Description
Summary
Description
Visit Heimaey Island in the Westman Islands on this private day tour from Reykjavik, with a boat tour around the island, a puffin colony, a hike up Eldfell Volcano, and stops at Eldheimar Museum, the Stave Church, and a reconstructed Viking settlement. The tour suits travelers interested in nature, wildlife, and history.
As a private tour, you travel at your own pace with your own guide, without having to arrange transportation or ferry tickets yourself.
Your guide picks you up from your accommodation in Reykjavik in a private, air-conditioned vehicle and drives you along the South Coast to the ferry terminal. From there, you take the ferry to Heimaey, the only inhabited island in the Westman Islands.
Your first stop is a boat tour around the island, past volcanic cliffs, sea caves, and coastlines full of birds. Keep an eye out for puffins, whales, and sea stacks.
Back on land, you visit the largest puffin colony in the world, where thousands of puffins nest in summer.
Next, your guide takes you to Eldheimar Museum, which tells the story of the 1973 eruption that reshaped the island. Here, you walk through excavated homes that were buried in ash.
Then you hike up Eldfell Volcano, a short hike over lava fields to the top of the still-warm volcano. From the top, you have views over the island and the Atlantic Ocean.
If you like, you can add a visit to the Beluga Whale Sanctuary and Puffin Rescue Center, where you meet rescued beluga whales and learn about efforts to protect puffins and marine wildlife. This visit can be booked on request.
You then have time to explore the town on Heimaey Island, with its shops and harbor. You also visit the Stave Church, a wooden replica of a traditional Viking-era church, given to Iceland by Norway.
The final stop is Herjolfstown in Herjolfsdalur Valley, a reconstructed Viking settlement surrounded by green cliffs that shows how early Icelanders lived. Then you take the ferry back to the mainland, and your guide drives you to your accommodation in Reykjavik.
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