Visiting Akureyri: Getting There and Where Tours Start

Akureyri has no gate and no ticket office. You arrive by road, by air or by ship, and the question that decides your day is where your tour begins. If you are comparing Akureyri Iceland tickets, start with the meeting point, then the price.

Where your day starts decides the booking

Most of what you book here happens outside the town. The whale boats work Eyjafjörður, the fjord the town sits at the head of, and the day tours drive east to Goðafoss and on to Lake Mývatn. A few go as far as Dettifoss. So the first thing to settle is where you board or are collected.

Most whale sailings leave from the harbour beside the Hof Cultural Centre, a short walk from the centre and from the cruise pier. One boat leaves Hauganes, 25 minutes north. The boats that sail from Húsavík leave about an hour east, and no whale fare includes getting you there. The Húsavík operator’s own advice to a cruise passenger who missed the start was that it is about an hour’s drive from the cruise port.

Getting to Akureyri

By road. Akureyri sits on Route 1, the ring road, and the drive from Reykjavík is a full day. In winter, check the road conditions before you set out, and allow a spare day in case you need it.

By air. Several domestic flights a day link Reykjavík and Akureyri. The airport is about 3 km from the centre, a five-minute drive or a 30-minute walk, and its terminal is open from 07:00 to 23:00.

By ship. Akureyri takes up to 200 cruise calls a year. Large ships berth at Oddeyrarbryggja or Tangabryggja, and most tie up close to the centre or about ten minutes’ walk from it. The port tours collect you on the pier itself.

Getting around once you are here

The town buses are free, all of them, within Akureyri. They run on weekdays from about 06:30 to 23:00 and at weekends from about 12:15 to 19:00, looping out from the Miðbær stop. The centre itself is small enough to walk end to end.

Forest Lagoon runs its own free shuttle. In the long season an hourly bus leaves the cruise pier at Tangabryggja from 10:00 to 17:00, with a town run at 17:30. From September to May there is one evening run from Skipagata at 18:45, back at 22:00. If you drive east yourself, the road runs through the Vaðlaheiðargöng tunnel, which charges a toll per trip: you pay it online at veggjald.is by licence plate.

What a fare covers, and what it leaves you

Read this before you read a price. Every fare here is per person, and every one cancels free up to 24 hours before the start. What differs is what you still have to arrange or pay for on the day.

Two lines in that table are worth reading twice. No whale fare includes a transfer, which costs nothing when the boat leaves the town pier and a morning when it leaves Húsavík. And every day on the road that stops at Earth Lagoon Mývatn, the former Mývatn Nature Baths, leaves its entry to you: from 7,900 ISK at the door.

The paid doors, and what costs nothing

A good deal of the town costs nothing. Akureyrarkirkja, the church on the hill, was consecrated in 1940. The botanic garden above it opened as a park in 1912 and is open and free all year. You can walk the harbour and past Hof for nothing, and stop at the red heart traffic lights on the way.

The doors that charge are few, and you pay each one yourself. The lagoon ticket is the one fare that buys a door, and at $80 it undercuts the lagoon’s own towel-and-drink price at the counter.

Accessibility, honestly

There is no one access statement for a day here, because every day goes somewhere different. A RIB is a fast open boat you climb down into, and the waterfall paths are rough rock and gravel. What you can go on is what each listing declares for itself, and the listings do not agree.

Ask the operator about the specific boat or route before you book. Where a listing says nothing, that is not a yes.

What to bring

• Layers, a hat and gloves, even in July. The boats hand out warm overalls, but the wind on the fjord is cold, and one Húsavík RIB leaves gloves and hats out of its kit.
• Swimwear and a towel for the baths. The lagoon ticket includes the towel; the Mývatn baths charge for one.
• Something to eat on the road. No day tour includes food, and the café stops are yours to pay for.
• A head net at the lake in summer. Travellers on several Mývatn days report midges, and the net is the one fix that works.
• Grippy shoes in the shoulder months. The paths at the waterfalls ice over, and one guide hands out spikes.
• A working phone number at booking, because meeting details are confirmed the day before.

Booking, changing and cancelling

Every tour listed here refunds in full if you cancel at least 24 hours before the start. The boats cancel for weather too, sometimes at short notice, and when the operator cancels you are offered another date or your money back. In summer and on cruise days the small boats fill first: the RIBs seat 12 and the smallest lake minibus seats eight.

The tourist information desk

The town’s tourist information desk is inside Hof, at Strandgata 12, telephone +354 450 1050. It is open 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. The food walks meet at the same building all season.

Asked before you go

Tours that fit a first visit

Whale Watching from Downtown Akureyri

Three hours on the fjord from the downtown pier, with a professional guide, large viewing windows and raincoats or blankets on board. No hotel pickup.

From $104 per person

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Akureyri Lake Myvatn Godafoss and Lava Fields Tour

Six hours from the cruise terminal and back with an English-speaking guide: the first waterfall, then four timed stops around the lake. Food is not included.

From $180 per person

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Akureyri: City Walk with Local Food

Three hours from the tourist information centre or the cruise port: about an hour of guided walking and an hour of tasting at two restaurants.

From $131 per person

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