Cruises from Reykjavík

Reykjavík is a small, colorful capital with a big role in Arctic cruising. The classic voyage is a 7- to 10-night circumnavigation of Iceland, calling at fishing towns and fjords such as Grundarfjörður, Ísafjörður, Akureyri and Seyðisfjörður, sometimes with the Westman Islands. Expedition ships sail from here to the fjords and ice of East and West Greenland, to Jan Mayen and Svalbard, and on ‘Viking route’ voyages toward Canada. Some longer cruises link Reykjavík with Norway, the Faroe Islands and the British Isles.

For travelers from the US and Canada, Iceland is unusually easy: flights from the East Coast take around five to six hours, often overnight, and many West Coast and Midwest cities also have nonstop service. Pre-cruise days here are rewarding, with geysers, waterfalls, rift valleys and geothermal lagoons all within a short drive of the capital.

Iceland isn’t a sun-and-sand trip. Summer temperatures are usually in the 50s°F (10–15°C), wind and rain are frequent, and everything from hotels to soup is expensive. If you love dramatic landscapes, wildlife and long, light-filled evenings, those are small prices to pay.

Faxaflói Ports manages the city’s cruise berths. Skarfabakki, in the Sundahöfn harbor east of downtown, handles the larger ships; it has a terminal building and is a 10-minute taxi ride or a shuttle-bus ride from the center. Smaller ships and many expedition vessels berth at the Old Harbour (Gamla höfnin), right downtown near the Harpa concert hall, within easy walking distance of hotels. Embarkation is usually in the afternoon. Expedition lines often gather passengers at a hotel for check-in and luggage handling and then transfer everyone to the ship, so read your line’s instructions carefully.

Downtown Reykjavík (postcode 101) is the natural choice: the Laugavegur shopping street, Hallgrímskirkja church, the Old Harbour and most restaurants are all walkable, and it’s a short taxi ride to Skarfabakki. Hotels near the Old Harbour suit small-ship and expedition passengers who can walk to the ship. If you land in the early morning, a stop at the Blue Lagoon, between the airport and the city, is a popular way to recover before checking in.

Cruises sail from late May to early September. June and July bring the midnight sun, with no real darkness at night, the greenest landscapes and puffins nesting on coastal cliffs. August is still mild and offers the best Greenland ice and fjord access for expedition ships. September departures are cooler and quieter, with a chance of seeing the northern lights as nights darken. Outside summer, cruise departures are rare.