Two-In-One: Whale & Puffin Watching Tours from Reykjavik
Description
This combo tour offers two unique experiences: a 1 hr. puffin watching trip on a small boat and a 3 hr. whale watching adventure. The puffin tour takes you to one of three nearby islands—Akurey, Engey, or Lundey—where you can observe thousands of birds, including puffins, in their natural habitat. The tour provides stunning views and insights from our naturalist guides. The whale watching tour is a thrilling journey into the bay, where you get a chance to see humpback whales, minke whales, dolphins, and porpoises. The marine biologist guide shares fascinating information about the wildlife, making the experience both educational and inspiring. Note that between the tours, you will have about 2 hours of free time to explore Reykjavík and enjoy lunch. The total duration from start to finish is about 6 hrs.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Book this tour for a chance to encounter whales in the wild and puffins in their natural habitat! This deal includes two separate tours; a 1 hour puffin watching tour on a smaller boat and a 3 hour whale watching tour on a larger boat.
Puffin Watching: We will take you out on one of our smaller passenger boats and sail up to one of three islands that are home to thousands of Puffins during breeding season. Borrow our binoculars or bring a zoom camera to get a good view!
Between the two tours, you will have a couple of hours free time. We suggest spending lunch at one of the many restaurants at the charming Old Harbour. Ask our staff for recommendations!
Whale Watching: Sailing out into the biggest bay in Iceland, Faxaflói, we will search for minke whales, humpback whales, porpoises and dolphins. Our tour has a sighting guarantee, which means that in the unlikely event that you don't see cetacean on our tour, you can try again another day free of charge!
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Children under 13 years are required by law to wear life-vests for the duration of the tour.
- Please note that our fleet is not completely wheelchair accessible as there are steep stairs between lower and upper decks and high thresholds to get from the decks into the saloon as well as from the saloon to the toilets.
- Wheelchair users are welcome to bring a foldable chair onboard our bigger boats, but if possible, please advise our office prior to departure as we may need to assist with boarding.
Reviews(78)
The tour was well organized. The guide was knowledgeable. The puffins are cute. They are hard to see since they are small. We saw some whales - mink whales. It was fun. We thought we wouldn’t see anything because it was windy and cloudy but when we found them - it calmed down a little bit that we saw it flipped its tail a couple of times.
Absolutely first class in every way. Amazing experience. Trip is accompanied by a knowledgeable marine biologist who shares his knowledge freely. Respectful of the wildlife throughout, great customer care. Overall a top class experience.
Great trip out to see the puffins, guides are very knowledgeable and available to answer any questions. Also, a nice feature about this activity is they take pictures and make them available free through dropbox
Very organized, they are on time so don’t be late. The employees and staff were very friendly and polite. And we saw 3 humpback whales! Loves that they emailed us their professional pictures from our experience - that was a wonderful surprise!
The puffin tour wasn’t long enough and the boat didn’t get close enough to the island to see the Puffins properly. There wasn’t as many puffins on the one island we visited.
Bring a wind & rainproof hooded jacket. Weather goes from blue sky to rain in a flash. Get to boat early to guarantee good seating. Sit at the front of the boat for best view. Use their binoculars. The guides are marine biologists and are knowledgeable. They entertain any questions. Overall, OUTSTANDING tours!!
We went on a two hour evening boat trip on Saturday June 6th and were so lucky to see four whales! Amazing experience made more magical as no other boats were out there. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and she very kindly shared photos she had taken. Do not underestimate how cool it gets though - do follow their recommendations re clothing and layers needed! Definitely recommend!!
Tour was great. It was not explained in the advertisement that there was a 2 hour break between tours. That would have been very helpful to know. We missed a late afternoon tour because of this.
Dress warm. It can get windy on the water. The best place to be on the boat is the very front. There are no seats there but you just have to stand but it gives you the best view
This trip was simply wonderful. We saw puffins and arctic turns on the puffin tour led by a a bird expert. On the whale watching tour we saw white nosed dolphins an a humpback whale. But the best experience was seeing a juvenile Minke whale “playing“ with our boat. It swam around, in front and underneath the boat. A once in a lifetime experience. The crew was very informative and they sent us their photos afterwards without charge. We can highly recommend Elding.
