Outer Circle Tour Whale Watching

Categories Adventure & Eco Travel Escorted Tours

ICELAND’S OUTER CIRCLE WITH WHALE WATCHING

Mountains, rivers, glaciers and volcanoes will unfold as we take you exploring in four easy stages. Only four hotels are used which makes the days more relaxed and the evenings a time to ponder and talk to your fellow travellers about your time spent in ever-changing scenery. There will also be opportunities to do some walking in the beautiful countryside. The contrasting boat trips included in this tour will make you wonder if you have travelled in many different countries... icebergs on the south coast and lush green islands on the west. This is truly a classical adventure with hotels offering private facilities and good Icelandic hospitality.

The hotels used on this tour are often “summer hotels”, used most of the year as boarding schools or country hotels which are simple and clean.

Tour is conducted in English only.

HIGHLIGHTS AND VALUES

- Whale watching tour included, weather permitting

- We only stay in four hotels which means less packing

- Introduction to the Icelandic horse

- Visit to four National Parks

- Visit to Glaumbær folk museum included

- Visit to the Nature Baths at Lake Mývatn included

- Boat trip on glacial lagoon with floating icebergs included

- Average of 1-2 hours walking a day

- Bird watching boat trip around the islands of Breiðafjörður fjord included

- Smalll group tor, max. 20 participants

Itinerary

Arrive Reykjavik and transfer to hotel on your own.

We’ll leave Reykjavik and drive to the famous double falls at Gullfoss and Geysir hot springs, followed by some man-made beauty at the church of Skálholt. We’ll see some history at Þingvellir National Park, site of the ancient Viking Parliament, before continuing to Reykholt. There’s more history here, as this is the home of the 13th century poet, Snorri Sturluson. We stay in West Iceland for the next two nights.

Enjoy a day excursion to the Snæfellsnes peninsula and its “capital”, the charming fishing town of Stykkishólmur. Then it’s off to sea, cruising around Breiðafjörður Fjord, home to thousands of sea birds. Back on land, a uniquely Icelandic treat awaits us at Bjarnarhöfn, where they make Hákarl, the fermented shark. In the afternoon we stop at Europe’s most powerful hot spring Deildartungahver and the lava waterfalls of Hraunfossar.

We travel through old lava fields, fertile farmlands and fjord landscapes to Northwest Iceland where we are introduced to the Icelandic horse. Then it’s over a high mountain pass to Akureyri, the capital of North Iceland. We spend the next three nights in the fishing town of Húsavík.

We start the day with a 3 hour whale watching tour from Húsavík, weather permitted. Afternoon is at leisure to ponder around the town with the possibility to visit museums and the church.

We’ll visit the waterfall Goðafoss, en-route to Lake Mývatn. This lake is known for its lush vegetation and countless species of birds, some of which are not found anywhere else in Europe. The unusual lava field Dimmuborgir will be explored and we will walk up to the rim of the ash crater Hverfjall. All of our work is rewarded with a soak in the natural hot springs at Mývatn Nature Baths, before heading back to our accommodation.

Today starts with a scenic drive around Tjörnes Peninsula, and a visit to the magnificent waterfall Dettifoss, the most powerful in Europe, part of Vatnajökull National Park, before heading through the uninhabited highlands to East Iceland where we will stay for the next three nights.

It’s a pretty drive around Lake Lögurinn to Egilsstaðir - please keep an eye out for the monster. We’ll visit the unusual farm mansion at Skriðuklaustur, which was built by a well known writer. When conditions are right, we can walk up to Hengifoss, one of the highest waterfalls in Iceland. We’ll also take a pretty drive over a mountain pass down to the fishing village of Seyðisfjörður.

Borgarfjörður Eystri is a short wide fjord and grassy fertile valley with a charming fishing village of the same name, and the capital of Iceland’s elf community in East Iceland. Magnificent colourful mountains and numerous beautiful rocks and rare stones are found here.

We’ll enjoy the dramatic fjord landscape, twisty roads and fishing villages of the East Fjords. Soon we’ll see Vatnajökull, Europe’s biggest glacier, which dominates Southeast Iceland. We will experience the glacier on a boat trip among the floating icebergs in the glacial lagoon. For the next two nights, we will stay in the Vatnajökull National Park region.

The whole day is spent walking or relaxing at Skaftafell.

Our return to Reykjavík goes through the fertile meadows and sandy desert of the south coast, overlooked by mountainous cliffs and glaciers. There are several beautiful waterfalls on the way and we may spot puffins and even some seals. There’s a short visit to the folk museum at Skógar with its turf houses, before arriving back at the capital.

Services end after breakfast.

Notes