

All information about The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Travel Mom Squad. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is no longer available through Travel Mom Squad.

 

 

Speaking of dining out being expensive, we also ate a couple of dinners at Geiri Smart at the Canopy because they offer 20% off to hotel guests. With five of us, this was a significant savings, and the food was pretty good! They also have a kids’ menu which helped cut down on costs with my picky eater.

 

Activities We Loved

I actually hired Eric at Iceland With Kids to help me with itinerary-planning for this trip. We met with him on Zoom a couple of times to discuss our interests, he booked excursions and made reservations, then loaded everything into an app for us to follow by day (including navigation). He also got us a discount on our rental car, glacier hike, and walking tour. I felt spoiled for sure! Here are some of our favorite things we did:

 

Bottom Line

We absolutely loved our family trip to Iceland. While it’s not the most budget-friendly destination, points and miles helped make it affordable for our family of five. I would not hesitate to stay at Canopy by Hilton Reykjavik City Centre again and hope to do so at some point in the future!

 

Related Posts

Best Use of Hilton Free-Night Certificates

Reader Success Story to Iceland

Changes to the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. American Express is a Travel Mom Squad advertiser, but we always show the best public offer even when we don’t earn a commission. Terms Apply. 

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