Akureyri with kids

6 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

Akureyri is a small town by most standards, with a little over 20,000 residents, and that is part of its appeal for families. The centre is walkable, the town buses cost nothing, and huskies, horses and whale boats are a short drive or walk away. What needs planning are the age limits. They differ a lot between activities that look similar at first glance, such as a whale ship and a whale speedboat.

Getting around with children

All town buses in Akureyri are free of charge for everyone and every one of them is wheelchair accessible. The routes run as loops from the Miðbær stop in the centre. Taxis are run by Hreyfill around the clock. Public toilets with step-free access are in Hof, the culture house, and in the art museum. For trips out of town, several of the tours below include pickup in Akureyri.

Minimum ages at a glance

These are the limits the operators give on their tour pages:

• Classic whale watching ship from Akureyri: no minimum age stated, overalls in children's sizes
• RIB speedboat from Akureyri: from 10 years or 145 cm
• Puffin and whale speedboats from Húsavík: from 8 years and 130 cm
• Zipline in Glerárgil: from 8 years, with an adult, maximum 120 kg
• Family rafting on the West Glacial River: not for children under 6
• Horse ride at Gásir: not for children under 6
• Short ride to Reykjafoss at Hestasport: child tickets from 5 years
• Mývatn snowmobile with pickup: children from 6 as passengers

Reviews of the speedboats mention cold spray, while the classic ship has heated indoor seating. Reviews of the larger boats do mention seasickness on rough days, so a calm forecast helps with any age.

Rafting is a summer outing about an hour west of Akureyri, in Skagafjörður. The family trip on the West Glacial River runs through gentle rapids in drysuits, with helmets, booties and gloves provided, and the guides serve hot cocoa from a hot spring by the river.

Animals close to town

About seven minutes north of Akureyri, off road 816, a family kennel keeps more than 20 huskies. A one-hour visit to meet the dogs suits younger children, and the operator sells child tickets from age four. Older children can join a two-hour walk with a husky on a belt and leash. On the same road, the farm at Gásir offers gentle rides with views over Eyjafjörður and time with the farm animals afterwards, from age six.

Further west, Hestasport in Varmahlíð, about an hour's drive away, runs a 30-minute ride to the Reykjafoss waterfall. Puffins are a summer thing: the Húsavík speedboats visit Puffin Island roughly from mid-April to August.

Pools and lagoons

Visit Akureyri calls the town's outdoor pool one of the most popular swimming facilities in Iceland. On Skólastígur, a short walk up from the centre, it has three water slides, a splash pool and hot tubs, all geothermally heated, and it is open all year. The town lists the current hours on the Sundlaug Akureyrar page. The Forest Lagoon, about five minutes by car from the centre, lets children aged five and under in free. Children aged 6 to 12 are admitted only until 18:30, so plan an afternoon visit rather than a late one. At the Earth Lagoon at Mývatn (formerly Mývatn Nature Baths) children up to five also go free with an adult. GeoSea in Húsavík lets children up to five in free with an adult and has a child rate from 6 to 16.

Christmas, forests and gardens

The Christmas Garden at Hrafnagil, about 15 km south of Akureyri, is open all year round, in winter from the early afternoon. Do not confuse it with Laufás, an old turf farm about 30 km from town on the other side of the fjord. A half-day tour with hotel pickup visits Goðafoss, Laufás and the Christmas House, and a winter tour combines Goðafoss and the Christmas House with a soak at the Forest Lagoon.

In town, Lystigarður has been a public park since 1912 and became a botanical garden in 1957. Kjarnaskógur, the town forest, covers about 800 hectares with more than 1.5 million trees, most of them planted over the last 50 years.

Snow and seasons

In winter the ski area on Hlíðarfjall has a magic carpet in its lower part for beginners, and in April the children's ski race Andrés Önd fills the slopes. Ice fishing on Lake Ljósavatn is another winter outing, with hot cocoa served on the ice. In summer the family festival on the long weekend at the start of August brings the town together. For more on the months, see the best time to visit page, and the what to wear page covers clothing for small travellers on boats and in the snow.