Hallgrimskirkja Church

The tower is visible from across central Reykjavík: 74.5 metres of stepped concrete flanks that copy Iceland's columnar basalt, the same organ-pipe formations found at Svartifoss. Guðjón Samúelsson designed it in 1937. Inside, the church is Lutheran plain — white, largely unadorned, 1,676 square metres with no gold altars and no painted panels. Come for the design and the view, not for decoration. The Klais organ stands 15 metres tall, holds 5,275 pipes and is often played during the day. A lift runs up the tower to a viewing deck, the highest point in the city, over the multicoloured rooftops and out to the ocean.

• Crowds: this is the city's busiest tourist stop. The plaza and the tower deck stay busy through the day.
• Plain interior: white, Lutheran and largely unadorned. No gold altars, no intricate paintings.
• Bells: the carillon rings every 15 minutes, 9am to 9pm on weekdays and noon to 9pm at weekends and on holidays, outside service times.
• Tower: a lift covers most of the way up, but there are stairs at the top as well.
• Toilets: the nearest are about 100 metres away and charge a fee; the free ones are some 500 metres off.

The church stands on the hilltop of Skólavörðuholt, near the centre of Reykjavík. Vehicles come right up to it: the nearest parking is about 30 metres from the entrance, and the bus stop named after the church is under 100 metres away. From either, the last stretch is a flat walk across the plaza and takes about a minute. On foot from the lower streets of the centre, the approach is a steady climb up the hill.

Better: weekday mornings from 9am, when the carillon starts ringing every quarter hour.

Avoid: weekend and holiday mornings before noon, when the bells do not ring at all.

The church is the most visited sight in Reykjavík, so the plaza and the tower deck are rarely quiet at any hour. The organ is often played during the day, which is worth timing a visit around.