Iceland Cruise: Itinerary, Tips, and Highlights
Thinking of a trip to the land of fire and ice? I recently went on a mother-daughter cruise around Iceland with Windstar Cruises and absolutely loved it! Here’s a look at our itinerary with tips and highlights from this amazing 7-day Iceland cruise.
Why Cruise Around Iceland?
I visited Reykjavik last year and fell in love with the natural beauty of Iceland. After my daughter, Mia, enjoyed our Ireland road trip, I knew it was the perfect spot for our next trip. Windstar Cruises is a small ship cruise line and one of the few that cruises around Iceland, not just to one or two ports as part of a European cruise.
Since I had been to Iceland before, I knew that food costs were fairly high and finding restaurants in some of the smaller towns can be difficult. Cruising is the perfect way to see Iceland without needing to plan for meals each day as well.
Many people choose to drive around Iceland, but I knew cruising would allow us to settle into one “room” for the length of our trip and be able to explore various towns around the whole island without needing to pack up and change hotels each day.
Our Iceland Cruise Ports
Before our Cruise: Reykjavik
We were booked on a 7 day Iceland cruise with Windstar Cruises, and I decided to fly in a couple of days early to show Mia some of my favorite spots around Reykjavik. Also, arriving a day or two before your trip is one of my top cruise tips in case of flight delays! Since we were coming from the west coast, arriving early also gave us a headstart on adjusting to the time change.
Our early arrival let us visit the Blue Lagoon and Sky Lagoon, take a Golden Circle tour with Hidden Iceland, and visited popular attractions in Reykjavik before boarding the Windstar Star Pride. We actually visited the Blue Lagoon on arrival after our flight. We took a taxi to the Lagoon from the airport then took the bus from Blue Lagoon into Reykjavik.
In Reykjavik, we booked 2 nights at the Exeter Hotel and I thought it was a great location. Easy to walk to most of the popular sites and lots of restaurants nearby. They also had luggage storage in the lobby wi
Day 1: Boarding Star Pride Iceland Windstar Cruise
The Windstar cruise experience started showing itself immediately when we boarded the ship. We were personally greeted at the gangway by one of the ship officers and he offered to take a photo of us with my phone. He genuinely looked happy to see us and welcome us on board.
We then made our way to check in at one of the small public places, and again, all of the employees were smiling and welcoming and seemed excited to have us onboard.
The check in went smoothly, and we were immediately able to go to our room – which was massive since all the cabins are suites on the Star Pride. We boarded fairly early in the afternoon and were one of the first guests on the boat. After dropping off our bags in our room, we headed to the buffet restaurant for lunch.
We took the first day to wander the ship and get accustomed to where all the public spaces were. While at lunch, we made reservations to eat at a couple of the specialty restaurants. You can choose to eat at any of the restaurants whenever you want – they’re all included in your package price.
Day 2: Heimaey Island
Our first stop was at this volcanic island found on the south coast of Iceland. It’s the place to book any whale or puffin excursions. Heimaey Island is home to the largest colony of Atlantic puffins. You can also take tours up to the top of the Eldfell volcano; which offers an amazing view of the whole island.
We didn’t book an excursion for this stop since we figured we might want to sleep in and enjoy the ship. The weather was actually pretty rainy and we walked around the town for a bit but soon went back to the ship. It cleared up later in the day so I was able to snap the photo above of the volcanos. This is a very quiet town, so it’s a good one for booking excursions. And as I said, this will be your best shot to see whales or puffins unless you book at tour in Reykjavik.
Day 3: Seydisfjordur (overnight)
Absolutely our favorite stop from the trip! This town is at the end of the 11-mile long Seydisfjord., and is the spot for waterfalls. Our Windstar Cruise actually overnighted in this port, so we had the opportunity to do two excursions.
Windstar organizes a free activity for guests in this port. One half go the evening of arrival and the other go the next day. The activity is a concert in the Blue Church led by a local duet who sing songs and tell Icelandic stories.
After our concert, we wandered around town which was pretty sleepy and closed up for the evening but was very cute. There is a waterfall (Budareyrarfoss) near town that is a fairly easy hike from town, although it’s nothing like the waterfalls you can see on a tour.
Day 4: Seydisfjordur
Our second day in this port was our “Chasing Waterfalls” shore excursion. We traveled via bus a little ways outside of town and were dropped off with a guide to begin a hike along Vestdalur Valley which is a protected nature reserve with multiple waterfalls. This was truly an epic Iceland experience, made even better with blue skies and a great guide.
We visited at the very end of July and likely just missed the gorgeous wildflowers blooming in the valley. If you’re visiting in June or early July, you’d likely catch them. I will say you need to be somewhat active and able to walk distances for this excursion. I didn’t map our hike but would guess it was about 2 miles.
Day 5: Akureyri
We crossed the Arctic Circle to make our way to our next port, Akureyri on the north coast of Iceland. This town lies at the end of the longest fjord in Iceland! We booked a cruise excursion to the Myvatn Nature Baths & Godafoss Waterfall. This was one that we regretted in some ways, as we felt stuck on a big motorcoach.
Godafoss Waterfall was great and you can really walk close to the water level (assuming you don’t have mobility issues). However, if you have seen waterfalls already like we did on our Golden Circle tour and our Chasing Waterfalls tour, this one is just another waterfall. If you’re comfortable with public transportation, there is a public bus that picks up in town and goes to the waterfall. It’ll take about 40 minutes.
Our tour also went to the popular Myvatn Nature Baths, which is a hot springs located in a really cool volcanic area of Iceland. It is a ways out of town, hence our feeling stuck on the motorcoach. We also had already visited the Blue Lagoon, Sky Lagoon, and Secret Lagoon so we had definitely experienced the Icelandic hot springs already.
After our tour while walking through town, we saw an advertisement for Forest Lagoon, which is only 5 minutes away from the town of Akureyri. The price for Forest Lagoon seems higher, so that’s something to keep in mind. But it seems the environment is quite different from Myvatn. It’s like comparing the Blue Lagoon to Sky Lagoon I’m guessing.
Overall, perhaps skip spending on a tour here and instead use a public bus to get to Godafoss if you want waterfalls. Or grab a taxi to Forest Lagoon if you’re craving a hot springs experience. Akureyri is also popular for whale watching, a botanical gardens, and shopping in town. Or if you don’t mind motorcoach tours, and want to do both, book an excursion. :)
Day 6: Isafjordur
This was a fun stop where we didn’t book an excursion and decided to do a hike to the famous Naustahvilft or “Troll Seat/Troll’s Throne”. Mia and I are both active people and so we decide to walk to the hiking spot, which happened to be a 6 km walk around the entire inlet.
While it was flat and a nice walk around the fjord, we did come to an area of nesting arctic terns who dive bombed us and were not happy we were walking on the path that ran by their nesting grounds. I was so stressed about the experience that I decided to get a taxi for the return trip!
Many people choose to rent bikes in town and bike to the spot, but I would recommend a taxi. We ordered one to pick us up in 1.5 hrs from when we started the hike and that was just right. We took time exploring the upper area of the Troll Seat which was actually quite large.
The view from the Troll Seat is gorgeous and offers a great view of the town and we saw our Windstar cruise ship! I would consider it a moderate hike with some steep dirt paths. It’s considered a goat’s path, not a true hiking path. A pair of hiking poles would have been handy but we didn’t pack any. Good traction hiking shoes are a must — it’s steep!
Day 7: Grundarfjordur
We ended our cruise in the region of Grundarfjordur which is near the Snaefellsjokull National Park. While the day was rainy off and on, it was still a beautiful end to our tour around Iceland. Our cruise excursion was a bus trip, but it had multiple stops with free time to explore on our own at each stop, which made it a nice tour and didn’t feel like we were stuck on a massive coach all the time.
We booked the “Wonders of the West” excursion and our first stop was at the famous and recognizable Kirkjufell. Which is a 463 m high layered hill on near the town of Grundarfjörður. It is claimed to be the most photographed mountain in the country. Our day was overcast so we didn’t get to see the hill in all it’s glory.
Next we headed to the small town of Budir where the famous black church is located. We had some time there to peek inside the church and explore the area on foot before heading back on the bus. There’s a nice golden beach and moss covered rocks down from the black church if you have time to wander (see the photo above).
Our next stop was at the town of Arnarstapi, which had a unique rock art troll and beautiful rugged cliffs similar to the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. There were even some cool rock arches.
Last stop on this tour for us was at the black lava and pebble beach of Djupalonssandur, where there were crashing waves and some really cool lava formations. There are a few hiking paths around this area if you have extra time and the weather is nice.
Day 8: Reykjavik & Fly Home
The final day of our cruise was a return to Reykjavik. We had a flight later in the afternoon so we spent the morning grabbing a coffee and doing a little souvenir shopping. We stored our luggage at our hotel where we stayed before our cruise. Then we booked a FlyBus pickup to the airport and headed home.
Many people will choose to add on a stop at Blue Lagoon before their flight as Blue Lagoon is closer to Keflavik Airport than Reykjavik. However, I personally think that’s better to do on arrival. But, if you’re comfortable packing toiletries and swimsuits for a stop before your flight, you can shower at the Blue Lagoon and get transportation to the airport from there.
Extra Tips to Know
- Windstar Cruises is a small ship luxury yacht cruise line. This means that when you have rough seas, like in the Arctic Circle, you will feel a lot of motion. If you have motion sickness or worry you might, you’ll likely want to get a prescription for a scopolamine patch. Mia and I both use dramamine on cruises, but this time she needed a prescription patch to deal with the rough waters.
- Prepare for all types of weather. Even with us visiting the last week of July, we still had chilly days and days of rain. Pack layers and bring a good rain jacket and hiking boots or shoes. A few of our favorite summer travel essentials for this trip were:
- Helly Hansen Midlayer Rain Jacket (I wore this with long sleeve tees and it was great for summer rainy days)
- Columbia Fleece + Waterproof Shell Jacket (whereas I had one jacket for the trip, Mia preferred to do a fleece and only wear a rain jacket when needed for our trip)
- Forsake Patch Hiking Boots (love these because they’re waterproof and comfortable without being bulky)
- Fleece-lined Flare Leggings (these were amazing for the trip and worked well for excursions plus the casual dinner nights on board)
- If you’re planning to visit hot springs, you might need to bring your own towel (pack a thin turkish towel) or prepare to rent them for around $4 per person. Also, make sure to pack a waterproof phone pouch lanyard to get photos while in the springs!
- The service and personal attention given by the crew on the Star Pride was perhaps the best cruise experience we’ve ever had. If you’re looking for an easy way to explore parts of Iceland, this cruise would be an excellent way.
That’s it! Do you have any questions about our trip?
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