Whale Watching from Akureyri Port
Description
Whale Watching tour from Akureyri Port is an exciting and family friendly adventure from cruise ship port. We offer door to door pickup from cruise to the whale watching harbor at Hauganes Village. The transfer has free wifi and is in a comfortable bus or minibus, depending on number of passengers booked. The Whale watching company is with a family company located in Hauganes, the first whale watching company in Iceland, and still operated by the founders. Years of experience, passion and deep knowledge of the wildlife found in Eyjafjörður fjord set them apart from other companies. In the fjord you find many species of whales, the main being the magnificent Humpback Whale. We also find dolphins, porpoises, minke whales and occasionally we spot orcas and blue whales.
Tour Options
Itinerary
This is the cruise ship port, here we will pick up from the port area and take your direct to the beautiful village of Hauganes
Hauganes is 30 minutes drive from Akureyri. Here we will go whale watching. The whale watching tour takes about 2 to 2,5 Hours
We drive back to Akureyri along the coastline of Eyjafjörður, our amazing fjord.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
We pickup in front of your cruise ship. Look for Saga Travel, our employees are wearing red jackets. We are ready for pickup from 30 minutes prior the departure.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(25)
The tour starting point was so confusing and we had to wait for multiple hours before and after for the shuttle to take us to the location. Boat was small and the tour did not even try to show us anything else other than one whale called Sophie and that's it. I think they can do better and I would definitely not go with them again.
Dear Karthik We kindly moved your departure to 10am after you had booked at 12:30. It was a busy day with two full boats and a full vehicle. The car left Akureyri port at 10:00 (correct time) and drove 30 minutes to Hauganes. There the whale watching tour starting at the right time, around 11am. The boats are pictured when you book the tour. As we had two boats one took a bit longer and passengers had to wait for 35 minutes for the departure of the bus. That was all the hours you had to wait. These are wildlife whales, they are not on a schedule, if you were only able to see one whale it is because there was only one whale in the area at the time. We feel that your review is untruthful and unfair. best regards Baldvin
It worked well at first - we found the rep quickly, were taken to a bus, waited a short while for it to fill, then were taken to Haugenes, kitted out with thermal suits & got on the boat. It was very rough but we saw a few whales. They gave us hot chocolate and cookies. We headed back quite early & got on the bus. Then we waited nearly an hour for the other boat to return, which meant we were late back to the port. We couldn’t understand why the other boat had so much longer - and they saw a blue whale. It would have been helpful if a saga rep had been there to explain what was happening.
Hi Helen We thank you for your honest and truthful review, we have had other reviews claiming many hours of wait. But we agree with you, the wait was too long and our driver was unaware how long it was going to be. We will make sure that it will not happen again. best regards Baldvin
The captain and guide were both great. They give you float suits that seem silly at first and then you learn to love them. It’s very windy and cold. Bring a hat and gloves. The ride is long (about 40 minutes) but it’s so beautiful, it goes by quickly. We saw many dolphins swimming with our boat. The whales were spectacular! We saw 2 humpbacks who were feeding near the surface, so they were visible multiple times. I would highly recommend this tour.
You are provided outer weatherproof cover-alls. Unfortunately, there is no guide provided at the pier - just an associate to check you in. The bus driver also does not give any information about the area. The boat does give a small talk although we could not hear any of it. The boat ride was fine. Lots of small waterfalls along the route. Nature is unpredictable- we did not see any whales.
Would highly recommend the bus travel to Hauganes. Very well organized and we saw whales. They knew exactly how to position the boat and made sure everyone saw the whales i would do it again.
The information leading upbto our excursion was rxcellent. Reassuring and helpful. We explored Icelandic culture and it’svextreme geology.
This is an excellent trip that takes you in a mini bus from the port to Haugenes to start your whale watching adventure. You are supplied with wet weather coveralls, which we definitely needed as it was windy, rainy and wet from spray on our trip. Do wrap up warm with a hat even in the summer months. For the first half hour the whales were elusive but our skipper and guide know these waters well and we were rewarded with some great views of whales close to the boat and further away. We saw humpbacks and a minke whale put on a great display. Trying to photograph them is quite hard with a boat and whales that are constantly moving so sit/stand and just enjoy the site of them. A great experience.
We saw whales so for us it was third time lucky, having tried elsewhere twice before. However, I think customers should be aware that whilst the ship has a lot of history unless you are lucky enough to stand in the bow it’s not a great ship for viewing. When whales were sighted other than the people in the bow everyone rushed to the necessary side of the ship if like me you’re short the view was not easy. Better to look for a sight seeing boat in my opinion. Add that to the fact the morning cruise was cancelled and everyone on the lunchtime cruise, a lot of people.
The whale watching experience was very good but not impressed with pick up arranged by Viator. The pick up instructions said to meet outside our cruise ship and look for rep wearing red. We were there at 12:00 as pick up was 12:30. We waited until 12:40 The person wasn't there and we were advised by another tour guide to go to the hut outside the other cruise ship that was in dock. When we got to the hut the lady apologised to us. The minibus had gone without picking us up. The minibus then came back to pick bus up. Also there was an American couple who nearly missed their cruise ship as the return drop off was late back to their ship,
We were very worried when nobody from Saga showed up to pick us up at our reservation time. We contacted Saga and they sent someone immediately to pick us up and solved our issue. Apparently our reservation did not show up in their system. We showed them our ticket and they made it happen. I highly recommend booking thru this company that understands customer service!
