Húsavík Whale Watching Tour: Experience Majestic Whales and Puffins on a RIB Boat

Embark on a thrilling 2-hour whale watching tour in Húsavík, Iceland’s Whale Capital. Hop on a RIB boat, spot majestic whales and adorable puffins, and enjoy a small group experience for the best views!

Duration: 2 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Husavik Adventures - Get your warm clothes and get ready for a real adventure!

The tour begins with a sail to the beautiful Skjálfandi Bay. There are many whale species that are known to be accommodated in the area. For example, the Humpback whale, the Minke whale, White-beaked dolphins, porpoises… More than 10 different species visit Skjálfandi every year!

The speedy RIB boats make it more likely to have a close encounter with the giants, being able to drive huge amounts of miles in the trip. Also, with only 12 passengers or fewer on board, the competition for the best view on board is certainly eliminated.

Among the places, we will visit Lundey (Puffin Island)*, known for its great amount of the popular bird. Passengers will also see the Tjörnes peninsula, known for its fossil layers with the most ancient one being two million years old!

An expert whale-watching guide, a captain on board, a warm water-resistant overall suit, and a life vest are included in this trip. Bring your hat and gloves with you – the bay can be pretty cold!

So, when are you joining us?

*Puffin season is ca. 15th of April-20th August. Outside that time of the year, our tours are Big Whales exclusive!

What's Included
  • All taxes, fees and handling charges
  • Driver/guide
  • Live commentary on board
  • Local taxes
  • Warm overall, life jacket and raincoat (if needed)
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
  • Transportation to/from attractions
  • Gloves & hats
Additional Information

Experience a 2-hour whale observation journey on a fast RIB boat departing from Húsavík, Iceland’s Whale Capital.

Each RIB boat can accommodate a maximum of 12 guests and is led by a knowledgeable whale observation guide and captain. All attendees are provided with a warm jumpsuit, a life vest, and a rain jacket (if required).

By concentrating on small group tours, we ensure all participants have unobstructed sightlines, without the need to compete for the prime viewing space.

  • Children must be accompanied by an adult
  • Minimum age onboard is 8 years old, or 130 centimeters in height
Location
Husavik Adventures
Garðarsbraut
The tour begins by meeting at the Húsavík Adventures's ticket office 30 minutes before departure. Please note that we share the office building with our parent company North Sailing. You can easily find the office on the opposite side of the road from the famous church of Húsavík
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.9
(370 Ratings)
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Joekane80
Aug 18, 2024
Excellent adventure, Húsavík is beautiful - Austin was an excellent and knowledgeable guide, and Sophie was an amazing captain/driver. They were able to get us to see 3 different whales and about 6 or 7 different viewings of their dives. Unfortunately the puffins had started their migration early so we missed them but the trip was still more than worth it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Navigator20144013797
Aug 17, 2024
Amazing experience. - Fantastic experience. It is the small differences that make the quality of an excursion and in this case the difference was made by the whale that started playing (flapping), but even more so by the guide Zaynab and the pilot Robbie, who allowed me and my daughter to attend this show. Thanks to all of you and good luck to Zaynab.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lynne_e
Aug 17, 2024
Exciting ride!! - Super fun adventure in the North Sea!! We saw several whales and puffins!! Our captain and guide were outstanding and very informative!!
Review provided by Viator
Alexis_z
Aug 17, 2024
Magical - Such a fantastic and memorable time with my Dad! Took him for his 75th birthday to Iceland, and this was the highlight of our trip! Our guide and captain were wonderful, informative, welcoming, and very good at finding whales. We spent the entire 2 hours seeing this whale multiple times! We had an absolutely magical experience.
Review provided by Viator
L5736qqterrim
Aug 16, 2024
Traveling Texans - Our Spanish guide Inuky? did an awesome job. He was determined to find humpback whales for us to see and he was successful! He was also very enthusiastic and knowledgeable! The Spanish captain also did a great job in keeping us safe.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Virginia_g
Aug 16, 2024
Worth it on a small boat! - We had a wonderful tour on our trip in August! The scenery along the coast is beautiful. We were nearly finished with the tour and had not seen any whales, but then we ended up encountering 3-4 different humpback whales, one of which did about 15 min of tail slapping. Totally worth it! We were glad we were on the small, nimble zodiac rather than standing up crammed with tons of people on an enormous whale boat.
Review provided by Viator
Daytrip31348651393
Aug 14, 2024
Husavik and whales, prime location. - It was a fantastic experience, whale watching with a rib boat, you also have to be a bit lucky to actually see them, how lucky we were! And as a present I also saw a group of dolphins. Well organized and a super enthusiastic Guide. It was a real highlight.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Emma_n
Aug 13, 2024
Definitely worth it vs the larger tourist boats - Alex was awesome, extremely informative and answered all of our questions, we got to see so much out there. If you are going on a rainy day wear layers. they give you a warm suit and rain jacket to go over but i had 4 layers on underneath those and was still cold. it’s the wind and rain coming at you at the same time that makes it way colder than you are on shore. Sit in the front if you like the jumps of the boat. So much fun would definitely recommend this over the overcrowded tourist boats
Review provided by Viator
Muppetlogic
Aug 11, 2024
WOW!!! Great Adventure and staff. Well worth the money - What a GREAT ride this was! I loved how they underpromised and over delivered, letting us know that the whales had not been cooperating the past few days and that while they couldn’t promise us a viewing, they could promise that they would do their very best to get us to see some marine life! Inyaki (spelling?) from Spain was our guide and he was incredible! So passionate about the marine life he was educating us on, and the enthusiasm was infectious. We didn’t get to see a while, but WOW, we had an equally exciting encounter with a super pod of white beaked dolphins. We had already been out a long time and were just going to need to head back towards home when Inyaki spotted two dolphins that he thought might be scout males for a family pod. He instructed the rib captain to take us out towards their path and the next thing we knew we were surrounded by dozens and dozens of dolphins, they were EVERYWHERE!!! It was exhilarating and all onboard were really moved by the experience. My 11 year old daughter also got a chance to take the wheel of the boat which was a highlight for her. We then went to Puffin Island where we learned about the puffin colony, their vulnerable status, mating habits etc and had the fun of seeing these adorable birds in their natural habitat - air, cliffs and water. The Care and attention, genuine passion and the way this tour group really cared about giving us a great experience was wonderful. So while we have to give them grace when they can’t find whales or other marine life, we can surely be impressed by this company and their efforts to do their very best. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR A MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE FOR OUR FAMILY!!!! (Note: while the puffins were really cool to see on this trip, a different vantage point from the water… - if you want to see puffins up close I STRONGLY encourage you to also make the trip to Hafnarholmi, to the Borgarfjordur eystri where you can walk amongst the puffins in their natural habitat, see them nesting in their Burroughs and interacting with each other. You are just feet away from them as they continue on about their business in this incredible experience. This is not a zoo, they are wild and acclimated to having folks gawking from the nearby stairs, it’s also free. Thank you Inyaki for recommending we make the drive to this adventure as well!!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jchtetobin
Aug 12, 2024
Whale Activity a "10", puffins only a "3" - Great tour that saw a cooperative whale and some dolphins. Got some pretty good video and pictures of the whale and dolphins given the type of boat they use. Captain did a good job of keeping up with the whale. Where the tour fell down was were promised puffins, but the captain did not get close enough to the island they were nesting or groups of them in the water. Therefore, the puffins were a bust.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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September 2024
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