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This six day tour focuses on guided excursions from Akureyri in North Iceland where you will stay five nights. Staying in only one hotel means a lot less packing and more free time for you to enjoy.

With about 16.000 inhabitants Akureyri is Iceland’s largest town outside of the Reykjavík area and one of its most pleasant. Its beautiful location near the head of the fjord and small city center make it popular with visitors.

This is a unique tour - with a choice of accommodation from tourist class hotels to superior class hotels, and a choice of day tours and activities, you can shape the perfect stay in North Iceland. This tour is an ideal short break to explore North Iceland and the interior highlands. It is part of the 12 day Best of Iceland Tour. The Best of North Iceland Program offers an excellent touring experience combined with exceptional value for money - the choice really is up to you!

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HIGHLIGHTS and VALUES:

All five nights in one Akureyri hotel - less packing, more time for fun

Three hotel choices: tourist class hotels with shared facilities, tourist class with private facilities, superior class hotel

Some optional excursions, activities and free time to tailor your own Best of North Iceland tour

Travel through the interior highland on the Kjölur route

Easy tour and suitable for nearly everybody

Very attractive package price

Itinerary

WEST ICELAND AND OVER THE MOUNTAINS TO THE NORTH (500 km/310 mls)

After leaving Reykjavík, we explore Hraunfossar, a series of waterfalls pouring from beneath a long row of lava fields into Hvítá River. Barnafoss "the Children's fall" is nearby and has its own tragic tale. Then we visit Europe's most powerful hot spring and climb the Grábrók volcano crater in West Iceland. We get an insight to Iceland's past at Glaumbær turf farm & folk museum. We continue along fjords and over mountains to Akureyri - the capital of North Iceland, our base for the next five nights.

AKUREYRI AND OPTIONAL TOUR TO HRÍSEY ISLAND (20 km/12 mls)

In the morning, you have a guided walk through Akureyri, which has a charming city center and a fine botanical garden. The afternoon is free to either explore on your own, or to join an optional excursion by bus and ferry to Hrísey Island, located in the middle of Iceland's longest fjord and home to thousands of sea birds (driving about 90 km/56 mls).

GEOLOGICAL WONDERS OF LAKE MÝVATN (230 km/143 mls)

We explore Goðafoss, the waterfall of the Gods, and continue to Lake Mývatn, known for its rich bird life and extraordinary volcanic lava landscapes. Visit pseudo craters, walk in the lava field Dimmuborgir, climb up to the rim of the ash crater Hverfjall, see the hot springs and bubbling mud pools of Námaskarð, and travel to Víti crater lake in the Krafla geothermal fields.

LEISURE DAY OR OPTIONAL DAY TOUR TO SIGLUFJÖRDUR (300 km/186 mls)

Explore Akureyri on your own or join our optional excursion to see spectacular fjord landscapes while travelling to Siglufjörður, Iceland's northernmost town and known as the herring capital of the North Atlantic. Siglufjörður is located on the mountainous Tröllaskagi Peninsula. On the way we pass small fishing villages and stop at a deserted valley that even most Icelanders have not seen. Near to Siglufjörður is Hofsós, a small and friendly village on the eastern shores of the Skagafjörður bay. Its natural harbour makes it one of the oldest trading ports in Iceland dating back to the 16th century. The Icelandic Emigration Centre focuses on the mass emigration from Iceland to North America in the late 19th century and is interesting to locals and visitors alike.

WHALES, WATERFALLS AND EUROPE'S LARGEST NATIONAL PARK (360 km/223 mls)

Húsavík is a picturesque small fishing town only an hour from Akureyri, where you can join an optional whale watching cruise or visit museums. We continue to the northern part of the Vatnajökull National Park, stop at bird cliffs where puffins may be seen, and visit the huge canyon of Ásbyrgi and Dettifoss, Europe's most powerful waterfall.

KJÖLUR HIGHLAND ROAD AND RETURN TO REYKJAVÍK (490 km/304 mls)

We go through the heart of Iceland today – travelling on the Kjölur Trail, between the glaciers Langjökull and Hofsjökull. We stop at the hot springs of Hveravellir, where you can soak in a natural hot pool. This region is shrouded in mystery, with folktales of ghosts, giants and outlaws. You experience one of Europe's last wildernesses! The Best of North Iceland ends today, as travellers return to Reykjavík in the evening.