Akureyri: Lake Mývatn & Goðafoss Waterfall Shore Excursion

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Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/8

Duration6h

GroupUp to 50

LanguagesEN · DE +2

Mobile ticketAccepted

Waterfalls, Lava Fields & Boiling Mud: A Half-Day North Iceland Loop

You board a coach at Akureyri port and spend the day moving between four distinct natural sites: a 12-meter waterfall, a crater-lined lake viewpoint, a 2,300-year-old lava field, and steaming geothermal mud pools. Coffee and an Icelandic treat are served partway through. The coach returns you to the port with a full hour to spare before your ship leaves.

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore Lake Mývatn and Goðafoss

Board coach at Akureyri port
Drive through Icelandic countryside
Visit Goðafoss Waterfall
See crater row at Skútustaðir
Explore Dimmuborgir lava fields
Visit boiling mud pools at Hverir
Return to Akureyri port

The Experience

The coach pulls away from Akureyri port and within minutes the landscape shifts—snow-capped mountains rise against a pale sky, and the road narrows into terrain that feels older than roads. You're heading toward Lake Mývatn, a geothermal hotspot in North Iceland where the earth itself seems to be breathing. The drive takes you through the kind of countryside that makes you understand why Iceland feels like another planet: raw, sparse, and somehow both empty and full at once.

The first real stop is Goðafoss, a waterfall that drops about 12 meters into a gorge carved by the Skjálfandafljót glacier river. It's not the tallest waterfall you'll see, but the way it falls—wide and deliberate—makes you stand there longer than you expect. After that comes the crater row at Skútustaðir, where you get a proper view over the lake itself and can step into the information center if you want context for what you're seeing. Then you move into Dimmuborgir, a lava field that formed roughly 2,300 years ago when magma cooled in strange, jagged shapes. The rocks really do look like frozen figures—Icelandic folklore calls them trolls, and once you're walking through them, you get why the story stuck around.

Hverir is the part that stays with you. The mud pools steam and bubble in shades of yellow and green, and the air smells sulfurous in a way that's both unsettling and fascinating. You walk among fumaroles that hiss and release heat from deep underground—it's the kind of place that makes you feel small and aware of how much geology is still happening beneath your feet. The coach includes a cup of coffee or tea and an Icelandic treat at Hotel Goðafoss, which lands somewhere in the middle of the day and gives you a moment to sit and absorb what you've seen.

The return drive to Akureyri takes about an hour, and the coach is timed to get you back at least 60 minutes before your ship departs, so there's no scramble at the end. WiFi is on board if you want to download photos or message people, and all fees and taxes are already included in the price—nothing surprises you at checkout.

What’s included

Coach transport from Akureyri port with stops at Goðafoss waterfall, Skútustaðir crater viewpoint, Dimmuborgir lava fields, and Hverir geothermal mud pools.
Coffee or tea and an Icelandic treat at Hotel Goðafoss.
WiFi on board.
All entry fees and taxes.
Return to port at least 1 hour before ship departure.

Good to know

Easy physical levelPublic transport nearby

Operated by Saga Travel

Is this one for you?Built for cruise passengers docked at Akureyri who want to see North Iceland's main geothermal and volcanic sites without arranging their own transport or timing—the coach handles the route and guarantees you're back before the ship leaves.