Iceland: the Westfjords, Akureyri and Lake Myvatn

Arrive in Reykjavik

Keflavik International Airport to your hotel in Reykjavik

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Reykjavik
• Environ 45 min de route

Matin

Many flights from North America land early in the morning, so we arrange your private transfer into the city and ask the hotel to hold your bags until your room is ready; early check-in is something we request but cannot promise. The day is yours to sleep, walk the old harbour where the whale-watching boats tie up, climb to Hallgrimskirkja, or soak in one of the city's geothermal pools.

Soir

In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing: how the week is paced, why we take a ferry and three short flights instead of long drives, what the gravel roads are like and what to wear for Westfjords wind. Then we walk together to a welcome dinner in the centre, a first taste of Icelandic fish or lamb and a chance to meet the people you will share the minibus with.

Compris

• Private transfer from Keflavik International Airport (KEF) to your hotel
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner in central Reykjavik

Stykkisholmur and the ferry to the Westfjords

Reykjavik by Borgarnes to Stykkisholmur, the Baldur ferry across Breidafjordur to Brjanslaekur, then Patreksfjordur

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Patreksfjordur
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is included in town, and there is time to climb the basalt island of Sugandisey by the harbour for the view over the bay and its scattered islands. In the afternoon the minibus drives onto the Baldur car ferry for the crossing to Brjanslaekur, about two and a half hours with a short stop at the island of Flatey; it is a chance to sit, look for seabirds and let someone else do the travelling.

Soir

From the ferry landing it is about an hour over the Kleifaheidi pass to Patreksfjordur, our base for two nights, where dinner is included tonight. A long day in time, but only about three hours in the vehicle.

Compris

• Coffee stop in Borgarnes
• Stykkisholmur and the walk up Sugandisey
• Lunch in Stykkisholmur
• Baldur car ferry from Stykkisholmur to Brjanslaekur, by Flatey
• Dinner in Patreksfjordur

Latrabjarg bird cliffs

Patreksfjordur to Hnjotur, Breidavik and Latrabjarg, and back to Patreksfjordur

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Patreksfjordur
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

We leave after a slow breakfast and follow the south shore of Patreksfjordur to Hnjotur, a small museum of Westfjords life gathered by a local farmer, with entry included. The last stretch is a gravel road past the pale sand of Breidavik to the lighthouse at Bjargtangar, where the Latrabjarg cliffs begin: about 14 km of sea cliff rising to around 440 m. From about late May to mid-August puffins nest in burrows along the top, often a few metres from the path, alongside razorbills, guillemots and fulmars. Lie flat, keep back from the edge, which is undercut and has no fence, and the puffins carry on.

Après-midi

Lunch is a picnic we bring from Patreksfjordur, since there is almost nowhere to buy food out here.

Soir

We are back by late afternoon with the evening free; on request your guide can take a smaller group back out in the evening, when puffins are often busiest.

Compris

• Hnjotur museum (in season)
• Breidavik beach
• Latrabjarg bird cliffs and the Bjargtangar lighthouse with your guide
• Picnic lunch at Latrabjarg

Dynjandi and on to Isafjordur

Patreksfjordur by Bildudalur over Dynjandisheidi to Dynjandi, then Thingeyri and Isafjordur

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Isafjordur
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is included in Thingeyri, a small village on Dyrafjordur, reached through a tunnel opened in 2020. Another tunnel takes us through the mountain to Isafjordur, the largest town in the Westfjords, set on a sand spit in a deep fjord. We arrive by mid-afternoon.

Soir

Your guide walks you through the old quarter to the Westfjords Heritage Museum, in 18th-century trading houses by the harbour, with entry included, and the evening is free. About three hours of driving today.

Compris

• Dynjandi and the falls below it with your guide
• Lunch in Thingeyri
• Walk in Isafjordur's old quarter
• Westfjords Heritage Museum (in season)

Fly from Isafjordur to Akureyri

Isafjordur by air to Reykjavik, then on to Akureyri

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Akureyri
• Environ 30 min de route

Matin

The morning is free for a coffee in town or a walk along the harbour, then the minibus takes us the short way to Isafjordur airport.

Après-midi

The flight to Reykjavik's city airport follows the fjords and takes about 40 minutes; lunch is included in Reykjavik before the onward flight to Akureyri, about 45 minutes more. A second minibus and driver meet us there, and the hotel is a few minutes away in the centre of Akureyri, Iceland's largest town outside the capital area, at the head of the long Eyjafjordur fjord.

Soir

The evening is free to walk the main street and harbour. Isafjordur flights depend on the weather in the fjord. If they cannot fly, our Westfjords minibus drives the group to Akureyri instead: about seven hours with lunch and stops at Holmavik and on the Ring Road, the one day that would go well over our four-hour limit.

Compris

• Flights from Isafjordur (IFJ) to Reykjavik (RKV) and on to Akureyri (AEY), with transfers at both ends
• Lunch in Reykjavik between flights

Whales from Husavik and Godafoss

Akureyri through the Vadlaheidi tunnel to Husavik, then Godafoss and back to Akureyri

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Akureyri
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

This small harbour town on Skjalfandi bay has been a whale-watching base since the 1990s, and our boat goes out on a morning departure for about three hours. Humpback and minke whales feed in the bay through the summer, often with dolphins and seabirds working the same water; sightings are likely in season but never certain, and boats usually hand out warm overalls on board.

Après-midi

Lunch is included in Husavik, with time for the whale museum in an old slaughterhouse by the harbour if you want it. On the way back we stop at Godafoss, where the Skjalfandafljot river drops about 12 m in a wide horseshoe; the story goes that around the year 1000 the lawspeaker Thorgeir threw his carvings of the old gods into it when Iceland adopted Christianity.

Soir

We are back in Akureyri by late afternoon, with the evening free.

Compris

• Whale-watching boat from Husavik, about 3 hours
• Lunch in Husavik
• Godafoss with your guide
• Vadlaheidi tunnel toll

Activités en option

• Husavik Whale Museum (extra, pay on the day)

Akureyri to Lake Myvatn

Akureyri to the Skutustadir pseudocraters, Dimmuborgir and Hverir, around Lake Myvatn

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Lake Myvatn
• Environ 2 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is on your own in town. Then it is about an hour and a quarter east to Lake Myvatn. On the south shore we walk among the Skutustadir pseudocraters, green craters made by steam explosions when lava flowed over wetland. Next is Dimmuborgir, a maze of lava towers and arches left when a lava lake drained about 2,300 years ago, and then Hverir, below the Namafjall ridge, with boiling mud pots, steam vents and ground streaked yellow with sulphur; the paths are roped for a reason. In the late afternoon, after most day groups have gone, your entry to the Myvatn Nature Baths is included: milky blue geothermal water looking out over the lake.

Soir

We end with a group dinner, the last evening together.

Compris

• Walk in Akureyri with your guide: Akureyrarkirkja and the botanical garden
• Skutustadir pseudocraters
• Dimmuborgir lava formations
• Hverir geothermal field
• Myvatn Nature Baths entry
• Group dinner at Lake Myvatn

Fly back to Reykjavik

Lake Myvatn to Akureyri Airport, then a flight to Reykjavik

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

A free early morning at the lake: walk the shore, or climb to the rim of Hverfjall, the tephra crater on the east side, for a last view of the whole lake. After breakfast we drive back west past Godafoss to Akureyri Airport, about an hour and a quarter, and take a domestic flight of about 45 minutes to Reykjavik's city airport, instead of a five-hour drive. Your guide says goodbye at Reykjavik and our transfer takes you on, either to a hotel in central Reykjavik if you are staying longer, or to Keflavik International Airport, about 50 km away.

Après-midi

If you fly home the same day, book an international flight leaving Keflavik after about 5 pm; many flights to North America leave in the late afternoon, so this usually works.

Soir

If your flight is earlier, add a night in Reykjavik and we will book it, with time to walk the old harbour and the Harpa concert hall.

Compris

• Transfer to Akureyri Airport
• Flight from Akureyri (AEY) to Reykjavik (RKV)
• Transfer to your Reykjavik hotel or Keflavik International Airport (KEF)

Activités en option

• Extra night in Reykjavik (extra, booked on request)