Akureyri shore excursions start where your ship ties up: in the car park on your pier, at the cruise terminal on Laufásgata, or a short walk away at the town harbour. The ones that collect you on the pier bring you back to it. Choose by your hours ashore, then by what you want to see.
Built for a port call: the guide waits in the car park on your pier under an Imagine Iceland Travel sign, and the day returns you there five or six hours later. Goðafoss, the lake, and an optional bath if the ship allows.
From $197 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The shortest trip off the ship: two and a half hours from the cruise terminal, an hour of it at Goðafoss. Snacks and Wi-Fi are included, with a restroom stop; bring water, as bottled water and lunch are not.
From $128 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A walk from the piers to the town harbour, then two and a half hours on the fjord. Overalls in children's sizes and heated seating are included, and a sailing with no whales earns a second-chance ticket.
From $103 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Pickup and drop-off at the cruise port for a six-hour lake trip with the longest timed stops: 45 minutes at Goðafoss and at the lava formations. It skips the baths, which keeps it inside a shorter call.
From $180 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Eight seats and eight hours for a long call, meeting at the terminal entrance that faces the car park; look for the turquoise jacket. An hour at the baths ends the outing, with the entry paid at the desk.
From $215 per person (minimum 2)
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
From the cruise terminal to Goðafoss and back, with an hour at the falls. Short enough for almost any call.
Check availabilityIt is a tour sold for a port call and built around one. Large ships berth at Oddeyrarbryggja and Tangabryggja, and most dock a few minutes from the centre, or about ten minutes’ walk. The town takes up to 200 cruise calls a year. The tours here meet you on your pier or at the terminal on Laufásgata, or at the town harbour by the Hof Cultural Centre, a short walk away.
Three go by road: a run to Goðafoss, and days to Lake Mývatn of six and eight hours. One goes to sea, a whale sailing from the town harbour. None goes to Húsavík, an hour east, because a port call rarely leaves time for the drive, the check-in and the boat.
The road tours meet you at the terminal or in the car park on your pier. No taxi, no rental desk, no finding your way through a town you have just arrived in.
A tour that collects you from your ship drops you there again, and its stops are short enough to fit a port call.
Two and a half hours for the falls or the fjord. Five to six for the lake. Eight for the lake and the baths. You book to your hours ashore, not to a fixed day.
The eight-hour day seats eight, and the five-to-six-hour port day seats up to 19. The lake day with the longest stops takes groups of up to 57.
You can walk off the ship and see the town alone, and plenty of people do. Here is what each option gives you.
| What you want | With a shore excursion | On your own |
|---|---|---|
| Goðafoss | From $128, an hour at the falls | A hire car or a taxi |
| The lake | From $180, five to eight hours | A hire car and a free day |
| Whales | From $103, a walk to the harbour | The same boats, booked yourself |
| The lagoon | Not a shore excursion | The free port shuttle in high season |
| The town | Not needed | Free: the church, the garden, the harbour |
The pattern is plain. For anything by road, the excursion is simpler and safer on time. For the fjord, the town or the Forest Lagoon, you can do it yourself: the whale boats are a walk from the pier, and in high season the lagoon runs a free shuttle from Tangabryggja every hour on the hour from 10:00 to 17:00.
What you get: the pickup and the drop at the pier or the terminal, the vehicle and a guide or driver. The Goðafoss run adds snacks, Wi-Fi and a restroom stop at the hotel by the falls. The whale sailing adds overalls and a second-chance ticket, though on a one-day call the second chance is hard to use.
What you don’t get: food, on every road tour, and bottled water on the Goðafoss run. The bath entry on the lake days, from 7,900 ISK at the desk. And on the whale sailing, the transfer, because there is none: you walk.
Count your hours. Take the time from gangway down to all-aboard and subtract an hour. Under four, take the falls or the fjord. Five to six, the lake. Eight or more, the lake and the baths. The hour-by-hour version is in a cruise day in Akureyri.
Price. From $128 for the falls to $215 for the eight-hour day, a person.
Booking. Book before you sail. Every excursion here refunds in full up to 24 hours ahead. On the day, be at the vehicle early: one traveller on a port day never reached the caves because others in the group kept coming back late from each stop.
Finding the start. The terminal, the piers and the harbour are all on the Akureyri map.
Met in the car park on your pier, five to six hours, Goðafoss and the lake, and back to the ship.
Check availabilityNext: Work out your hours in a cruise day in Akureyri, or price the extras in Akureyri tour prices. Every tour sits side by side on Akureyri Iceland Tours.