Seeing the Puffins at Hafnarhólmi From the Pier

Both go to the same islet and give you about an hour with the birds, and both cost about what a canyon coach does in the Seydisfjordur tours comparison. What differs is the length of the day and what fills it.

BusTravel, $227, five hours

An hour north, 20 minutes at a viewpoint on the way, an hour at Hafnarhólmi, then 40 minutes in the village at Lindarbakki, the red turf house with grass on its roof and walls that somebody still lives in. Gufufoss on the way back. 4.6 from 243 reviews, which is the largest sample of any puffin trip here.

One July reviewer described the village stop coming with an Icelandic doughnut and coffee, which is not on the listing.

Magic Iceland Travel, $225, six hours

Two dollars less and an hour longer, because it adds the reindeer park before the coast: an hour with Iceland's only herd, then the puffins, Álfaborg, the village and Gufufoss. Rated 4.9 from 22 reviews.

One traveller in July counted hundreds of puffins and singled out the young reindeer. The same review noted a large coach rather than the smaller bus earlier reviews mentioned, which is worth knowing if legroom on a 170-minute round trip matters to you.

Season decides this, not price

The puffins are ashore from mid-April to mid-August, with the strongest numbers from May. After that the young leave and the adults return to open water. A September call books the same coach to the same rock with nothing on it.

If your ship arrives late in the season, take the fjord cruise or a canyon trip instead.

Hafnarhólmi is a small rocky peninsula behind a working fishing harbour at the end of Route 94, on the far side of the village. The birds nest in burrows dug into the sloping turf, and a network of boardwalks and platforms at different heights runs through them, fenced, with a wooden hut at the top for shelter when the weather turns.

• About 10,000 pairs of Atlantic puffins, often within a metre or two of the boards
• Kittiwakes, fulmars and common eiders nesting on the same rock
• A viewing hut with benches and slats, useful in rain and wind
• Lindarbakki, a red turf house in the village, still lived in
• Álfaborg, the rock above the church that folklore gives to the queen of the elves
• Gufufoss, 27 m, five minutes short of the pier on the way home

An hour sounds generous and goes fast. The boardwalks climb in stages, and most groups stop at the first railing, photograph whatever is closest and drift back down. The birds are thickest higher up, and the wooden hide at the top has benches, viewing slats and shelter from the wind, which on this coast is the difference between staying twenty minutes and staying an hour.

What you are watching, if you stay long enough to notice it, is a shift change. A pair digs a burrow a metre or so into the turf and raises one chick in it, and both adults fly out to the fishing grounds and back. A bird lands, walks in, and another walks out and drops off the slope to take off. In July that happens every few minutes.

The village stop

Both trips build in time at Bakkagerði, and the stop is better than a filler.

Lindarbakki is the red turf house with grass on its roof and walls, and somebody still lives in it, so the photograph is taken from the road. Álfaborg, the knoll above the church, has a path to the top and a view indicator, and Icelandic folklore puts the queen of the elves inside it. The church below holds an altarpiece Jóhannes Kjarval painted in 1914, showing Christ on the Sermon on the Mount standing on that same rock with the Dyrfjöll behind him. Kjarval grew up in this fjord.

One reviewer in July mentioned coffee and an Icelandic doughnut at the village stop, which is not on either listing and depends on the timing of the day.

Getting the most out of the drive

Three hours of the day is spent on the road, and the road is part of what you paid for.

• Route 94 crosses the Vatnsskarð eystri pass on hairpins, with a view down over Njarðvík and into the fjord on the descent
• A wooden cross stands beside the road at Njarðvíkurskriður carrying a Latin inscription and the date 1306, marking where a farmer is said to have driven the monster Naddi into the sea
• The Dyrfjöll rise to 1,136 m and are named for the door-shaped gap notched through the ridge, visible for most of the drive
• Sit on the seaward side coming back for the coastline, and the inland side going out for the mountains

The colony itself is free. What you are paying for is the 170 minutes of driving that gets you there and back inside a port call.

• Included: coach from the cruise terminal, live guide, all stops on the route
• Included on the BusTravel trip: free WiFi on board
• Not included: food and drinks. There is a café in the village but nothing is provided
• Not included: personal expenses, and toilets at some stops charge a small fee
• Not needed: any ticket for the puffins, though donations towards the boardwalks are welcome

What to pack

A clifftop above the North Atlantic makes its own weather.

• Waterproof jacket and a warm layer. The colony sits exposed and the wind comes off the sea
• Comfortable shoes. The boardwalks are level but the harbour path is gravel
• Binoculars if you have them. Nobody hands them out and the far platforms reward them
• A camera with something longer than a phone lens, though the birds come close enough for both
• Water and a snack, since no food is included
• Cash or card for toilets at some stops

Who these trips do not suit

• Children under 2, on the BusTravel run
• Anyone hoping for puffins outside mid-April to mid-August. The rock empties and no operator can fix that
• Travellers who dislike long coach legs. Nearly three hours of the day is spent on the road
• Anyone who gets uneasy on mountain roads: Route 94 was paved in full only in 2023 and still crosses the Vatnsskarð eystri pass on hairpins with no guardrail at the top

If your ship tenders

Add 20 to 40 minutes at each end. Both trips are timed to the ship and the operators wait, but the five-hour version has more slack than the six. Guides here park by the tender landing rather than the standard coach stop, so look for the operator's sign there.

Gathered from birdwatchers and travellers who have made the drive, rather than from the booking pages.

• Puffins are busiest at the colony from 7am to 10am and again from 6pm to 10pm, when adults come and go from the fishing grounds. Midday visits, which is when cruise coaches arrive, show fewer birds in the air and more sitting on the turf
• Climb to the top platform and the hut. Most people stop at the first railing, and the higher decks look down into the burrows
• The hut is the reason a rainy call is still worth it. Benches, slats, out of the wind
• Watch for kittiwakes and fulmars on the same rock. The kittiwake colony is noisier than the puffins and closer to the path
• Ask the guide to run Gufufoss first if rain is forecast for the afternoon. One July group had exactly that swap and beat the crowds as well
• Bring the doughnut money. The village café is the only food on the route and the stop is 40 minutes