Day Tours & Activities from Reykjavík

Day Tours & Activities from Reykjavík

Interesting places and activities nearby the capital of Iceland

Reykjavík is a great city and we wholeheartedly recommend spending some time there… just not all your time. Icelandic nature is spectacular, with erupting hot springs, majestic glaciers and thundering waterfalls, all within a few hours’ drive from the city. There’s so much to do, see and experience, it would be a shame to miss it.

1) While Watching: Taking a whale watching cruise is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Iceland and for good reason – the ocean around Iceland is teeming with cetacean giants.

Whale Watching

Whale watching in Iceland is a relatively new attraction with the first regular trips starting in 1995. Since then, there has been a tremendous growth in the whale watching business and it is now possible to go whale watching all year from many different ports.

There are few places in the world where you can find as many species of whales so close to shore as in Iceland. These include the Blue, Sei, Fin, Sperm and Minke whales as well as the ever popular Orcas or killer whales. Several dolphin and porpoise species also swim in the waters around Iceland. In fact, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has rated Iceland as one of the top ten whale watching destinations in the world.

The high season is during the warmer months when the migrating whales return to the Icelandic waters and blend in with the resident whales. Each area offers a wonderful experience on sea, be it on a customised whale watching boat, a high-speed rib boat with Gentle Giants in Húsavík or an eco-friendly silent electric boat. It is best to find out what species are seen more often in the different areas so that there is no disappointment, e.g. you can go whale watching with Láki Tours from Snæfellsnes where Orcas and Sperm whales are spotted more often than elsewhere just as Humpbacks are seen more often in Eyjafjörður and Húsavík. One of the exciting things about whale watching is actually seeing a whale in the ocean. This is not a given, as whales in the wild do not perform for our benefit. As with any wildlife trip, nature dictates and decides. However, most whale watching operators such as Elding in Reykjavík have a 90% or higher viewing success rate in the warmer months.

A walking tour through Reykjavík's downtown. Photo by Olga

The main whale watching areas are Reykjavík in the south, Snæfellsnes in the west, Eyjafjörður and Húsavík in the north. Húsavík is known as the whale watching capital of Iceland and has a Whale Centre which provides information on cetaceans and wildlife in Iceland.

Whales of Iceland in Reykjavík is a fascinating exhibition where life-size models of the whales found around Iceland are suspended in an ocean-like space.

While most whale watching operators pride themselves in practicing conscious tourism, they need your help. Please put all your rubbish in the nearest bin. Whales and other ocean wildlife do not know how lethal plastic can be until it is too late.

For more information ask at the information centres or check www.icewhale.is.

2) Blue Lagoon: The milky blue waters of the Blue Lagoon are by now one of Iceland’s most famous attractions. The mineral-rich hot water is pumped up from the depths of the earth and mixes with sea water to form a pool of water at the perfect temperature.

3) Pingvellir: Pingvellir, or Parliament fields, is important from both a historical and geological standpoint. For centuries, this was where Alpingi, Iceland’s parliament, met, but it’s also where the earth’s tectonic plates slowly pull apart to form cracks and crevices in the earth.

4) Gullfoss: It is a thundering stream of water cascading down in two tiers before reaching canyon below. The name translates to The Golden Waterfalland it’s from this waterfall that the Golden Circle takes its name.

5) Geysir: While Geysir, the original erupting hot spring, giving his name to all the geysers out there, is pretty quiet these days, his neighbor, Strokkur, ejects boiling water 20m in the air every 6-10 minutes.

6) Krysuvik: Iceland’s geothermal heat is immensely powerful and at the Krysuivik geothermal area, you can see the effects clearly on the earth’s surface. Multicolored hills, steam rising from the ground and bubbing hot springs are a sight you have to see to believe.

7) Hraunfossar/Barnafoss: No tour of the west coast of Iceland is complete without a stop at the Hraunfossar waterfall, where the water streams out from underneath a lava field before flowing over red cliffs into the foaming water below. Just above the Hraunfossar is Barnafoss, another stuinning waterfall.

8) Deildartunguhver: Deildartunguhver is Europe’s most powerful hot spring. Don’t get too close to the source, 180 litres of boiling water gush out of the spring per second.

9) Glymur: One of the tallest watfalls in Iceland, Glymur, is just a short drive away from the city. It’s only accessible by a hiking trail but the view is well worth the easy hike up there.

10) Reykjadalur Valley: The valley above Hveragerdi is one of the most popular hiking routes in Iceland. That’s not just because of the beautiful nature and majestic mountains surrounding the valley but because of the hot springs at the end of the route, some of them at the perfect temperature for bathing.

11) Skalholt: There’s been a church at Skalholt for more than a thousand years and before the Reformation, it used to be the seat of the Catholic bishop of the south of Iceland.

12) Langjökull: Iceland has some of the largest glaciers in Europe and Langjökull is just a few hours away from the city. You can go hiking on the ice, or snowmobiling, and if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you can even go inside the glacier.

13) Esjan: Mt. Esjan towers over the Reykjavík city skyline. It’s the locals favourite spot to go hiking and when you see the view from its slopes and peaks, you’ll know why.

14) Blafjörll: Although Icelandic winters are milder than you’d expect, the people of Reykjavík still love skiing and their favourite spot to do it is at the Blafjöll ski resort