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AH75  Whale Watching All year round

Highlights:
  • Whale watching 


Tour Description:

On this fantastic whale watching tour you will observe the whales in their native environment which is an unforgettable experience.

We will sail on Faxaflói bay, home of a unique variety of Minke whale, the Humpback, Harbor Porpoise and the White-beaked Dolphins, which are all common sights on this tour. 
The local bird life is also diverse, including such birds as the Puffin, Arctic Tern, Gannet and many varieties of Gull.

After the tour you can explore the Whale Exhibition Center that enables you to witness the mysteries of the ocean. It is situated in an old capelin-fishing vessel “Fífill” which has been transformed into an exhibition and information centre on whales and seabirds.

The entrance to the Whale Exhibition Room is free of charge for whale watching passengers. A return transfer is not included in the tour price. The harbour is just a "stones throw" away from the city centre, so it will only take you a few minutes to reach the city centre on foot after your tour. Local busses, taxis and a shuttle service (offered by the whale watching company Elding), are available to those who do not want to go downtown (extra charge).
 
Winter whale watching is scheduled daily from 1 October to 31 March at 13:00. The most common whales in the winter are dolphins, humpback whales and killer whales, hardly any minke whales have been seen from November through March. For your comfort and warmth, we have special suits on board we can lend you, but we do advise you to wear warm clothes. We also offer hot drinks and light refreshments in our on-board café. Alternatively, you can sit inside the boat in the warmth, where you can enjoy the view from large windows.
 
There are excellent guides on all tours who tell you about your trip and describe what you can see and where to look, together with an introduction and safety guide. We tell you about the seabirds and nature in the Faxafloi bay. How much we see depends on the sea conditions and season, but our qualified guides are happy to try to answer all your questions.
 
No two whale watching trips are the same, we need to be flexible and organize your trip taking sea conditions, weather and seasons into account. We rarely have to go further than 15 nautical miles from the harbour.
 
 
 

Itinerary Details:

Daily tour departures:
January - March at 13:00
April & May at 09:00 and 13:00
June - August at 09:00, 13:00 and 17:00
September at 09:00 and 13:00
October - December at 13:00
 
Included:
Guidance as shown under Guidance below
Transfer to Harbour
Whale Watching Tour
 
Excluded:
Transfer back to your hotel
 
Closeout dates:
January 2013
1 - public holiday
 
Online Booking: Until 7:00 PM the day before the tour.
 
 
 

Guidance:

English
All departures
 
 

 
 

 

Tour is Available:
 
 
Departure: 9:00 Apr-Sep / 13:00 all year / 17:00 Jun-Aug
Pick-up: 8:00 Apr-Sep / 12:00 all year / 16:00 Jun-Aug
Duration: 3 hours
 
Complimentary hotel pick-up service.
 
Children fares:
Child (0 - 6): FREE
Youth (7 - 15): 50% off
 
Price: 8.500 ISK
location of tour

Average rating:
Pages: 1 2 3 

Brandt wrote:
We recently went on a whale watching tour with IcelandExcursions and thought the tour was very good. The boat takes you away from the coast and during the ride the guides give you background information about the whales, what to expect, etc. Personally, I would not recommend this tour for small children (under age of 7 probably) because the ride there and back + time to search out the whales can get pretty long. I would say the ride out was about an hour and the ride back possibly around 45 minutes. Also, depending on what types of whales are there, there may not be a lot to see, if the whales are not close--it's hard to keep the kids entertained. Originally, there were 2 boats that were scheduled to go out, but in the end, it was just one boat and it did get crowded, we opted to stand on the upper deck the entire time, but there were people sitting on the floor too. Especially on the way back when we had to pick up some speed to get back to the docks, the top deck got very windy and everybody just congregated in the covered/lower deck. I completely understand why it would be preferable to take one boat instead of two, but I think it left a lot of people in a lurch to find a comfortable place to sit during the long ride.
Rating:

Dowding wrote:
Well organised tour....special suits available to protect against the cold.....excellent commentary on board....only saw one minke whale and this is the pot luck aspect of any whale watching tour!! April 1st. was too early for puffins.
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Brandt wrote:
We recently went on a whale watching tour with IcelandExcursions and thought the tour was very good. The boat takes you away from the coast and during the ride the guides give you background information about the whales, what to expect, etc. Personally, I would not recommend this tour for small children (under age of 7 probably) because the ride there and back + time to search out the whales can get pretty long. I would say the ride out was about an hour and the ride back possibly around 45 minutes. Also, depending on what types of whales are there, there may not be a lot to see, if the whales are not close--it's hard to keep the kids entertained. Originally, there were 2 boats that were scheduled to go out, but in the end, it was just one boat and it did get crowded, we opted to stand on the upper deck the entire time, but there were people sitting on the floor too. Especially on the way back when we had to pick up some speed to get back to the docks, the top deck got very windy and everybody just congregated in the covered/lower deck. I completely understand why it would be preferable to take one boat instead of two, but I think it left a lot of people in a lurch to find a comfortable place to sit during the long ride.

Dowding wrote:
Well organised tour....special suits available to protect against the cold.....excellent commentary on board....only saw one minke whale and this is the pot luck aspect of any whale watching tour!! April 1st. was too early for puffins.

li wrote:
very nice

Leonardi wrote:
Well I didn't get to see a single whale but the trip was still really enjoyable due to the guide's (Megan) obvious passion and wealth of knowlege about both the sea life, the environment... and conservation issues... and it's not everyday that I get to be on a boat on the North Sea on a beautiful... but COLD day... thank you for a great day.
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Iceland Excursions:
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Thank you for your comments and review. We will certainly pass on your message to Megan. Don´t forget that your ticket is valid for two years to try this tour again so try to come back to Iceland soon

Evans wrote:
Tour was well organised. Picked up promptly from our apartments and dropped at the Gray Line office where we collected our tickets. We were ferried onto another minibus and driven a couple of minutes to the harbour. All of the warm wet weather gear was supplied once onboard the boat. Unfortunately, it was very rough out at sea meaning we didn't get to see any whales. We were, however, provided with a complimentary ticket which is valid for 2 years which we'll definetly be using on our next visit to Iceland.
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