Fishing tours from Akureyri: lake, ice or sea

Fishing around Akureyri comes in two very different price brackets. Sea angling on Eyjafjörður is a €93 add-on to a boat trip. A guided day on a lake or river is €650 to €880 per person. Pick the sea if you want to try it once. Pick the lake or river only if you already like fishing.

Sea angling: the easy one

Whale Watching and Sea Angling Tour (from €93, three hours) leaves from Hauganes, about 25 minutes north of Akureyri, in an oak boat on the sheltered fjord. You watch for whales, then stop and fish. Equipment, flotation overalls, coffee and cinnamon buns are included. You bring a hat and gloves.

There is also a whale and puffin version from Hauganes at €95. It is a different trip, so do not book it expecting rods.

You will not catch a fortune. You will catch something, usually cod or haddock, and you can eat it. Nothing here needs skill or fitness. Cancellation is free until 24 hours before departure, which matters because Eyjafjörður still gets wind.

The downside is that the fishing is the second half of a boat trip. If you want four hours of casting, this is not it.

Lake fishing in winter: the ice tour

Ice fishing tour from Akureyri (from €880, six hours) is a drive of about an hour to Kringluvatn or Langavatn. Both sit on a plateau and freeze from December until March or April. They hold small arctic char and the occasional large brown trout. The operator says 15 to 20 char in a day is not unusual. We cannot promise that. Fish are fish.

Pickup, permits, guiding and equipment are included. The minimum is two people, it runs only in winter, and the minimum age is 6. Dress as if you will stand still on ice for hours, because you will.

This is the one fishing trip that is about the place as much as the catch. A frozen plateau lake is quiet in a way the coast is not.

Rivers and lakes in season

The same operator, Iceland Fishing Guide, runs two other trips with pickup from Akureyri, Húsavík or Mývatn:

• Fishing day tour (from €650, six hours). With hotel pickup that is about four hours of actual fishing. Morning and afternoon starts exist.
• Full-day fishing tour (from €807, twelve hours). For people who fish a river properly. Some rivers close for a break in the middle of the day, and the tour can stretch to 15 hours.

Permits, guiding and equipment are included. Lunch is not on the full-day trip. The six-hour tour suits beginners. The twelve-hour one does not: it is long, and the quiet stretches are the point.

Cancellation terms to read first

All three lake and river tours carry the same terms: cancelling costs 50% of the price within 90 days of departure. That is unusually strict. You are effectively committing the moment you book unless you are booking more than three months ahead. Check your dates and your weather tolerance first.

The sea trip is the opposite: free until 24 hours before.

Which to book

• First time, any age: the sea angling trip at €93.
• Winter visit, you like quiet and cold: the ice fishing tour.
• Summer visit, you have fished before: the six-hour river tour, not the twelve-hour one.
• Travelling with young children: sea angling. The lake tours are built for adults.

Our honest take

For most people the €93 sea trip is the right answer and the other three are a different hobby. The €650 to €880 tours are fair for what they include, since guide, permits, gear and driving all come in the price. But that is a lot of money for a morning, and the 90-day cancellation rule means you cannot change your mind. If you are not sure you will enjoy standing by water for hours, go to sea first. If you are sure, the winter ice trip is the more interesting of the two lake options.