Whales and puffins in Iceland: a month-by-month operator grid

Whales can be seen in Iceland all year from Reykjavík, and from March to November from Húsavík in the north. Puffins come ashore only from about mid-April to mid-August. For both on one trip, June and July are the overlap: every option in the grid below is running, and the Ring Road ledgers on this site are written for those months. A Reykjavík whale boat costs 14,500 ISK for adults, a Reykjavík puffin boat 8,300, and Húsavík's whale boat from 12,990, all read on the operators' pages on 1 November 2026. The grid uses only dates the operators and agencies print. Where they print none, it says so rather than guessing.

#The grid

● running or present on the published dates; ◐ part of the month; · not running; ? no published dates.

Sources: elding.is schedule pages, northsailing.is tour page and logbooks, borgarfjordureystri.is visitor leaflet, nattura.is (Látrabjarg), ust.is (Dyrhólaey) and nattsud.is (Westman Islands), all read 1 November 2026. This site's puffin-weeks post has the full wording of each.

#Whales

Reykjavík. Elding's Classic tour leaves Ægisgarður in the Old Harbour, ten minutes' walk from Harpa. It takes 2.5–3.5 hours and costs 14,500 ISK for adults and 7,250 for ages 7–15; under-7s go free, and hotel pickup costs 3,750 extra. Today's schedule showed 09:00 and 13:00 departures. The operator's review of 2024 gives a 91 per cent sighting rate: 94 in winter and 90 in summer, with humpbacks on 77 per cent of tours and minke whales on 43. Porpoise-only trips count as no sighting. If nothing is seen, Elding gives a complimentary ticket valid for two years.

Húsavík. North Sailing's Original tour costs from 12,990 ISK for adults and 6,990 for ages 7–15, with under-7s free. Its 2025 logbook records whales on 1,061 of 1,108 tours, 95.76 per cent, with humpbacks on 87.73 per cent and blue whales on 18 tours. If you see no whales, the next trip is free. The sighting-rate post compares the two ports' definitions.

The planning point is a second day. A free re-trip is only worth something if you are still in the port tomorrow. On the North ledger, Húsavík is the Day 3 night with Day 4's morning in town, so a failed afternoon sailing can be used again. The 10-day ledger passes Húsavík on Day 6 with no second day.

#Puffins

From Reykjavík. Elding's Classic Puffin Watching is a one-hour boat to an island just outside the city. It costs 8,300 ISK for adults and 4,150 for ages 7–15, with under-7s free. It runs from 20 April to 20 August, with up to five departures a day from mid-June. The Premium version, 12,450 ISK, runs to 15 August. Of the options in the grid, it is the one that needs no car and no detour.

Hafnarhólmi. A harbour islet at Borgarfjörður eystri. The village's leaflet says the puffins arrive around the middle of April and leave around the middle of August. It is about 70 km each way from Egilsstaðir, close to two hours on top of a day. The ledgers' East Iceland nights are in the third week of June, two months into the window.

Látrabjarg. The cliff the Westfjords ledger gives the whole of Day 2. Náttúruverndarstofnun publishes no puffin dates, only a ban on flying below 3,500 feet from 1 April to 31 August for the nesting birds. The ledger reaches it on 2 July. There is no charge on the reserve's pages.

Westman Islands. Náttúrufræðistofnun counts about 840,000 pairs here (2015), 41.5 per cent of the Icelandic stock. Herjólfur's 2026 fares are 2,700 ISK for adults each way and 1,350 for ages 12–15, with under-12s free; a car under 5 m costs 4,050. A couple with a small car pays 18,900 ISK return. Landeyjahöfn, the mainland port, is 25 minutes from Hvolsvöllur, a ledger night (OSRM, computed 1 November 2026).

#What it costs to do both

Two adults, June, on the South Coast and Golden Circle ledger: a Reykjavík whale boat (29,000 ISK) and a Reykjavík puffin boat (16,600) on the Day 1 afternoon and Day 2 evening come to 45,600 ISK, with no extra driving. On the North ledger, a Húsavík whale boat for two costs 25,980, and the nearest puffins are a long way east.

#Questions

#When is the best time to see puffins in Iceland?

Between mid-May and July, inside every published window. Elding's Reykjavík boats run from 20 April to 20 August. Hafnarhólmi's leaflet gives mid-April to mid-August. Before late April and after mid-August the published windows are closed.

#Can you see whales in Iceland in winter?

Yes, from Reykjavík: Elding sails all year and gave a 94 per cent winter sighting rate for 2024. Húsavík's season ends on 30 November and resumes on 1 March.

#Which is better for whales, Reykjavík or Húsavík?

By the operators' own figures, Húsavík: 95.76 per cent of tours with whales in 2025, against 91 per cent at Reykjavík in 2024. The seasons and definitions differ, though. Reykjavík is the one you can reach without a long drive.

#Sources

• Elding, Reykjavík schedule and prices (whale and puffin tours, seasons), read 1 November 2026: https://elding.is/reykjavik-schedule-prices
• Elding, "Looking back on 2024" (2 January 2025) and terms: https://elding.is/is/node/9127 and https://elding.is/terms-conditions
• North Sailing, Original whale watching and Logbook 2025, read 1 November 2026: https://www.northsailing.is/tour/husavik-original-whale-watching/ and https://www.northsailing.is/whale-watching/logbooks/logbook-2025
• Borgarfjörður eystri, "About Borgarfjörður" leaflet: https://www.borgarfjordureystri.is/static/files/about_borgarfjordur.pdf
• Náttúruverndarstofnun, Látrabjarg: https://www.nattura.is/svaedin/latrabjarg
• Umhverfisstofnun, Dyrhólaey access and management: https://co2.ust.is/english/visiting-iceland/protected-areas/south/dyrholaey/access-and-management/
• Náttúrufræðistofnun, Lundi (puffin) population figures: https://www.ni.is/is/biota/animalia/chordata/aves/charadriiformes/lundi-fratercula-arctica
• Herjólfur, prices 2026: https://www.herjolfur.is/en/prices
• OSRM on OpenStreetMap, Hvolsvöllur–Landeyjahöfn, computed 1 November 2026: https://project-osrm.org/