Akureyri Tour Prices: What Each Fare Buys

Akureyri tours cost from $80 for a day at the lagoon to $395 for a small-group day to Dettifoss. In between sit the whale boats and the days by road. The headline fare is only half of it: what each one leaves out matters as much. This guide works through every fare by kind, then adds up the extras. For tickets you can book today, see Akureyri Iceland tickets.

What do Akureyri tours cost?

Every fare here is per person, and every one refunds in full if you cancel at least 24 hours ahead. The bands are wide, because the products are different things.

All figures are in US dollars, as each listing shows them. The door prices quoted later are in Icelandic krónur, because that is how the attractions publish them.

Whale boats: from the ship to the RIB

Three prices tell the story. A ship from the town harbour costs about $103. A boat from Hauganes costs $90, and the traditional oak boat from Húsavík $98. A RIB costs $166 to $195.

What the RIB premium buys is a small group and speed: twelve seats, and a boat that reaches the whales quickly and puts you close to the water. What the ship buys is shelter, a café and time: a heated saloon and a sailing of up to three and a half hours. The cheaper boats are not a lesser product; they are a slower and warmer one.

The Hauganes and Húsavík fares look lower, but add the drive. Hauganes is 25 minutes north and Húsavík about an hour east, and no whale fare includes getting there. Every boat, harbour by harbour, is on Akureyri whale watching tours.

Why do the day-tour fares double?

A day by road to Goðafoss and Lake Mývatn costs from $180. The dearest goes to $395. The spread comes from three things.

• Group size. The cheapest day takes groups of up to 57. The dearest caps its group at twelve, and the eight-hour small-group day at eight seats, needing two to book, costs $215.
• Dettifoss. The waterfall is about two hours from town. The two days that add it cost from $302 and $395.
• Hours. A six-hour day costs less than an eight-hour one, and the difference is mostly the bath stop.

What does not change is what they leave out. No day tour includes food, and every day that stops at the baths leaves out the entry. The day tours themselves, stop by stop, are compared on Akureyri day tours.

What extras does no fare include?

Budget for these on top of the fare. Each is named in the listings’ own excluded lines.

The biggest line is the bath. A couple on an eight-hour lake day pays the fare, then 7,900 ISK each at the desk. Plan for it and it is a highlight; forget it and it is the one surprise of the day.

Forest Lagoon: which ticket buys what?

The lagoon sells at the door in two main tiers. The warm ticket is 7,490 ISK, entry only. The calm ticket is 10,150 ISK, with a towel and a drink. A towel alone is 1,400 ISK to rent. Children aged 6 to 15 pay 3,790 ISK, sold on site, and under-6s go free.

The ticket we list at $80 is the calm package, paid ahead: entry, a towel, a locker, shower products and one drink at the swim-up bar. A second ticket from $83 buys the same with your first drink at the bar, bottled wine excluded. Either way, bring swimwear: rental is extra, and so is a robe. How the lagoon fits into a day is on things to do in Akureyri.

Food walks: is the tasting a meal?

Yes. The fare is the food, and you should arrive hungry. The walk from $140 serves lunch or dinner as tastings at local places over two and a half hours. The second listing of it names five restaurants and the menu: free-roaming lamb, fresh fish, Icelandic ice cream, the Icelandic hot dog and Icelandic beer.

The town walk with local food, from $131, is a lighter plate: about an hour of walking and an hour of eating, with food at two restaurants. All the food walks are seasonal, mid-May to September. They are compared on Akureyri food tours.

Do children pay less?

The fares here are the lowest per-person figure each listing shows. Where a tour prices children differently, you see it when you choose travellers in the booking calendar. At the doors, children pay much less: 3,790 ISK at the lagoon, 310 ISK at the town pool, and nothing at all at the museums for under-18s. Under-6s go free at the lagoon, and children 5 and under go free at Earth Lagoon Mývatn, which makes the bath stop on a family lake day cheaper than it first looks.

Some tours set an age limit instead. The Húsavík RIBs take nobody under 8 or shorter than 130 cm. The zipline takes nobody under 8. The small-group Dettifoss day takes adults 16 and over. The whale ships carry overalls in children’s sizes.

What happens to your money if the weather turns or nothing shows?

Every tour listed here refunds in full up to 24 hours before it starts. After that, the policies differ on what happens when the sea or the sky lets you down.

• The town whale ships: a free second try if no whales are seen. The classic ship’s ticket is valid for two years, in Reykjavík or Akureyri.
• The town RIB: if none are seen, you come again free on the classic ship.
• The Húsavík family boats: no refund if nothing is sighted, but a voucher for another sailing.
• The northern lights hunt: a second attempt the following night if no lights are seen.

The practical upshot: book early. A booking you can cancel for nothing up to a day ahead costs nothing to hold, and the small-group days seat only eight or twelve.

A three-day stay, priced line by line

Here is how the fares and the extras fall across a typical three days. We have not added them up, because your party, your dates and the exchange rate all change the sum. Read it as a list of what you will be asked to pay, and when.

• Day one, in town. A whale ship from the harbour, from $103, with nothing to pay on top but a coffee on board. In the evening, the lagoon: $80 booked ahead, or 10,150 ISK at the door for the same towel and drink.
• Day two, by road. A lake day from $197, pickup included. At the baths, 7,900 ISK each at the desk. Lunch is yours.
• Day three, on foot. The church, the garden and the harbour for nothing, the art museum for 2,400 ISK, and a food walk from $131 in season, which takes care of lunch or dinner.

Swap day two for the Dettifoss day and the fare rises by more than the bath costs. Swap day one’s ship for a Húsavík RIB and add a hire car. Either change can be worth it; neither is free.

Where does the money go furthest?

Four answers, by what you value. For a whole day for the least money, take the lagoon ticket at $80. For the longest sailing per dollar, take a town ship at about $103, with its free second try. For the most time at each stop by road, take the $180 lake day from the cruise terminal. For a whale museum ticket, keep your whale receipt: the museum in Húsavík takes 20% off its 2,650 ISK adult entry if you show one.

And the cheapest thing in town is still free. The church, the garden and the harbour cost nothing, and the art museum is 2,400 ISK.

Where these figures come from

• The lagoon's own prices and hours — read 23 September 2026
• The baths at the lake (Earth Lagoon) — read 23 September 2026
• Akureyri swimming pool (sundlaugar.is) — read 23 September 2026
• The whale museum on the bay — read 23 September 2026

Akureyri tour prices: frequently asked questions

Tours at each end of the price range

Lake Mývatn and Powerful Dettifoss Day Tour from Akureyri

Eight to nine hours from a hotel in town in a group of twelve at most, with an hour and a half at the big waterfall. Adults 16 and over, 18 May to 31 October.

From $395 per person

Check Availability

Lake Myvatn and Godafoss Waterfall Day Tour from Akureyri

Pickup at 09:00 from three points in town, about six hours in the lake area and an hour at the baths there, whose entry the fare leaves out.

From $197 per person

Check Availability

Big Whales & Puffins RIB boat tour from Húsavík

Two hours on the bay by RIB with twelve seats, a guide separate from the driver and warm overalls. Aged 8 or 130 cm and up; you drive to the harbour.

From $166 per person

Check Availability