This is our own home port; Formáli is registered on Hafnarstræti. Ísafjörður is the smallest of the three and the excursion list is short, which is honest rather than a failing — the Westfjords have few operators and the ones here are small. What it has instead is a port call where the walk off the ship is already the good bit: a fjord with mountains straight out of the water on both sides, an old town of timber houses, and the maritime museum in the oldest buildings in Iceland.
One checkout, any number of operators
Rankings are not for sale
153 operators vetted, and not all of them accepted
If it falls short, we fix it
Ships tie up beside the town, and the largest ones tender in. Either way you are in Ísafjörður on foot within minutes — the town is small enough to cross in a quarter of an hour.
Comfortably: the town and the museum on foot, the boat to Vigur island and its eider ducks and puffins, a kayak on the fjord, the drive up to Bolungarvík and Ósvör. A full-day call: Dynjandi, which is the waterfall worth the drive. Not from here: anything on the ring road — you are a long way from the rest of Iceland, which is rather the point of the Westfjords.
Put in the hours your ship is alongside. We have started you off with a typical call at Ísafjörður; yours is on your daily programme and is the number that matters.
Ashore 08:00 to 16:00 — we treat the final hour and a half before all-aboard as unusable.
The rule, openly: we would not book a tour that leaves less than about an hour and a half of slack before your ship sails. That is the shuttle from the pier, the queue at the gangway, and the twenty minutes an Icelandic coach loses to the weather or the bus in front of it. End times are worked out from each operator's own published departure times and tour length. A tour sold as an open ticket has no fixed departure, so it is judged against the length of your call instead.
Five to seven hours. On a nine-hour call this leaves you the margin you want.
2
5 hours and 30 minutesValkyrie Tours
Leaves from Ísafjörður
A custom private experience tailored to cruise ship passangers
from
€2,231 per person
No fixed departure — an open ticket, about 5h 30min once you start.
6 hoursIceland Backcountry travel
Leaves from Ísafjörður
BackCountry roads and mountain panorama like nowhere else. This tour will leave you speechless, delivering more thrills than a theme park
from
€202 per person
Leaves 08:00, ends about 14:00, all aboard 16:00.
Four hours or less, or a flexible admission. The safe choice on a short call, and what to add if you have a morning free.
9
3 hours and 30 minutesLucky Troll Tours
Leaves from Ísafjörður
Set off on a wild superjeep quest from Ísafjörður to the roaring Dynjandi Waterfall, conquer sandafell viewpoint, and seize epic Westfjords views on a private tour for bold explorers and fearless photographers.
from
€767 per person
Leaves 08:30, ends about 12:00, all aboard 16:00.
4 hoursValkyrie Tours
Leaves from Ísafjörður
from
€159 per person
No fixed departure — an open ticket, about 4h once you start.
4 hoursMagic Iceland Travel
Leaves from Ísafjörður
A scenic Westfjords shore excursion from Ísafjörður, designed especially for cruise ship passengers. Discover the majestic Dynjandi waterfall and visit the charming village of Flateyri, home to Iceland’s oldest bookshop.
from
€140 per person
about the usual price
Leaves 08:30, ends about 12:30, all aboard 16:00.
3 hours and 30 minutesNordur Travel Services ehf
Leaves from Ísafjörður
Visit the spectacular Dynjandi Waterfall and enjoy a traditional Icelandic farm experience on a small group shore excursion from Isafjordur
from
€130 per person
Leaves 07:00, ends about 10:30, all aboard 16:00.
3 hoursNordur Travel Services ehf
Leaves from Ísafjörður
Experience the Westfjords' crown jewel, Dynjandi waterfall, on a private tour directly from Ísafjörður. Journey through stunning fjords, golden beaches, and dramatic mountains, enjoying exclusive comfort and breathtaking Icelandic nature.
from
€1,576 per person
Leaves 09:00, ends about 12:00, all aboard 16:00.
3 hoursMay – SepVigur Heritage Farm and Nature Reserve
Leaves from Ísafjörður
Take a boat to Vigur Island to experience the wild nature of the Arctic Westfjords alongside authentic Icelandic hospiltality and heritage in one of the country's most beloved locations for birdlife, particularly PUFFIN.
from
€161 per person
29% above the €125 typical
Leaves 07:00, ends about 10:00, all aboard 16:00.
4 hoursBS Tours
Leaves from Ísafjörður
A four hour sightseeing adventure to Dynjandi Waterfall and a farmstead with a local driver-guide.
from
€122 per person
Leaves 08:00, ends about 12:00, all aboard 16:00.
2 hoursBS Tours
Leaves from Ísafjörður
A two hour tour packed with sightseeing around the town of Ísafjörður, Tungudalur Waterfall, Flateyri Fishing Village and local farmstead.
from
€86 per person
Leaves 10:00, ends about 12:00, all aboard 16:00.
3 hours and 30 minutesMagic Iceland Travel
Leaves from Ísafjörður
Private Westfjords shore excursion to Dynjandi waterfall and Iceland’s oldest bookstore, tailored to your cruise schedule with a flexible itinerary and private guide.
from
€2,435 per vehicle
Leaves 08:00, ends about 11:30, all aboard 16:00.
Eight or nine hours. Only if your ship is in late — check your sailing time before you book one of these.
2
8 hoursValkyrie Tours
Leaves from Ísafjörður
from
€1,545 per person
No fixed departure — an open ticket, about 8h once you start.
8 hoursLucky Troll Tours
Leaves from Ísafjörður
from
€1,514 per person
Leaves 08:00, ends about 16:00, all aboard 16:00.
Check your own sailing time first, not the scheduled one — calls get shortened by weather more often in Iceland than almost anywhere, and the ship will tell you the day before. Then pick a tour that ends at least an hour before that.
Tell the operator which ship you are on when you book. They plan around sailings all season and it changes how they run the day. Most of these allow free cancellation up to 24 hours before, so booking early costs you nothing if the call changes — the exact rule is on each tour page.
11 of the 13 excursions here have departures published in the next four months. The rest open their calendars closer to the season, which is normal for Icelandic operators — search your ship’s date on the tour page to see it.
Not sure it fits? Send us the ship and the date —[email protected] or +354 497 1373. We will tell you if the answer is no.
Yes, and it is normally cheaper than the ship's desk because you are buying from the same Icelandic operators the ships buy from. The difference is that the ship waits for its own excursions and not for ours, so leave margin: on a standard nine-hour call we would not book a tour longer than seven hours.
Typically €202 per person across the 13 excursions we sell here from 7 operators, with the cheapest at €86. Private tours and small-group trips sit well above that; coach excursions below it.
That risk is yours on an independently booked tour, which is the honest trade for the lower price. In practice the operators here run these for cruise passengers all season and know the sailing times, but Icelandic weather closes roads without warning. Book the shorter option on a tight call, keep the operator’s number on your phone, and tell them at booking which ship you are on and when it sails.
Ships tie up beside the town, and the largest ones tender in. Either way you are in Ísafjörður on foot within minutes — the town is small enough to cross in a quarter of an hour.
Put your own hours into the "back on board by" box at the top of this page and the lists re-filter to what fits. Each excursion then shows when it leaves and roughly when it ends, worked out from the operator's published departure times and the tour length. We treat the final hour and a half before all-aboard as unusable — that is the shuttle, the gangway queue and the margin an Icelandic road can eat — so anything landing inside it is marked as not fitting rather than as tight.
Several excursions, or a call in more than one port? One checkout covers the lot.
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