The Ultimate Guide to Icelandic Candy

Icelandic sweets are known for creamy milk chocolate, crunchy candy bars, and a full-blown love affair with salty licorice (lakkrís). Favorites like Nóa Kropp, Prince Polo, Lakkrísreimar, and Lindu Rís Buff are easy to spot across Iceland and make excellent road-trip snacks and gifts to bring home. Want to know which Icelandic candies are actually worth trying, what they taste like, where to buy them in Reykjavík or at Keflavík Airport, and how much they usually cost? You’re in the right place. Grab a snack and let’s get into it.

• Icelandic candy is best known for milk chocolate, licorice, and the sweet-salty combinations of the two.

• Popular candies to try include Nóa Kropp, Prince Polo, Draumur, Þristur, Lakkrísreimar, Hraunbitar, Lindu Rís Buff, and Súkkulaðirúsínur.

• Supermarkets like Bónus, Krónan, and Nettó usually offer the best combination of price and selection for Icelandic candies.

• Sweet Icelandic treats make one of the easiest souvenirs to bring home because they are travel-friendly, shareable, and closely tied to local food culture.

• If you’re new to Icelandic licorice, start with chocolate-covered options like Draumur or Þristur.

The defining flavor in Icelandic candy is lakkrís, or licorice. In Iceland, licorice is not a niche candy category. It appears across everyday sweets, from chewy ropes and pastilles to chocolate bars and chocolate-covered bites.

Another flavor to know is salmiak, a salty licorice style. It tastes sharper and more intense than sweet black licorice, which is why many first-time tasters find it surprising.

Alongside lakkrís, Icelandic shelves are full of creamy milk chocolate, crisp wafer bars, and snackable sweets from long-running brands such as Nói Síríus, Freyja, Góa, and Sambó.

Candy also has a visible place in everyday life. The tradition of Laugardagsnammi, or Saturday candy, reflects the long-standing habit of saving sweets for one day of the week. If you visit a supermarket on a Saturday, you may find good pick-and-mix deals.

If you only try a handful of Icelandic sweets, start with a mix of classic chocolate, chocolate-and-licorice combinations, and a more traditional lakkrís candy. That gives you a good feel for what local candy does best: crisp and chewy textures and sweet-salty pairings.

There is no single official winner when it comes to the most popular candy in Iceland, but a few clear favorites stand out. Prince Polo is one of the best-known candy bars, alongside long-time staples like Nóa Kropp, Draumur, and Þristur. In general, the most popular Icelandic candies include wafer bars, crunchy chocolate treats, chocolate-covered licorice, and chewy licorice candy.

Prince Polo is not originally from Iceland. Hailing from Poland, it’s been part of Iceland’s snack scene for so long that it absolutely belongs in this guide. This chocolate-coated wafer bar, available in both milk and dark chocolate, is crisp, light, and familiar, which makes it one of the easiest sweets for visitors to start with.

Part of Prince Polo’s appeal is its simplicity. There is no salty licorice surprise, no unexpected Nordic twist, just a reliable wafer bar that pairs nicely with coffee, milk, or an afternoon snack break on the road. If you want a safe first pick, Prince Polo is hard to beat.

Nóa Kropp is one of the easiest Icelandic candies to recommend. These light, crunchy corn puffs are coated in milk chocolate and have a texture that makes a bag disappear suspiciously fast once opened. They’re easy to share, easy to pack, and one of the safest candy gifts to bring home, because they tend to go down well with just about everyone.

For first-time visitors, Nóa Kropp is a smart pick because it delivers classic chocolate flavor with a familiar crisp rather than anything too unusual. It works especially well for road trips, hikes, and snack breaks during tours.

Draumur combines milk chocolate with a licorice center, creating one of Iceland’s most recognizable sweet-salty candy experiences. The milk chocolate makes it approachable, while the center gives it the distinctly Nordic flavor profile many travelers want to try at least once.

Its name means “dream,” which feels fair enough if you already like black licorice. If you’re still undecided, it can also serve as a gentler introduction, as the chocolate softens the bolder side of the traditional candy inside. It makes a good option for packed lunches, movie snacks, and first experiments with Iceland’s chocolate-and-lakkrís habit.

Þristur is another classic local candy that brings together chocolate and licorice, but in a smaller, more snackable format than Draumur. It usually comes as individually wrapped pieces inside a larger bag, making it easy to carry, share, and keep on hand for later. Soft, smooth, and pleasantly chewy, it delivers Iceland’s signature chocolate-and-lakkrís pairing in a format that feels less intense than more traditional flavors. For travelers curious about licorice but not ready to dive straight into the deep end, Þristur is one of the most approachable places to start. It’s widely loved, easy to find, and often surprises people who are convinced black licorice is not for them.