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Reykjavik Wildlife Adventure: Puffin and Whale-Watching Tours
4.6
17 Ratings
Reykjavík
Experience the ultimate wildlife adventure in Reykjavik! Join our thrilling puffin and whale-watching tours, where you'll witness these magnificent creatures in their natural habitat and enjoy breathtaking views of the city and landscape.
Duration:
4 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
learn more
Highlights
- Elding Whale Watching - Book this tour for a chance to encounter whales in the wild and puffins in their natural habitat! This deal includes two separate tours; a 1 hour puffin watching tour (starting at 10:00) on a 40 passenger boat and a 3 hour whale watching tour (starting at 13:00) on a 200 passenger boat.
Schedule:
1 June - 15 August / 08:00 Puffins & 10:00 Whales
1 May - 15 August / 10:00 Puffins & 13:00 Whales
1 June - 15 August / 12:00 Puffins & 14:00 Whales
(Summer of 2020 1 July - 15 August 09:00 / Whales & 14:00 Puffins)
Puffin Watching: We will take you out on one of our smaller passenger boats and sail up to one of three islands that are home to thousands of Puffins during breeding season. Borrow our binoculars or bring a zoom camera to get a good view!
Whale Watching: Sailing out into the biggest bay in Iceland, Faxaflói, we will search for minke whales, humpback whales, porpoises and dolphins. Our tour has a sighting guarantee, which means that in the unlikely event that you don’t see cetacean on our tour, you can try again another day free of charge!
We suggest spending lunch at one of the many restaurants at the charming Old Harbour. Ask our staff for recommendations!
What's Included
- Heated indoor saloon with large viewing windows
- Excellent Live Commentary in English
- Two tours (3 hr. whale watching & 1 hr. puffin watching)
- Complimentary WiFi onboard
- Use of protective clothing and binoculars
- Whale guarantee (or try again for free)
- Access to Wildlife Exhibition
What's Not Included
- Food & Drinks (available to purchase on board)
- Pickup / Dropoff (available to arrange for a fee)
Additional Information
This special combo tour gives you the opportunity to observe whales and puffins in their own environment. Start with a 1-hr puffin spotting voyage followed by a 3-hr whale sighting journey. Immerse yourself in the wildlife knowledge of Reykjavík imparted by our exceptional team and enjoy stunning sights of the city and adjacent landscapes from a distinct vantage point.
- Children under 13 years are required by law to wear life-vests for the duration of the tour.
- Please note that our fleet is not completely wheelchair accessible as there are steep stairs between lower and upper decks and high thresholds to get from the decks into the saloon as well as from the saloon to the toilets.
- Wheelchair users are welcome to bring a foldable chair onboard our bigger boats, but if possible, please advise our office prior to departure as we may need to assist with boarding.
Location
Elding Whale Watching
Meet us in the ELDING ticket office located at Ægisgarður 5c by the Old Harbour district in Reykjavík. Once at the pier, simply follow the red colour to find us! Be sure to arrive at least 15 min. before departure to ensure enough time to check in and to board the boat.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.6
(17 Ratings)
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X5540uymorganw
May 16, 2024
Wonderful experience, knowledgable guides, lots of silly little puffins! - My husband and I loved our puffin and whale watching tours! I packed dramamine for the experience but forgot to take it. I was nervous I might get seasick, but Elding provided anti-seasickness medicine to us for free! It was available at the check in as well as on the boat in case someone needed it during the tour.
On the puffin tour, we saw hundreds of puffins! We also saw a handful on the whale tour, but it was much harder to make them out. If you want to see puffins, it's really worth doing a focused tour. It was my favorite part of our entire time in Iceland! They are in fact the silliest of little guys.
The guides for both tours were marine biologists and very knowledgable. They answered all the questions we had and made the boat ride seem quick. Our puffin tour was just the two of us and the tour guide was great to spend an hour with. He was very welcoming. On our whale watching tour, we saw humpbacks, dolphins and minkes. It was a little rough but they had the anti-seasickness meds available in case anyone needed them as well as extra warm outfits for folks who got cold. I'd definitely pick this company to tour again!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kip_k
May 2, 2024
Great Iceland experience - Very well done. A great experience here in Iceland. We saw dolphins, minka whales and humpbacks whales. But just being on the water have a different view of town.
Review provided by Viator
Gerald_m
Aug 18, 2023
Great day on the water. - Saw a large number of puffins on land and on sea. Very cute animals. Also saw a large number of whales, a couple even showed us their white bellies.
Review provided by Viator
Davegk5353rl
Aug 1, 2023
Awesome experience, guaranteed to see whales! - We went on both the puffin watching and whale watching trips. Seeing the puffins fly around the island was really cool, and the guide gave us all information as we watched. Pictures are tough to take with a standard iPhone given the speed of the puffins and their small size, but the guide takes professional pics of the birds and you can email them to receive digital copies free of charge.
The whale watching was amazing, but we had an abnormal experience in that a hump back whale (Davy Jones) came right up to our boat and breached the water about 8 ft. away-so cool to see up close. However, even without that experience, you could see numerous whales and dolphins throughout that were not that far away. It was also great to hear the care that the company takes in looking after the whales/dolphins while exploring.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Rebecca_p
Jul 19, 2023
A Nice Time - My most memorable part of the two-in-one excursion was seeing a hump back whale which had just swum under our boat. The puffins were a disappointment as they were too far away to see easily or even to photograph with a zoom. From the advertisements on line, I thought we would be closer to the puffins. Despite that, we had a nice time and found the company’s instructions easy to follow. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this excursion to others.
Review provided by Viator
Yannick_m
Jun 17, 2023
Salty tears - The guides were incredibly informative and the trips were comfortable. The whales were so majestic that my partner literally cried
Review provided by Viator
Melinda_g
Jun 17, 2024
Just ok - I thought we would have a little closer view of the Puffins. Unfortunately the whale watching portion did not have a lot of opportunities.
Review provided by Viator
Piotr_b
Jun 1, 2024
Bad type of boat for bird watchers - The Puffin tour was done on a party yacht repurposed for bird watching. It was uncomfortable for that purpose, especially at max occupancy.
As others have mentioned, this isn't a single tour, but two completely independent tours. The whale watching is on a much bigger boat.
Review provided by Viator
Alangreenfield
May 21, 2024
Not sure its worth the hype - Nothing negative to say about tour operators, its just that no whales to be seen and the Puffins are so small and flutter so fast, its very difficult to appreciate them from a distance. Again, the operators and staff were fine. Just dont expect too much.
Review provided by Viator
Amy_b
Jun 11, 2023
Book tours separately. - Ship took group close to island where the puffins nested. Separate ship took group further out to see the whales. Our tours got rescheduled so we needed to kill time between ships. If tour is to be advertised as a puffin/whales tour is should be during one excursion/ one ship. Information on the tour operator should be on ticket, no embedded on links that can not be accessed without Internet. We had a difficult time figuring out what tour company ran the tour.
Review provided by Viator
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