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Iceland Iceland arboretum

Reykjavík Botanic Garden

Szilas · Public domain

14% trees around it and 222 species recorded.

48Forestyas Score

Arboretum

  • trees within 3 km14%
  • wild within 10 km88%
  • species recorded222

The forest around

14% trees.

Read like the rings of a cut trunk: from the centre out, the land within 1, 3, 6 and 10 km, coloured by what covers it.

Trees 20%Grassland 23%Bare ground 0%Built-up 57%Trees 14%Grassland 22%Water 34%Bare ground 3%Built-up 27%Trees 7%Shrubland 0%Grassland 26%Wetland 0%Water 46%Bare ground 0%Cropland 0%Built-up 19%Trees 5%Shrubland 2%Grassland 38%Wetland 1%Water 47%Bare ground 0%Cropland 1%Built-up 5%14%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km20%
  • 1–3 km14%
  • 3–6 km7%
  • 6–10 km5%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees14%
  • Shrubland0%
  • Grassland22%
  • Wetland0%
  • Water34%
  • Bare ground3%
  • Cropland0%
  • Built-up27%

ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m, from Sentinel satellites), sampled every 120 m. A clearing, a road or a lake counts as what it is.

Who lives here

222 species recorded.

The plants, fungi, birds and mammals people have recorded here most often.

Changing forget-me-not
Changing forget-me-notMyosotis discolor14 recordsKristian Peters -- Fabelfroh 15:44, 1 September 2006 (UTC) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Sea plantain
Sea plantainPlantago maritima10 recordsCwmhiraeth · CC BY-SA 3.0
Fen bedstraw
Fen bedstrawGalium uliginosum9 recordsNo machine-readable author provided. Fabelfroh assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0
Cicely
CicelyMyrrhis odorata9 recordsUnknown author · Public domain
Garden angelica
Garden angelicaAngelica archangelica9 recordsFranz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen · Public domain
Coltsfoot
ColtsfootTussilago farfara8 recordsAndreas Trepte · CC BY-SA 2.5
Silverweed
SilverweedArgentina anserina8 recordsKyle Nessen · CC0
Thrift seapink
Thrift seapinkArmeria maritima8 recordsUnknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0
Northern bedstraw
Northern bedstrawGalium boreale7 recordsKristian Peters -- Fabelfroh 06:36, 2 July 2007 (UTC) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Nootka lupine
Nootka lupineLupinus nootkatensis7 recordsUser:NancyHeise · Public domain
Rowan
RowanSorbus aucuparia7 recordsGiallopolenta · Public domain
Greater Plantain
Greater PlantainPlantago major7 recordsEpgrande · CC BY 4.0

Open records within 2 km (GBIF, licensed for any use). Busy places are better recorded than remote ones.

In numbers

The forest, measured.

48out of 100

Our own rating, from open data only: tree cover (40 points), wildness (20), species recorded (30) and protection or heritage (10).

  • 14%Treesof the land within 3 km
  • 88%Wildno towns or farmland within 10 km
  • 222Speciesrecorded more than once within 2 km

When to walk

Best for walking in July.

How good each month is for a walk: mild days and little rain make the bar taller.

  1. Jan2°-2°169 mm
  2. Feb2°-2°152 mm
  3. Mar3°-1°154 mm
  4. Apr5°1°119 mm
  5. May8°3°93 mm
  6. Jun12°7°83 mm
  7. Jul14°9°99 mm
  8. Aug13°8°121 mm
  9. Sep10°6°181 mm
  10. Oct6°2°147 mm
  11. Nov3°0°149 mm
  12. Dec2°-2°172 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Reykjavík Botanic Garden.

Botanical garden

Reykjavík Botanic Garden is an arboretum in Iceland.

Seen from space, 14% of the land within 3 km is trees, and 88% of the land within 10 km has no towns or farmland.

222 species have been recorded around it: 134 plants, 2 fungi, 86 birds and 0 mammals.

The most recorded plants are: Changing forget-me-not, Sea plantain and Fen bedstraw.

The best time to walk is in July.

Reykjavík Botanic Garden 2014-08-02
Szilas · Public domain

Get there and walk

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at RKV airport (Reykjavík)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The forest and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the trails, notable trees, picnic sites and huts that OpenStreetMap shows.

Reykjavík Botanic Garden seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 7marked trails within 5 kmHimnastiginn, Kelduleið, Mánaleið and 4 more
  • 2named and notable trees within 6 kmOslóartréð - Austurvallartréð, Silfurreynir Tree
  • 81picnic sites within 4 km
  • 89shelters and huts within 6 km
  • 13viewpoints within 5 kmÚtsýnisskífa and 12 more
  • 8visitor centres within 6 kmTrip, What's On, Iceland Travel Assistance and 5 more
  • 1,355car parks within 3 km
  • 3campsites within 10 kmTjaldsvæði í Laugardal, Camper Resort Reykjavík, Viðistaðatúni
  • 154places to stay within 10 kmHótel Vík, Farfuglaheimilið í Laugardal, Hótel Ísland and 151 more
  • 152restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around Reykjavík Botanic Garden.

The mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons around this forest, the viewpoints above it, the birds and the night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas21 mountains within 25 km
Þverfellshorn840 m · 13 kmEsja914 m · 17 kmÞríhnúkagígur18 kmVífilsfell655 m · 19 kmLeitin22 kmAkrafjall642 m · 22 kmBrennisteinsfjöll621 m · volcano · 25 kmVestmannaeyjar25 km
Islandyasthe island
Iceland102,775 km²
Coastya7 beaches within 10 km
Kirkjusandur1.4 kmFossvogur3.6 kmNauthólsvík3.7 kmKópavogur4.6 kmLambhúsatjörn7.3 kmSeltjörn7.4 kmLeiruvogur7.7 km
Lakeyas6 lakes within 15 km
Rauðavatn0.3 km² · 5.9 kmVífilsstaðavatn0.3 km² · 6.8 kmElliðavatn2.1 km² · 7.2 kmLangavatn0.5 km² · 8.9 kmHafravatn1.0 km² · 10 kmSelvatn (lanaw sa Islandya, Höfuðborgarsvæði)0.3 km² · 13 km
Darkskyas1 dark-sky places within 30 km
HengillBortle 3 · 28 km
Cavernyas1 caves within 20 km
Maríuhellar7.8 km
Cascadyas2 waterfalls within 15 km
Tungufoss9.0 kmÁlafoss9.8 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The forest, as people saw it.

Grasagarður Reykjavíkur pond
Linguaddict · CC BY-SA 4.0
Argyranthemum frutescens (Reykjavík BG)
LubovGorshkova · CC BY-SA 4.0
Birch at Reykjavík botanical garden
Alexander Grebenkov · CC BY 3.0

Other forests nearby.

Reykjavík Botanic Garden

Iceland

  • 48Forestyas Score
  • 14%Trees
  • 88%Wild
  • 222Species

Heiðmörk

Iceland · 10 km

  • 48Forestyas Score
  • 15%Trees
  • 90%Wild
  • 345Species

See the guide

Þingvallaskógar

Iceland · 42 km

  • 49Forestyas Score
  • 1%Trees
  • 100%Wild
  • 274Species

See the guide

Akureyri Botanical Garden

Iceland · 247 km

  • 50Forestyas Score
  • 10%Trees
  • 93%Wild
  • 425Species

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q894659) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species6,466 open records within 2 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only)
See these recordsgbif.org
Names and photosWikidata (CC0); GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas, Coastya, Lakeyas, Darkskyas, Cavernyas, Cascadyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit
forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.You are here