This is a modified excerpt from the new edition of our book, Iceland With Kids. Here’s the new edition, published in 2020. Buy either the book eBook or print edition) or our Driving in Iceland video course, we’ll send you a free copy of the other one! E-mail us and we’ll make it happen!
There’s an inherent conflict in seeing puffins, in Iceland or anywhere else. On the one hand, tourists want to get as close as possible to these adorable and photogenic birds. It’s one thing to see puffins from a boat, where you may be 50 feet from their burrows. (And this is still wonderful to see!) But it’s entirely another thing to see them standing just in front of you, 10 or 15 feet away. You can count how many fish they have in their mouths, ready to feed to their baby puffling. (That’s what a puffin baby is called.)
On the other hand, the puffins don’t really want you to be that close. Puffins meet the same mate back on shore year after year, and the couple returns to the same burrow year after year to raise their baby. Get too close, and that puffin with a mouthful of fish might be too afraid to enter its burrow. Too afraid to feed its baby.
This is becoming a real problem in certain parts of the world; a famous puffin nesting area has been closed off to visitors on the Faroe Islands. And back in Iceland, popular bird watching spots also have restrictions.
I see three main options for seeing puffins, each with its own pluses and minuses. None of these are an option outside of summer. Puffins spend most of the year out in the ocean; they only come back to their burrows over the summer to raise their baby puffling. No one knows exactly when the puffins will come and go for the season, though May through late August seems like a safe bet.
The easy way to see puffins in Iceland: a short organized tour
Companies in Reykjavik offer short puffin boat rides. There’s an island called Akurey, which is only 3 kilometers (2 miles) or so from Reykjavik’s old harbor. Hop on a boat and you’ll be right next to the island in 20 minutes or so.
We went on the Puffin Express with Special Tours. The trip takes an hour: 20 minutes out, 20 minutes to watch the puffins, and 20 minutes back. There are a whole lot of puffins to see!
The downside of a tour like this is that you’re not getting super close to the puffins. But you’ll see tons of puffins flying overhead, hanging out in the water, and walking around on the island. Our Special Tours guide provided us with binoculars for a closer view.
We got a similar view with Eyja Tours on the Westman Islands. This is much more than just a puffin tour– you’ll see a volcano, a rope to swing on to gather bird eggs, and a whole lot more. You’ll again see puffins at a distance:
And at the end of the tour, you’ll see some puffins up-close in the new Sea Life Trust Aquarium:
These are both great tours, and good ways to see puffins. But many people want the up-close view at the top of this post. For that you’ll need one of the next two options.
The hard way to see puffins in Iceland: find them on your own
There’s a common list of places where you can see puffins in Iceland. All of them are going to be far off of Ring Road, the main circle around the country. For some of these, you may have to ask around to find the right viewing spot. And for all of them, you need to be careful to not get too close to the puffins and their burrows. Move slowly and don’t step off of any paths!
Here are three options, though there are many more:
West: Látrabjarg Bird Cliffs, the westernmost point in Iceland. It’s a very bumpy several hour trip to get here, and some of that drive is right next to a cliff. The challenge keeps most visitors to Iceland away, and that keeps the puffins happier.
North: The Tjörnes peninsula. We tried to head here at the end of July, to the Voladalstorfa lighthouse area. First we were greeted by a sign saying the area is closed for parts of the year:
But we were there on July 28th, outside of the Eider duck protection window. Just a little further, we came to a less professional sign:
We turned around, though I’m not positive if the hand-made sign just hadn’t been removed yet? Still, the more people that find out about an area, the more likely it is that it will have to be closed off. (Later, a local Icelander told us that there is a better spot further northeast on Tjörnes.)
East: Borgarfjörður Eystri. I think this is your best option for seeing puffins by yourself. The town’s web site says: “About 10,000 pairs of puffins nest every summer in Borgarfjörður. This is probably the easiest and safest place to watch puffins in Iceland. There are a shelter and wooden platforms where you can get really close to the puffins without the risk of falling into a burrow or down a cliff. You can see puffins nestling here from mid-April to mid-August.”
Borgarfjörður Eystri is about an hour and a half detour each way from Ring Road. Much of that is on gravel, and some of it is right next to a cliff. Still, that’s shorter than the drive to Látrabjarg, and the small village of Borgarfjörður Eystri offers more than just puffins.
Here’s a map of these three places, just to make clear how far off of Ring Road each one is. Ring Road is the blue line:
The expensive way to see puffins in Iceland: A more exclusive tour
Option #1 doesn’t get you close to puffins. Option #2 gets you close, but you have to trek to remote parts of Iceland. Here’s the option that costs more, but solves both of those problems. Let’s look at two examples:
Ingólfshöfði Puffin Tour is just off of Ring Road on the South Coast of Iceland, just a few minutes west of Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. Thousands of tourists are in this area every day, but very few of them will be able to get to Ingólfshöfði. The only way to get here is by booking a tour and heading out on a tractor-pulled haycart through a sometimes muddy beach. Sounds crazy, right? But once you get there and scramble up the black sand hill, the only people there are those on the tour.
If there’s no tour group, there are no people on this cape. There’s little risk of scaring the puffins away, as long as the tourists are well-behaved. The picture at the top of this post is from our Ingólfshöfði tour. Here’s another one:
Another option is the Drangey Island Puffin Tour. We haven’t done this one yet, but it’s a 4-hour trip out to an uninhabited island. The tour description says: “A trip to Drangey is a unique experience combining sightseeing, birdwatching, sailing, hiking with personal service and guidance. There is a man made path to the top of the island along the face of the cliffs. While hiking you can get up close to the puffins that frequently sit resting within a few meters of the path.”
Reviews online are excellent, though the hike up might be a challenge for younger children. We liked the Ingólfshöfði tour, and so it might be a better option.
I don’t think any one of these ways is clearly the best option. If you have limited time and don’t mind spending the money, one of the premium tours might be your best bet. If you’re up for more of an adventure, try to find them yourself. But watch for signs if an area is closed off!
Let me know what your puffin-spotting experience has been in Iceland!
This is a modified excerpt from the new edition of our book, Iceland With Kids. Here’s the current edition, and here’s the new edition. If you buy our Driving in Iceland video course now, we’ll send you a free digital copy of the new book when it is released in early 2020!
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