Akurey Island (Puffin Island) Tours and Tickets

There are plenty of ways to experience Akurey Island. Looking at ratings and reviews previously given by customers, these are the best tours available right now:

• Puffin Cruise with Expert Tour Guide from Reykjavik
• Premium Small-Group Puffin & Bird Watching tour from Reykjavík
• Iceland Super Saver: Puffin Cruise plus Whale-Watching Tour from Reykjavik
• Reykjavik Shore Excursion: Puffin Sightseeing Cruise
• Puffin and Bird Watching Tour from Reykjavik

While it is technically free to visit Akurey Island, you can only access it by boat. Unless you have a vessel, it’s best to book a tour with an expert guide. Puffin-watching boat tours start at around US$55 per person, while whale-and-bird-watching tours cost from US$138.

Akurey Island is known as a major nesting site for Atlantic puffins, who return to the same nests every year to birth and rear their chicks (pufflings) before returning to the open ocean. Akurey Island is one of Iceland’s most easily accessible puffin colonies.

Yes, there are puffins on Akurey Island, but only during certain times of the year. Puffins typically arrive on Akurey Island in late April or early May and stay until late August or early September, until their chicks fly the nest. The best time to see them is in June or July.

Tours of Akurey Island typically last one hour. You can’t land on the island because it is a protected nesting site. However, boat tours from Reykjavik’s Old Harbour get close enough for good views and circle the small island long enough for you to see the puffins’ behavior.

The main wildlife draw of boat tours to Akurey Island is the Atlantic puffin colony. However, there is always a good chance of seeing other wildlife such as birds including black guillemots, Arctic terns, and cormorants, and mammals including porpoises, dolphins, and whales.