Itineraries for one to four days

6 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

The plans below assume you sleep in Akureyri every night and either drive or use tours with pickup. They work from late spring to early autumn as written. In winter the same places are reachable, but the daylight is short and the roads can close, so the last section shows how to adapt. If you arrive on a cruise ship with only a day in port, the shore excursions page is the better starting point.

One day in Akureyri

Start in the harbour. The classic whale watching ship leaves from the town centre and spends two and a half to three and a half hours in Eyjafjörður looking for humpbacks, with thermal overalls on board. Sailings run all year, so this works in any season, but sightings are never certain. Back on land, walk up to Akureyrarkirkja, the church designed by Guðjón Samúelsson and consecrated in 1940, and on to Lystigarður, the botanical garden, which has been a public park since 1912.

In the afternoon you can stay in town or go up into the Glerárgil canyon, where a zipline course with five lines crosses the river in about 90 minutes (from age eight). End the day at the Forest Lagoon in the Vaðlaskógur forest, about five minutes by car from the centre. The Akureyri town page has more for a slower day.

Day two at Lake Mývatn and Goðafoss

The second day goes east. Goðafoss, 9 to 17 metres high and about 30 metres wide depending on the water, is only 35 minutes from town. Lake Mývatn is roughly another 45 minutes beyond. A typical day tour spends about six hours on the loop: the waterfall, the pseudocraters at Skútustaðir, the lava formations of Dimmuborgir and the steaming ground at Hverir. Some tours offer to drop you at the Forest Lagoon on the way back.

If you drive yourself, add a walk on Hverfjall. The path from the north-west car park climbs about 600 metres in 10 to 25 minutes, and the loop around the crater rim is about 3.2 km. The Earth Lagoon (formerly Mývatn Nature Baths) is right on the Ring Road for a soak before the drive back. In summer, bring a head net against the midges. More detail is on the Lake Mývatn tours page.

Day three in Húsavík or on an island

For the third day there are two very different options. Húsavík is about 1 hour 10 minutes away by car, or 1 hour 20 minutes on bus 79. The oak boats and speedboats there sail into Skjálfandi Bay from April to October, and the speedboats visit Puffin Island while the birds nest, roughly from mid-April to August. Afterwards the GeoSea sea baths sit on a cliff above the bay. The Húsavík page covers the town and its boats.

The quieter option is Hrísey. Árskógssandur is about 35 minutes from Akureyri by car. Bus 78 stops up on the main road, which leaves a walk of about 2 km down to the harbour. From there the ferry Sævar crosses in 15 minutes. It runs all year with up to nine departures a day, so a half day on the island is easy to fit in. Grímsey, on the Arctic Circle, needs a full day: about three hours each way on the ferry from Dalvík, or a 30-minute flight.

Day four on the Diamond Circle

A fourth day lets you do the whole Diamond Circle, a loop of roughly 250 km. Dettifoss alone is about 150 km and well over two hours from Akureyri by car. The full-day tour with hotel pickup takes about eight hours and stops at Goðafoss, Ásbyrgi canyon, Dettifoss, Dimmuborgir and Hverir. In practice the fourth day is also a buffer. North Iceland's weather changes quickly, and a spare day means a storm does not cost you the boat trip or Mývatn.

Short winter days

Between November and February the plans need reordering. On 21 December the sun rises at 11:38 and sets at 14:42, and the mountains around the fjord hide it even longer. Use the bright hours for one outdoor sight. A short Goðafoss winter tour of about three hours can drop you at the Forest Lagoon afterwards. Keep the evenings for the aurora: tours with pickup in Akureyri drive out of town for about three hours, and the season runs from late August to April. A whale trip in the fjord still works in winter when the weather allows.

For a ready-made version there is a four-day package from Akureyri airport with an aurora hunt, a day at Goðafoss, the Christmas House and the Forest Lagoon, and a whale watching trip. You book your accommodation separately. The best time to visit page explains what each month offers.