Things to do in Akureyri

7 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

Akureyri has about 20,000 inhabitants and is the trade and service centre of North Iceland. For visitors it is above all a base. Whale boats leave from the town harbour, the Forest Lagoon is five minutes away by car, Goðafoss about half an hour and Lake Mývatn a little over an hour. The first part of this page sums up the activities that have their own guide on this site. Further down are the smaller ones and the things you can do without a tour.

The main activities

Whale watching

Elding sails from Akureyri into Eyjafjörður all year when the weather allows, and humpbacks are the species it names first. Its classic tour lasts about three hours on a large boat with heated indoor seating and lends thermal overalls in children's sizes too. Reviews on busy days mention a full deck and whales seen only at a distance; no operator can promise a sighting. Húsavík, about 76 kilometres away, has whale boats from April to October, and there are smaller harbours on the west shore of the fjord at Hauganes, Árskógssandur and Dalvík. The options are compared under whale watching in North Iceland.

Lake Mývatn

The lake covers about 37 square kilometres, with an average depth of 2.5 metres. A day tour from Akureyri usually stops at Goðafoss on the way, then at the pseudocraters of Skútustaðir, the lava formations of Dimmuborgir and the steaming ground at Hverir. Some tours add Earth Lagoon Mývatn, formerly the Mývatn Nature Baths, but check whether the entry is included. From June to September reviews often mention midges. See Lake Mývatn tours from Akureyri.

Goðafoss and the Diamond Circle

Goðafoss on the Skjálfandafljót river is 9 to 17 metres high depending on the water and about 30 metres wide. Short tours of 2.5 hours go there and back. Longer days continue to Dettifoss, Ásbyrgi or Húsavík on the Diamond Circle, a loop that Visit North Iceland puts at roughly 250 kilometres. Details under Goðafoss and the Diamond Circle.

Geothermal baths

The Forest Lagoon lies in the Vaðlaskógur woods, about five minutes by car from the centre, with two warm pools, swim-up bars, a sauna and a cold pool. GeoSea at Húsavík is filled with seawater and sits on a cliff above Skjálfandi bay, and Earth Lagoon Mývatn is the bath at the lake. The geothermal baths page compares tickets and age rules.

Northern lights

Visit North Iceland gives the season as late August to April, with the most reliable dark skies from September to March. Cloud decides more than anything else, and no tour can promise a display. Read more under northern lights from Akureyri.

Rafting, riding and the zipline

The rafting rivers are in Skagafjörður. The East Glacial tour by Viking Rafting is a six-hour day on grade IV water in a drysuit, with no pickup, so you drive to the base yourself; see rafting in North Iceland. Hestasport, also in Skagafjörður, rides for 90 minutes to the Reykjafoss waterfall. One review describes the trail as steep along a cliff and partly fast, which suits riders with some experience better than complete beginners; more under horse riding.

The zipline is in town, in the gorge of the Glerá river: five lines and short walks in between, about 90 minutes in all. The adventure page also covers the winter options around Mývatn.

Arriving by ship

Cruise guests have their own page with tours timed to docking hours and a look at return guarantees: shore excursions from Akureyri.

Food, farms and the coast

The Akureyri food walk takes about three hours and visits several restaurants in the centre, with lamb, fresh fish, a hot dog and Icelandic ice cream among the tastings. One review mentions four stops instead of the five listed and a long wait at the first one.

Two minibus tours follow the coast to Siglufjörður, about 78 kilometres from Akureyri. The Traveling Viking half-day stops at old fishing villages and at the farmers' market at Vellir in Svarfaðardalur, and includes the entry to the Herring Era Museum. Saga Travel's six-hour version adds a walk on a black sand beach. The same Traveling Viking team runs a seven-hour day to a farm in Skagafjörður, with horses, goats and an Icelandic dog, plus a virtual reality show of a Viking battle from 1238.

In town, without a tour

Akureyrarkirkja, the Lutheran church that the town treats as its symbol, was designed by Guðjón Samúelsson and consecrated in 1940. Lystigarður is a public park since 1912 with a botanical section since 1957, which the town calls the most northerly botanic garden in the world. Kjarnaskógur, the most popular recreation area, is a forest of more than 1.5 million trees, most of them planted in the last 50 years. Hof on Strandgata houses the theatre company, the North Iceland symphony orchestra and the tourist information. The town pool is among the most popular in the country, and the art museum is on Kaupvangsstræti.

Two places outside town are often confused. Laufás is an old turf farm about 30 kilometres from Akureyri. The Christmas garden at Hrafnagil, about 15 kilometres away, is visited all year and appears on several tours together with Goðafoss. Laufás opens to individual visitors again in June 2027 and until then takes pre-booked groups only, so check before you plan a visit there.

The islands

Hrísey, home to about 160 people, is 15 minutes by ferry from Árskógssandur, with up to nine sailings a day all year. Grímsey lies on the Arctic Circle and is the only place in the area with true midnight sun. The ferry from Dalvík takes about three hours each way and leaves you two to four hours ashore, and Norlandair flies there in about 30 minutes. From the harbour it is about 3.7 kilometres on foot to Orbis et Globus, the large sphere that marks the moving Arctic Circle. More on Hrísey and Grímsey.

What runs when

Summer brings the light nights and the widest choice. The puffin boats from Húsavík run from mid-April to mid-August. Most cruise ships call between May and the end of September. In winter the sun is up for only about three hours around 21 December, but whale tours on Eyjafjörður keep running when the sea allows, the baths stay open and northern lights tours start in the evening. The Hlíðarfjall ski area, 500 to 1,000 metres above sea level and about 5 kilometres from town, usually opens in December and runs into April. For month-by-month detail, see the best time to visit Akureyri.