The Best of Heimaey

Boat tour and great bus excursion

Experience the Westman Islands from land and sea. This tour is a sightseeing tour on Heimaey where we drive between places and end up in a boat tour around the island
Available:
April - Nov
Length:
4 hours
Group Size:
Minimum 8 pers.

The best bus tour in Westman Islands followed up with a boat tour

This tour is a perfect double sightseeing. If you want to explore Heimaey as best you can, this is the tour for you. The magnificent landscape of the islands is well known and getting to know it both by land and sea is simply the best.

The touch with the nature in this tour is unique, driving and walking to the most popular and beautiful places and ending the tour seeing many of the same places from the sea gives you the best of Heimaey. During the tour we also learn about the history of the island and the people who lived and still live there.

We expected to start the tour on the pier, however it is not a problem to pick up the group where requested. First we drive to Sprangan, islanders rope swing training station, where the guide tells us about that national sport of Westman Islands and shows his best in rope swinging. You can try it yourself under a strong guidance of the local guide. Next stop is the valley (Herjólfsdalur) that is best known for Þjóðhátíð, the oldest and one of the biggest music festivals in Iceland, started in 1874. Even though around 150 years of music festival the valley has a much longer history and there is much to be said; e.g. we can find ruins of the first stone house in Iceland, the first settlers man in Westman Islands lived in the valley and the pirates of the Turkish raid robbed this same valley. It is also lovely to walk to the replica of Herjólfsbær or to the pond in the middle of the valley. On a panoramic drive to Great Cape (Stórhöfði), you can see the elephant rock carved in stone. Elephant rock is the most known landmark in the Westman Islands. The small islands are at their most beautiful in good weather condition and you can even see Surtsey if the weather allows. Surtsey is the youngest island around Iceland and are on the UNESCO heritage list. We drive past Pirate Cove (Ræningjatangi) and up Great Cape where we enjoy the view in all directions and even take a group photo where the background is the best you can think of. In Great Cape is also a bird watching house by one of the largest puffin colonies in the world.

Next is the drive over the new lava, but the Heimaey eruption in 1973 enlarged the island when lava began to flow to the east and into the sea, but the lava also flowed to the west and submerged a third of the houses. The guide tells you stories of the people who experienced these natural disasters, both dramatic stories and stories that makes you laugh. In the new lava we can find one of our favorite places and we look forward to showing it to you. The sightseeing tour is about 2 hours, and the group is returned directly to the boat tour.

We take a boat tour on Teista which is the perfect boat to take you around Heimaey at a slow phase. You can sit outside or inside the boat, there is plenty of space on board. Sailing along magnificent rock walls and observing the bird life is a wonderful experience when you are in the Westman Islands. The mind often wanders to the small island life when people were descending for eggs from nests and fishing from the ocean that have always been considered a good food resource. We go into caves and bays and on the boat tour you can see many of the same places we visited earlier in the day, but the perspective is new. The guide tells stories from the Westman Islands; from nature, the islands, traditions, the eruption, the puffins and human life. The sailing is 1.5 hours so there is plenty of time when all the best of Heimaey has been explored.

Itinerary

The tour is expected to start at the pier - however, it is not a problem to change the starting point
Drive to Sprangan - we go out of the bus and see how the islanders rope swing in the rocks
Next stop is the valley - in addition to the National Festival of the Westman Islands being held in the valley, it also contains the ruins of the first settler in the islands
Panoramic drive out to Great Cape - a view of the small islands and we can even see Surtsey
Great Cape - a magnificent view in all directions and a puffin colony that is fun to watch
Driving around the new lava field - in 1973 a crack opened from the bowels of the earth which split its way into the ocean and forced the locals to leave their homes and sail ashore
Boat tour - sailing around Heimaey, the guide tells the passengers from the nature and the life in the islands

Included

Excursion around the island
Boat tour with Teista

Good to know

We help planning your visit to the Westman Islands
Dress for the weather
You can sit both outside and inside the boat tour

Book Tour Dates and Time


Partners

VikingTours ™ is a family run travel agency with extensive experience and knowledge of the Westman Islands. We offer a wide range of tours and our main sign is a guide to locals. Focus on linking facts to fun stories by the people of the islands. We offer a variety of sea and land experiences, car, bus and walking. Let the magnificent nature enjoy themselves and connect the story and the experience of the people together. Diverse bird life, volcanic history is something that has fascinated a lot and we focus on that whether you are in a group or individuals on a journey we try to fulfill the perfect day in the islands. See you in the islands this summer.
VikingFerðir™ - VE travel ehf.
Heiðarvegi 59 - 900 Vestmannaeyjum
Tel. +354 488 4800
info@vikingtours.is
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