I think tourists in general are fine with fake. They just want an entertainment experience (and usually to share photos of it on social media). Whether it's aut

I think tourists in general are fine with fake. They just want an entertainment experience (and usually to share photos of it on social media). Whether it's authentic is usually not the point. But this might just be my jaded perspective. I wouldn't hold the crowds in Reykjavik against the town itself, though. It's no less authentic than the seasonality of a college town. It's not the same as it was years ago, certainly, but everything changes. And I've found the tourism traffic pattern around town is actually quite narrow. Laugavegur is packed in the summer, but just move one block over and the street's practically empty. Also get out of downtown and into the suburbs and things feel much more normal. Of course, tourists don't usually travel to foreign countries to walk around suburbs. And there's definitely an Icelandic hipster culture that enjoys the craft beer and fancy cafes as much as the tourists, so I wouldn't say that's inauthentic of modern Icelandic life. So then there's the question of which version of Iceland one considers "authentic".