Three boats leave the old harbour and they do two different things: one works Ísafjarðardjúp after humpbacks, and two cross to an inhabited island with a puffin colony and an eiderdown farm. They are also the only trips here that no hire car can replace. For a morning on land rather than water, the guided Isafjordur tours fill the same three and a half hours.
Three hours out on Ísafjarðardjúp after humpbacks, from the red boathouse on Ásgeirsgata. Inside cabin, open deck and a restroom on board; seals and puffins turn up whether or not the whales do.
From $111 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A landing on a two-kilometre island with a puffin colony, an eiderdown farm, Iceland's only windmill and its smallest post office. Guide ashore, coffee and cake, and a refund at 24 hours.
From $229 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The same island at a lower fare, with landing fees, snacks and a restroom on board. This listing is final sale: it refunds nothing once booked, so settle your date before you take it.
From $177 per person
Final sale — this listing refunds nothing once booked, so settle your date first. The same island trip is sold elsewhere with a 24-hour refund.
One sails and returns; two put you ashore. Compare them against the road trips before you decide.
Compare every Isafjordur tour
Ísafjarðardjúp is the great fjord that nearly cuts this peninsula in two, deep enough that whales feed inside it and sheltered enough that a small boat can work it. Three trips leave the old harbour, and they do two quite different things: one goes looking for humpbacks and comes back, and two cross to Vigur Island and put you ashore on it.
Vigur Island is about two kilometres long and a few hundred metres wide, named for its spear shape. It is a working eiderdown farm and a nature reserve, and it holds Iceland's only remaining windmill and its smallest post office. Puffins, eiders, guillemots and Arctic terns all nest there.
Every other sight around this town has a road to it. The island and the whales do not, which makes these three the only trips here that are not, in principle, optional.
Travellers who saw no whale still logged seals on the rocks, puffins on the water and an iceberg. A blank day at sea is not a blank day.
The Vigur crossings put you ashore for about two hours and then leave you to walk the Puffin Path at your own pace, which travellers name specifically as the best part.
The crossing to the island has room for everyone under cover, and the whale boat has a cabin as well as deck. On this fjord that matters more than it sounds.
| A boat | A coach | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 3 hours | 3.5 to 4 hours |
| From | From $111 per person | From $81 per person |
| Leaves from | The old harbour | Outside the cruise terminal |
| What you see | Whales, seals, seabirds, an island | A waterfall |
| Certainty | Sightings are never guaranteed | The fall is always there |
| Stopped by | Wind | Snow and ice, in winter only |
| Boarding | Steps with a handrail | A coach door |
| Warm? | You will be on deck | You will be on a seat |
They fail differently, which is the useful way to think about it. Wind stops a boat and almost nothing stops a coach; a waterfall is always there and a whale is not. On a fixed date with a poor forecast, take the road. On a calm morning, take the water, because it will not be that easy twice. The full comparison works through a single call.
Walk the meeting point first. The whale boathouse is a red building set back behind other red buildings, and it is the commonest thing people get wrong in this town. The map page takes each pier in turn.
Sail in the morning. Wind on the Djúp builds through the day, so an early departure is the one least likely to be called off.
Check the puffin dates. Mid-April to early August on Vigur, with few sightings after mid-August. Best time to visit sets out all four calendars.
Read the two Vigur listings carefully. One refunds at 24 hours and one refunds nothing at all.
Anyone on a first call who has not yet seen the waterfall. Dynjandi is what this region is known for and what you will be asked about, and the coach trips reach it from From $81.
Anyone who is unhappy on the water or genuinely cold-averse. Three hours on an open deck at nine degrees with the boat making its own wind is a commitment, and it is not improved by being told it will be worth it.
Anyone who needs step-free access. All three board by steps with a handrail and none has a ramp or a lift, though the Vigur team offer easier routes and easy-access observation points once you are ashore. The FAQs set out what each listing states.
Checked on 5 September 2026. Hours, fares and road conditions belong to the bodies that publish them and they change with the season. The official pages are the place to confirm before you travel.
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead on two of these three, and the third says so on its card.
See Top ToursEvery trip named here is set against the rest on price, hours and what the fare covers at Isafjordur Tours.