Iceland: Reykjavík, Akureyri & Ísafjörður by Yacht

Your vacation is about to begin! Spend your first night aloft and arrive ready for an unforgettable trip.

A VBT representative will greet you at the airport to start your adventure off right. A complimentary car service will whisk you to your centrally located hotel. From here, you are perfectly positioned to explore this charming city at your leisure.

Glymur Waterfall; 2.5 miles, moderate

Breakfast is included at your hotel. After, meet your guides at 9:00 a.m. in the lobby. They’ll be wearing Country Walkers shirts. Please be dressed for hiking.

You travel approximately 60 minutes north of Reykjavík to begin your hike to Glymur Waterfall, Iceland’s second-highest. Your magnificent path leads through the stunning Hvalfjörður fjord in the heart of Iceland’s wilderness, traversing lush valleys, shallow rivers, and scenic viewpoints. It’s a breathtaking preview of Iceland’s raw beauty, a thrilling trek that takes you over a log bridge spanning a crystalline river, through a mystical cave, and up rugged trails. Your reward waits at the spectacular waterfall, plummeting into its basin some 650 feet.

After, you retreat to the area’s beloved Hvammsvík nature baths and hot springs, where you can relax and unwind and savor a local soup for lunch at their bistro.

This afternoon, embark your Windstar yacht, a small all-suite ship and your home base throughout your adventure. Settle in, explore the ship, and join your fellow walkers for a private welcome reception and dinner at the elegant restaurant. You set sail tonight.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After an included breakfast, make sure your luggage is packed and ready to be transported to the barge. At 9:30 a.m., meet one of your VBT trip leaders in the hotel lobby for a walk to the barge, passing some of the city’s highlights and taking some free time for lunch on your own. You will board the barge at 1:45 p.m. and depart at 2:00 p.m. At the docks, meet the barge crew and your second VBT trip leader, who will welcome you aboard with refreshments. Cruise out of Amsterdam on the IJ waterway, catching glimpses of houseboats and floating houses.

You will dock before dinner for our warm-up ride, which follows the river Vecht. This evening, gather with the group for a welcome dinner on board. You moor overnight in Vianen, a small city on the river Lek.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Cruise out of Antwerp, then cycle along the Scheldt River to the village of Basel, and admire its picturesque church square, Wissekerke Castle, and the oldest suspension bridge in Belgium. The afternoon yields magnificent river views as you cycle to the ancient city of Dendermonde, where a Belgian beer tasting awaits.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Crisscross the river, spin through quaint villages and scenic agricultural lands, and enjoy a few pedal strokes on a river dike this morning. In Ghent, a guided boat tour sets the framework for your independent exploration.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Cycle as much or as little as you wish today as you ride to Bruges, perhaps Europe’s best-preserved medieval city.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Your bike tour concludes.

Included Meals: Breakfast

Disembark your yacht after breakfast. You have the remainder of the day to explore the city and discover traditional fare for lunch and dinner on your own. Post-trip extension guests will proceed to the Keflavík International Airport to begin your journey to the Faroe Islands.

Included Meals: Breakfast

After an included breakfast* this morning, complimentary transportation is provided to the Keflavík International Airport in time for your departure flight**. (The departure time will be communicated to you on tour by your Country Walkers guides.)

*For guests with early-morning departures, breakfast at the hotel may not be available. Please check with the front desk to verify the times that breakfast is served.

**Country Walkers transportation times and departure points are finalized in advance and cannot be modified for individual guests. If you extend your stay beyond the scheduled program dates, return transportation to the airport will be at your own expense.

Included Meals: Breakfast

Glymur Waterfall; 2.5 miles, moderate

You are responsible for making your own way to the Radisson Blu 1919 Hotel, Reykjavík. Meet your guides at 9:00 a.m. in the lobby. They’ll be wearing Country Walkers shirts. Please be dressed for hiking.

You travel approximately 60 minutes north of Reykjavík to begin your hike to Glymur Waterfall, Iceland’s second-highest. Your magnificent path leads through the stunning Hvalfjörður fjord in the heart of Iceland’s wilderness, traversing lush valleys, shallow rivers, and scenic viewpoints. It’s a breathtaking preview of Iceland’s raw beauty, a thrilling trek that takes you over a log bridge spanning a crystalline river, through a mystical cave, and up rugged trails. Your reward waits at the spectacular waterfall, plummeting into its basin some 650 feet.

After, you retreat to the area’s beloved Hvammsvík nature baths and hot springs, where you can relax and unwind and savor a local soup for lunch at their bistro.

This afternoon, embark your Windstar yacht, a small all-suite ship and your home base throughout your adventure. Settle in, explore the ship, and join your fellow walkers for a private welcome reception and dinner at the elegant restaurant. You set sail tonight.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

REVIEWER: Please confirm Cliff walk and slopes of Helgafell; 3.5-5 miles, moderate

Late this morning, your ship arrives at Heimaey, the largest of the Westman (Vestmannaeyjar? Do you want to use this local name?) Islands, just off the southwestern coast of the mainland.  The cliffs and grassy fields atop its promontory provide nesting grounds for more than a dozen bird species, including kittiwakes, snipe, guillemots, the great skua, various gulls, and graceful Arctic terns. But its most popular resident is only here part-time. During some summer months, millions of ungainly puffins call this home and fish off its shores. Set out on a walk up the slopes of Helgafell, the volcanic cone that formed this stunningly scenic island some 5,000 years ago.

Return to the ship for lunch – or sample one of the local restaurants at your expense. Then explore the starkly beautiful island of Heimaey on your own. Visit the beluga whales at the Sea Life Trust, the Eldheimar Volcanic Museum, the historic Stafkirkjan stave church, or the interactive Sagnheimar Folk Museum. Or sample the local beer during a tour of the Brothers Brewery.

Conditions permitting, your guide may also offer an optional guided hike to the island’s other volcano, Eldafell.

Please note: Landings at Heimaey island are weather-dependent. If it’s not possible to visit Heimaey Island due to weather and sea conditions, an alternative plan will be arranged and communicated to you while on board. This may involve spending more time in Reykjavík, at sea, or arriving at Seyðisfjörður earlier.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

REVIEWER: Please confirm Seyðisfjörður town walk; 1 mile, easy

You spend most of today sailing along the coast. Join your guides for lunch on board, where you’ll gain some insight into local Icelandic culture. You reach your destination of Seyðisfjörður by late afternoon. Iceland’s most picturesque coastal town, Seyðisfjörður is nestled in an 11-mile-long, calm, deep fjord, lined with snowcapped mountains and tumbling waterfalls. The modern Icelandic poet Matthías Johannessen called the town a “pearl enclosed in a shell.”

The town’s streets are lined with colorful wood kit homes, Iceland’s best-preserved wooden buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Remarkably, many of them were imported here from Norway by wealthy merchants and whalers. With a thriving arts scene, Seyðisfjörður serves as the port to mainland Europe. The Smyril Line car ferry sails weekly to Norway, the Shetland and Faroe Islands, and Denmark.

Enjoy an easy walk through town, passing the kit homes as you make your way to the Blue Church, named for its mesmerizing glacier-blue hue. The church was moved or rebuilt several times before finding its home here in 1922. Follow the vibrantly colored Rainbow Street to its door, then step inside for a performance by local musicians and storytellers.

After dinner on board or in town on your own, take a late-evening stroll to the vibrant Skaftfell Cultural Center and Café, a grand old house and art gallery where artists and musicians gather. With the late-setting sun, you may decide to also venture to the local pub, Kaffi Lára, known for its El Grillo beer, named for a British tanker sunk in Seyðisfjörður by German bombers in 1944. Alternately, walk 15 minutes to the Tvísöngur Sound Sculpture, an outdoor piece by German artist Lukas Kühne. This fascinating work comprises five interconnected igloo-like domes of various sizes, each one transforming your voice into one of the five tones of traditional Icelandic music.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

REVIEWER: Please confirm Nature reserve hiking; 3-4 miles, easy to moderate

After breakfast on board, head out with your guides for a day of spectacular hiking amidst the rugged beauty of East Iceland. The pathways that traverse Seyðisfjörður’s protected nature preserves lead you into an untamed wilderness of hulking rock formations, soaring peaks, peaceful meadows, and tumbling waterfalls. Every step leads you to magnificent vistas, abundant birdlife, and clean air wafting up from rushing streams and down from rock-strewn slopes. During this memorable walk, you might spot Arctic tern, black-tailed godwit, golden plover, and eider duck taking wing or wading in the waters.

At hike’s end, return to the yacht for a well-earned lunch. Enjoy the ship’s amenities this afternoon, perhaps relaxing in the sauna or hot tub. Gather with your fellow travelers for dinner this evening.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

REVIEWER: Please confirm Goðafoss; 1 mile, easy. Grjótagjá to Hverfjall Crater to Dimmuborgir; 2.5-4 miles, easy to moderate with difficult sections

From your next port in Akureyri, travel east to serene Lake Mývatn in the geologically active Krafla region. Among its volcanic craters, lava fields, and bubbling mudflats, you’ll find Europe’s largest migratory-bird sanctuary, where many species of waterfowl feed on the insects and algae of the lake’s warm, shallow waters.

En route you’ll stop at Goðafoss, the “waterfall of the Gods.” This cascade was named for the lawspeaker Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði, who made Christianity the official religion of Iceland. So devoted was Þorgeir that after his religious conversion, he threw his statues of Norse gods into the waterfall. After a short walk around the falls, continue to the Storagja and Grjotaga fault fissures, both used for bathing in earlier times.

From Grjotaga, proceed through sandy plains and lava formations up the northern side of Hverfjall, a classic tuff ring volcano. This near symmetrical crater appeared 2,500 years ago in a cataclysmic eruption. Rising to 1,520 feet and stretching 3,400 feet across, it is a massive and awe-inspiring landmark in Mývatn.

Our trail circles along the western edge of the crater, from where stunning views of the crater open up. Avid walkers can join an optional hike (with difficult sections) down the southern side of the crater into the giant lava field at Dimmuborgir (literally “Dark Castles”). Its strange lava pillars were created about 2,000 years ago when lava flowed across older lava fields and was dammed into a fiery lake. The surface of the lake cooled but when the dam broke the remaining lava flowed onwards and left behind the cooled pillars. Alternately, you may catch a shuttle down to Dimmuborgir and stroll among its curious formations.

Today’s lunch includes a taste of the Mývatn specialty – hot spring bread baked in the geothermal heat of a local underground bakery. After, return to Akureyri, the “Capital of the North,” where you’ll have time to explore. With the long daylight hours, you might stroll through the Akureyri Botanical Garden or visit one of the many art galleries in town. Or, visit the Forest Lagoon, a serene thermal spa in the nearby Vaðlaskógur forest. Your guides can help arrange a visit at your own expense.

Dinner tonight is on board.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

REVIEWER: Please confirm Ísafjörður town walk; 1 mile, easy

After a morning of scenic sailing, arrive in Ísafjörður, set at the foot of the stunning flat mountain range known to locals as the Troll’s Throne. Nestled in the deep bowl of its namesake fjord, this charming town was founded by the Norse in the 9th century and is the largest settlement on the Westfjords Peninsula. Like so much of Iceland, it was built on the fishing industry, to which the Westfjords Heritage Museum pays tribute.

Join your guides for an informative and relaxed walk through town. Its oldest district has the unique position of occupying a spit of sand that stretches into the fjord’s waters. Or head out for a moderate hike into the mountains, which offer sweeping views of the town and the blue waters that reach toward it like an apron from the sea.

You might choose instead to use your included shipboard credit to join an enlightening excursion. Perhaps explore the fjord by kayak. Take an ATV for a thrilling ride along the fjord’s edge. Or take an inflatable RIB craft out to sea for some spectacular whale-watching. Alternately, follow your own whim, setting out on your own to a nearby Icelandic horse farm. The small yet sure-footed breed was brought to the island by Norse settlers more than a millennium ago and is prized for its petite size, thick coat, flowing mane, and unique gait. You’ll learn about its other rare equine qualities and have the chance to hop in a saddle for a ride.

This evening, walk into town with your guides for a special dinner of the freshest fish you’ll ever taste.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

REVIEWER: Please confirm Saxhólar; 2 miles, easy-moderate. Arnarstapi to Hellnar; 1.5 miles, easy

After a delicious breakfast on board, you set out from your port of Grundarfjordur for a full day’s exploration of the unspoiled Snæfellsnes Peninsula. This is home to Snaefellsjokullm, the mountain that Jules Verne conjured in Journey to the Center of the Earth. But you’ll begin your day on the westernmost tip of the peninsula, ascending well-worn pathways and steps up to the Saxhól Crater. Your short walk is rewarded with magnificent views of the Atlantic Ocean and dramatic lava fields.

Then, continue to Arnarstapi to see up close where flowing, fiery lava once met the sea, forming the Hellnahraun field and unusual coastal rock formations. After a breathtaking coastal walk amid the region’s cherished nature preserve, you pause for lunch at a delightful family-owned café with incredible cliffside views. Fish soup, homemade waffles, and skyr cake are just a few traditional dishes on the menu.

Later, join a hike to the spectacular Kirkjufell waterfall. These tranquil cascades are among Iceland’s most famous, largely because of their setting under the watchful eye of Kirkjufell mountain. This conical peak is Iceland’s most visually distinctive. Its striations mark the time it took for a massive glacier to recede from here.

This evening, gather on board for a memorable farewell dinner, making a heartfelt toast to the surprises of Iceland.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Your tour concludes after breakfast on board. Please note: The ship staff will be happy to assist you in booking a taxi to the airport, at your own expense, for your onward travels. Country Walkers recommends flights that depart no earlier than [TIME].

Included Meals: Breakfast