Four kinds of tour leave Akureyri: a boat on the fjord, a day by road to the waterfalls and the lake, a ticket to the warm pools across the water, and a food walk through the centre. They are all good at what they do. The choice turns on where each one starts, how long it takes, and what its fare leaves out. This guide sets them side by side, then names a pick for each kind of traveller. Ready to compare the fares? They sit together under Akureyri Iceland tickets.
Start with the hours you have, not the photos you have seen. Most whale sailings from the town harbour take two and a half to three hours. A Mývatn day takes five to nine. The lagoon has no clock at all: your ticket is valid for the day, and you stay as long as you like. A food walk runs two and a half to three hours on foot.
Then ask where you are sleeping, or where your ship is tied up. A boat from the harbour beside the Hof Cultural Centre needs nothing but a walk. A boat from Hauganes or Húsavík needs a car, because no whale fare includes getting to the harbour. A day tour collects you, so it suits a traveller without wheels. Where each start sits against the others is on the Akureyri map.
Read the last two columns first. They are where the kinds differ most.
| Kind of tour | Fares from | How long | Where it starts | Getting there | What the fare leaves out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whale boat | $90 to $195 | 2 to 3.5 hours | The town harbour, Hauganes or Húsavík | Yours in every case | Transport, and food on board |
| Mývatn day by road | $180 to $395 | 5 to 9 hours | A pickup in town or at the cruise pier | In the fare | Food, and the bath entry where the day stops there |
| Forest Lagoon ticket | $80 | Valid all day | Across the fjord | A free shuttle, or a short drive | Swimwear and a robe |
| Food walk | $131 to $140 | 2.5 to 3 hours | In the centre | On foot | Nothing to eat: the food is the fare |
Two smaller activities sit outside the four. The zipline over the canyon in town runs an hour and a half from $95. The northern lights hunt runs three hours after dark from $113, with a hotel pickup. Neither needs a car.
If you only book one thing, book the boat. It is shorter, cheaper and it leaves from the middle of town, so it fits round anything else you do. The ships out of the harbour sail for two and a half to three and a half hours from $103. Several of them give you a free second try if nothing is seen, which takes most of the risk out of the fare.
Choose the day by road if the landscape is the reason you came. Goðafoss, the lava formations at Dimmuborgir, the craters at Skútustaðagígar and the steaming ground at Hverir are all on it, and none is reachable by bus. The fares start at $180 and include the driving. Every day, stop by stop, is compared on Akureyri day tours. Have two days? Do both, the boat first: it is the one that weather can move.
One thing to know before a summer day at Lake Mývatn: midges. One traveller on the eight-hour day called them a nuisance at the lakeside stops. A head net costs little and solves it.
This is the question that trips people up, because the headline fares look alike and the exclusions do not.
The prices guide works through each extra in full. For now, the rule is simple: read the excluded line on a card before the price on it.
Three places, and each changes the plan. The Forest Lagoon sits at Vaðlaskógur, across the fjord, 3.6 km from the centre, with its own free shuttle. The Hauganes boat leaves a fishing village 25 minutes north. The Húsavík boats leave a harbour on Skjálfandi bay, about an hour east.
Húsavík is the one to take seriously. The boats there are good, and the bay is sheltered. But the fare is for the boat alone, and the drive, the check-in and the sailing together take most of a day. If you have no car, or your ship leaves in the afternoon, sail from the town harbour instead. The case for each side is made in full on Akureyri whale watching tours.
A RIB is a small, open, fast boat. The one from the town pier sails for two hours from $195, twelve seats at most, with overalls, goggles and gloves supplied. The Húsavík RIBs sail for two hours from $166. You get closer to the water and there are fewer people at the rail.
The cost is comfort. There is no cabin to retreat to, the ride is hard in a chop, and there are limits: you must fit the overalls supplied (to size 3XL on the town RIB), and the Húsavík RIBs take nobody under 8 or shorter than 130 cm. A ship gives you a heated saloon, a café, a longer sailing and a lower fare. For a family, or anyone who feels the cold, take the ship.
Dettifoss is 45 m high and 100 m wide, and the national park calls it the most powerful waterfall in Europe. It is also about two hours' drive from town, then a 1 km walk from the car park to the viewpoint. Adding it to the lake turns a long day into a very long one.
The two days that go there cost from $302 and $395, against $180 for a lake day without it. The cheaper one gives the falls 40 minutes and adds an hour and 20 minutes at the baths. The dearer one gives them an hour and a half, in a group of twelve, and runs only from 18 May to 31 October for adults 16 and over. If you have seen big water before and you are short of time, skip it. If waterfalls are the point of the trip, it is the one to book.
No tour here drives the whole Diamond Circle, which also takes in Ásbyrgi and Húsavík; the Dettifoss days cover three of its five stops.
The whale ships are the easiest. They carry overalls in children's sizes, a heated saloon and a café, and the sailing is short. The Forest Lagoon takes children too: under-12s leave the water by 20:00, and child tickets are sold at the door. The zipline takes nobody under 8. The Dettifoss day in the small vehicle takes adults only.
A day at the lake is long for small children, mostly because of the hours in the vehicle. The age rules boat by boat are set out in the post on Akureyri with kids.
Yes, if one of them is the lagoon. A whale sailing from the harbour takes three and a half hours at most. A day tour that collects you at nine returns you in the late afternoon. Either leaves the evening free, and the lagoon stays open until midnight, with a free shuttle from the centre in the evening.
What does not pair well is a Húsavík boat and anything else. The drive there and back eats the margin. A food walk and a whale sailing on the same day works well, as long as the walk is in season (mid-May to September). The walks are compared on Akureyri food tours.
By the hour, the lagoon ticket at $80 is hard to beat: a full day, a towel and a drink. Among the boats, the town ships at about $103 give you the longest sailing for the fare, and the free second try protects it. Among the days by road, the $180 lake day from the cruise terminal gives its stops the longest timed visits: 45 minutes each at Goðafoss and at Dimmuborgir.
The dearest fares are not the worst value; they buy small groups and more stops. They are the worst value only if you do not want what they add.
| If you are | Take | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Here for one day, no car | A whale ship from the town harbour | It leaves from the centre, and a second try is free |
| Here for the landscape | A Mývatn day with pickup | The driving is in the fare |
| Off a cruise ship | A day that starts on your pier | It returns you to the ship |
| With young children | The whale ship, then the lagoon | Short, warm and sized for kids |
| Short on money | The lagoon ticket | A full day for the lowest fare |
| A waterfall lover | The small-group Dettifoss day | The longest stop at the big falls |
| Here in summer, hungry | A food walk from the harbour | The food is the fare |
Still torn? Take the whale ship. It is short, it starts where you are, and it is the one experience here that nothing on land replaces. The town’s own sights, all free, fill the rest of the day: they are on things to do in Akureyri.
Three hours from the pier beside the harbour on a large ship, with a naturalist guide, thermal overalls in children's sizes and a free second sailing if nothing is seen.
From $105 per person
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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
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A day ticket to the warm pools across the fjord with a towel, a locker, shower products and one drink at the swim-up bar.
From $80 per person
Check AvailabilityNext: Price it up in what each fare buys, or plan a ship day in a cruise day, hour by hour. Every tour sits side by side on Akureyri Iceland Tours.