Puffin Watching Yacht Cruise from Downtown Reykjavík – Small Group Experience
by Sea Trips Reykjavík · Puffins · Boat tours · Whale watching · Reykjavík
- Fine on your own
- Couples
- Good with teenagers
- Eco-certified
Would this be cheaper direct? No — we sell at Sea Trips Reykjavík's own price and take our commission from them, not from you. What you get here is one checkout across operators, one confirmation, and one place to change or cancel it. If you ever find it cheaper on their own site, tell us and we will match it or explain why we cannot.
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Duration
1 hour
Difficulty
Easy
Season
May – Sep
Starts in
Reykjavík
Meeting
Meet on location
Languages
EN
Departs
09:00, 10:00, 11:30, 13:00 …
Cancellation
Free until 24h before
About this experience
On this exciting 1 hour tour around Faxaflói Bay and the islands of Engey, Lundey and Viðey, you’ll have a chance to get up close to colonies of endearing puffins and many other migrating bird species, as well as enjoying the extraordinary backdrop of the majestic Mount Esja and the city’s colourful skyline.
Depending on the time of your visit, the mountains may be capped with ice and snow, or coloured bright purple, covered with a carpet of summer lupins. At any time of the year, Reykjavík is always a stunning city to see from the water. During the summer months, our voyages will pass close to the famous puffin colonies of Faxaflói Bay.
If that is not enough, on this tour, you don’t have to worry about overcrowding or not getting the right spot to see the whales. You will be sailing on Faxaflói bay in a small group which will make your experience personal, meaningful and memorable.
Description from the operator, Sea Trips Reykjavík. Prices and availability in the booking panel are live.
Included
- 1 hour puffin watching Cruise
- Professional guides
- Panoramic views
- Restroom on board
- Pickup is available for an extra charge
Good to know
We recommend all guests dress warmly in layers and good footwear it is always colder on the water and don´t forget your camera.
Please check in at the Old Harbour House at Aegisgardur 2, 101 Reykjavík at the harbor 30 minutes before departure.
If you added a pick-up service to your tour the car will be there 45 minutes before departure.
- We may have to cancel or reschedule the tour due to unfavorable weather conditions or if the minimum number of participants is not reached.
- The tour takes place in wild nature, sightings cannot be predicted or guaranteed. If there are no sightings on the tour, we do not offer refunds but instead, we offer our passengers a free return to join our tour depending on availability, valid for up to three years.
- Please note: Depending on the group size, we operate the tour on either Axel Rose yacht for smaller groups, or Harpa yacht for larger ones.
Cancellation for this tour
Free cancellation until 24 hours before departure; no refund after that. If the operator cancels for weather or safety, you get a full refund or a new date.
If the weather cancels this tour
Iceland's weather is real. What usually stops this one is sea state — the skipper decides an hour or two before departure. Here is exactly what happens to your booking.
- 1Sea Trips Reykjavík decides, and tells us. Operators cancel when it is unsafe or pointless, and we back that call every time — we do not ask them to run anyway.
- 2We contact you by email, and by phone if your tour is the same or next day. You choose: another date if there is one you can make, or a full refund. There is no fee and nothing to argue.
- 3The refund goes back to the card you paid with, through Stripe, usually visible within a few working days. If this tour was one of several in your booking, the others are untouched.
What you do not get is the day back. If this is the only free day in your plan, put a spare day next to it — the planner leaves days free with the rest-day option. And if you want out because the forecast looks bad, that is your own cancellation: free until 1 day before departure, the operator's policy after that.
Questions on the day: [email protected] · +354 497 1373. How cancellations work in Iceland →
Sold out on your date?
Seats come back — a cancellation, or the operator adding a vehicle. Tell us the date and we will check once a day and email you if one opens. One email, then we delete the address; nothing else is ever sent to it.
Who this is not for
- Not available in winter; the operator runs it roughly May to September.
Read off the operator's own conditions. If none of it applies to you, this is a good one.
Why we list it
Sea Trips Reykjavík is one of 154 operators we work with — chosen for reliability, honest descriptions and how they treat guests when weather changes plans. We don't list everything; we list what we'd book ourselves. The six checks every operator passes →
What travellers say about Sea Trips Reykjavík
Read all 345 reviews on Google →Operator rating 4.6/5 from Google — these are reviews of the company, not this specific tour. Shown as Google returns them, unedited.
★★★★★ · 2 weeks ago
Puffin Watching Yacht Cruise from Downtown Reykjavík – Small Group Experience https://seatrips.is/tour/puffin-watching-yacht-cruise-from-downtown-reykjavik/ It was a really smallest group experience, like a private tour for both of us, we booked way before our trip, very easy, and once over there, the day before someone from the tour operator called me to see if we were willing to move our tour time from 2:30 pm to 12 pm, because some technical issues, I know things happen, so no problem, we went there around 11:30 am, nobody was in the office because all shops around there were doing some painting, we went to a restaurant across the street, and Ana was there, we did the check in and ready to go on board the “Sea Ranger”, small powerful and beautiful yacht and guess what? We were the only passengers, the whole boat just for us! Ana was the guide and a young nice man the pilot, they took us to 2 small islands near the port, no more that 15 minutes away, and we were able to see those beautiful, colorful, small and fast elusive sea birds, it was worth and we took several pictures /videos from them very close, you cannot step on land, it’s forbidden, and they don’t stay put for the pictures! You need to know, the birds have their own “calendar for the year” , that day (8/19/26) was the last day for the season, they go and live on the sea and come back next year in early April, how? Good question. In the background you can see the Tall ship ARC Gloria from the Colombian Navy on its yearly cruise with Naval Cadets on board
★★★★★ · 5 months ago
Claudia was an incredible guide for our northern lights tour on March 22, 2026. She was very attentive and informative, giving constant updates on light activity and giving us all tips for photographing. Inside the boat was warm and cozy, and you can’t beat having bathrooms and a bar available! The boat wasn’t packed full of people which we appreciated. It was very easy to move around. Highly recommend this tour!
★★★★★ · 6 months ago
We used sea trips for a northern lights tour, great guides and crew, lovely boat with plenty of space for everyone. Really enjoyable evening seeing the lights and a highlight of our trip!
★★★★★ · 7 months ago
Beautiful trip, amilia rose, seen whales, puffins, staff were lovely, plenty food and drinks on board to be bought, they wernt lying when they said wrap up warm lol, but so worth it
Reviews from Google · updated 13 Sept 2026
Read before you book
- Your arrival afternoon in Reykjavík is for one thing, and it might be a napFood walk, whale watching or bed on the afternoon you land — which one survives a red-eye, which one wastes the day, and the combo we'd actually book.
- Boat tours in Iceland sort into five kinds, and only two of them are sightseeingWhale boats, aurora cruises, glacier-lagoon zodiacs, island ferries and sea angling. What each one actually is, what it costs, and which are worth a slot.
- Northern lights by bus, boat or super-jeep — the odds are the same, the night isn'tBus, boat and super-jeep lights hunts from Reykjavík compared on real odds, comfort and price, with the one we'd book first.
Reviews from our travellers
Only people who booked this tour through us can write here. We publish every review in full — good or bad.
No reviews yet from our travellers on this one. After your tour we send one email asking how it was, and what you write goes here, unedited.
Puffins — questions people ask
When can you see puffins in Iceland?
Mid-April to mid-August. Puffins arrive at the nesting cliffs in April, hatch chicks in June and leave for the open sea by late August. July is the safest month for numbers and for chicks being fed. Outside this window there are none on land, and a tour sold as a puffin tour in October is a boat ride. Reykjavík puffin boats usually run May to August; check the tour page for the exact dates each year.
Can you see puffins from Reykjavík?
Yes. Two small islands in Faxaflói, Akurey and Lundey, hold puffin colonies ten to fifteen minutes by boat from the Old Harbour. One-hour trips like Elding's classic puffin watching (/experience/1299/) circle the islands slowly; you do not land. Bring binoculars, because the boats keep a respectful distance and puffins are small. It is the easiest puffin option in Iceland and a good fit for children or a spare hour before dinner.
Where is the best place to see puffins up close?
On land, at a cliff, not from a boat. Látrabjarg in the Westfjords, Borgarfjörður eystri in the east and Dyrhólaey on the South Coast let you sit a few metres from birds that ignore you. Vestmannaeyjar has the largest colonies. Reykjavík boat trips are convenient but distant. If you are travelling the Ring Road in June or July, the puffin tour from Seyðisfjörður (/experience/973294/) gets you to the eastern cliffs with a guide.
Are puffin boat tours good for kids?
Yes, mostly. They are short, an hour or so, and stay in the sheltered bay, so seasickness is rarer than on a three-hour whale trip. Children usually enjoy the boat as much as the birds. The downside is distance: puffins look like specks without binoculars, so ask if the boat has some to borrow. Combined whale-and-puffin trips (/experience/1569/) run six hours, which is long for under-eights.
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