Akureyri Without a Tour

You can see a great deal of Akureyri without booking anything. The church, the garden and the harbour cost nothing, the town buses are free, and the lagoon and Goðafoss are easy to reach alone. Three things are different: the whales, a winter road and a dark sky. This guide says what you can do yourself, what it costs, and where a tour earns its fare. If you would rather be shown round, start with an Akureyri city tour.

What can you do in Akureyri without booking anything?

The whole centre, on foot. Here is a morning that costs nothing.

• Akureyrarkirkja. The church on the hill, designed by Guðjón Samúelsson and consecrated in 1940. Its twin towers are the landmark you will see from everywhere, and the view back over the harbour from its steps is free.
• The botanic garden. Lystigarður opened as a park in 1912. It is open all year and free, with gates and toilets open 09:00 to 22:00 from 1 June to 30 September.
• The harbour. The whale boats tie up beside the Hof Cultural Centre, where the tourist desk is. Walk the quay towards the cruise piers.
• The red hearts. The town’s traffic lights show a red heart, a 2008 campaign from the financial crisis that never went away.

The best cheap thing in town is the pool, up the hill at Skólastígur 4. It has two 25 m outdoor pools, five hot tubs at 38 to 42 °C, a steam bath and three slides, and an adult pays 1,400 ISK. It is open until 21:00 on weekdays all year.

The other paid doors in town are small and cheap too: the art museum at 2,400 ISK, the town museums at 2,800 ISK for all seven, and the pool at 1,400 ISK. Their hours are on things to do in Akureyri.

How do the free town buses work?

Every town bus in Akureyri is free: you get on and you ride. They run from about 06:30 to 23:00 on weekdays and from about 12:15 to 19:00 at weekends, looping out from the Miðbær stop in the centre. They are for getting round the town, up to the pool or out to the edges. They do not go to the lagoon, Goðafoss or the lake.

Can you get to Forest Lagoon on your own?

Easily. The Forest Lagoon sits at Vaðlaskógur across the fjord, 3.6 km from the centre, and the lagoon runs its own free shuttle. Outside the summer (7 September to 31 May) there is one evening run: 18:45 from Centrum Kitchen & Bar on Skipagata, back at 22:00. In summer there is an earlier town run and an hourly run from the cruise port.

At the door, entry is 7,490 ISK, or 10,150 ISK with a towel and a drink. Towel rental alone is 1,400 ISK. Children aged 6 to 15 pay 3,790 ISK, and under-12s must be out of the water by 20:00. Our ticket at $80 covers the towel-and-drink package; it is a convenience, not a discount on the door.

Can you drive to Goðafoss yourself?

Yes, and it is one of the easiest drives in the north. Route 1 runs east through the Vaðlaheiðargöng tunnel, and the falls are about 40 minutes from town. Goðafoss is 12 m high and 30 m wide, on the Skjálfandafljót river. The story attached to it is the reason for the name: after Iceland adopted Christianity, the lawspeaker Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði is said to have thrown the old pagan idols into it.

The tunnel is tolled per trip, and you pay online at veggjald.is by licence plate. A tour pays the toll for you, which is one small line on the case for one.

Lake Mývatn by car: summer vs winter

In summer, a hire car and a free day is the best way to see Lake Mývatn. The circuit of stops is short: the craters at Skútustaðagígar, the lava towers of Dimmuborgir, the cave at Grjótagjá, and the steaming ground at Hverir under Námafjall. Earth Lagoon Mývatn is 89 km from Akureyri, about an hour by Route 1, and opens 12:00 to 22:00 daily from 1 September, with entry from 7,900 ISK.

Winter is a different road. One traveller on a winter lake day found the road conditions so bad that the group could not reach Dettifoss at all. The driver turned the day round; a hire car would have had to do the same, with nobody to ask. If you are not used to ice, book the day tour from October to April.

What does the tunnel cost, and what else does a car add?

We do not print the toll, because the operator changes it and you pay it online at the time. Budget for it each way. Petrol and the car are the rest.

What a car adds is freedom: you stop where you like, stay as long as you like, and avoid the group’s pace. What it costs you is attention. Somebody has to drive, read the signs and watch the weather, and that person sees less of the lake than anybody else in the car.

Can you see whales without a boat?

Not in any way you can plan. The sightings the boats sell are made out on the water, with a crew scanning for blows. From the quay you see the fjord.

What you can do on land is the whale museum in Húsavík, at Hafnarstétt 1, with the skeletons of the animals the boats go out to find. It opens 09:00 to 18:00 from May to September and 10:00 to 16:00 from October to April, and adult entry is 2,650 ISK, with 20% off if you show a whale-watching ticket. Pair it with a boat and it is two parts of one day. The boats themselves, harbour by harbour, are on Akureyri whale watching tours.

When is a tour simply easier?

In four cases, each with a reason behind it.

• Whales. There is no way to do this yourself. Book the boat.
• A winter road. The Dettifoss road is not in winter service from January until the beginning of April, and the heath roads ice. A guide who drives them every week is worth the fare.
• The northern lights. The tour goes where the sky is dark and clear, about 20 minutes from town, and waits there with you for an hour and a half. If nothing shows, you go again the next night at no charge.
• No car, no licence. Goðafoss and the lake have no bus. A day tour is the only way there without a driver of your own.

What does doing it yourself cost compared with a tour?

Here is each goal side by side. The door prices are the attractions’ own; the fares are the lowest listed for each kind of tour.

Read it down the last column. Where the tour adds only transport, a car does the same job. Where it adds a boat, a guide on a winter road or a second night under the sky, the fare buys something you cannot buy yourself.

Where do you get help on the ground?

The tourist desk is inside Hof at Strandgata 12, phone +354 450 1050. It keeps 08:00 to 16:00 from June to August, 09:00 to 14:00 in April, May and from September to mid-October, and closed from 16 October to the end of March. For the aurora, the Icelandic Met Office publishes a forecast with a cloud-cover map; its sunset times are for Reykjavík, so adjust for the north. Where every meeting point sits is on the Akureyri map, and getting here at all is in the visitor guide.

Where these figures come from

• Free city bus (Visit Akureyri) — read 23 September 2026
• The lagoon's free shuttle timetable — read 23 September 2026
• Tunnel toll payment (veggjald.is) — read 23 September 2026
• The whale museum on the bay — read 23 September 2026
• Aurora forecast (Icelandic Met Office) — read 23 September 2026

Akureyri on your own: frequently asked questions

Tours for the parts you cannot do alone

Akureyri: Zipline Tour

Five lines of different lengths across the canyon in town, short hikes between them, a safety briefing and all the gear. Not for children under 8.

From $95 per person

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Akureyri: City Walk with Local Food

Three hours in the centre with a local guide: about an hour of walking and an hour of eating, with food at two restaurants.

From $131 per person

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Whale Watching from Downtown Akureyri

Three hours from the downtown pier on a boat with several viewing platforms and warm overalls, and a free second try if nothing is sighted.

From $104 per person

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