Ingólfshöfði Puffin Tour

Cape Ingolfshofdi is an isolated headland on the coast half way between Skaftafell in Vatnajokull National Park and Jökulsárlón ice lagoon. This historical nature reserve is home of many species of nesting seabirds, like puffins and great skuas, guillemots and razorbills, fulmars and kittiwakes. The cape is named after the first settler of Iceland, Ingolfur Arnarson, who spent his first winter in Iceland there in the year 874 AD. To get to Ingólfshöfði we cross 7 km of waters, marshes and sands in a tractor-drawn hay cart. The drive across Hofsnes Sand Flats takes about 30 minutes each way, so we spend about 1 1/2 hour hiking around the cape.

The tours to Ingólfshöfði have been conducted by the family in Hofsnes farm since 1990 when Sigurður Bjarnason had given up traditional sheep farming and needed to find new ways to make a living on his farm, offering tours down to Ingólfshöfði using his tractor and hay cart. His son Einar Rúnar Sigurðsson started to help his father soon, and then Einar’s wife, Matthildur Þorsteinsdóttir, and their oldest son Aron Franklín. Today the trip is normally done by Einar or Matthildur (Matta) or their sons, Ísak and Matthías.

In start and end of season the evening often provides the best chance to see the puffins close. The best time to visit puffin colony in hope of seeing lot of puffins in one trip is late June until early August. On the other hand we have quite a lot of days that we see hundreds of puffins even in May, or around mid June or August. In our experience the best puffin days are not the perfect sunny calm and hot days, but moderate wind, and even a little rain can often have more of them hang around the cliff edges. Late morning, early afternoon is often the best time for having many of them at home in the period mid June until early August. However we can never really know how many we will see on each given trip, there are many things that influence if the puffin wants to stay on the cliffs, or go down to the sea for the day. How close to the cape is the fish that they need to eat, how is the visibility in the sea for diving, how warm is it this afternoon, and what time of the summer is it are but few questions we need to consider. So even if we have 1000 puffins sitting around the cliff edges in one departure, the next departure on that same day might have only 10, or vice versa. Bottom line, the trip is in a nature reserve, not a zoo.

While we have spotted puffins in almost all departures in the period from early May until mid August now for many years we of course never know how close and how many puffins we spot on each trip. There are trips even in July that we only see couple of puffins flying by or only sitting down in the cliffs but not up on top where we are. 

The trip is suited for nature loving people that come not only to tick the box of their bucket list of spotting puffin, but are nature curious like us who are guiding the tours, and are interested in the history of Iceland and how our family has lived through the centuries in the strong nature of southeast Iceland. The motto of our family travel service is: From Coast To Mountains - Eleven Centuries In The Making.

The circle we hike around the nature reserve is 2-3 km long. In the beginning we need to walk up a 15-25° steep sand slope, and then through rather rocky terrain, but then it gets more easy, mostly hiking on flat grass land and we make many stops along the way. We don’t recommend that people participate in this trip unless they can do this hike.

Be careful to bring good outdoor clothing for this trip, the area is exposed to winds and rain, and sometimes sand storms.

Minimum age is 6 year old to take part in the tour. Younger children are not allowed on open departures. We do offer Ingólfshöfði Private Tour for and also the private Black Coast Tour  that makes it possible to come younger children, because we can tailor made the private tour to suit the youngest members.

A ride on tractor drawn hay cart to the base of the cape, and then guided 2-3 km walk to learn history, enjoy the views and nature, and see the birds. The tour is conducted by a local person from the farm Hofsnes in Öræfi.

Our clients have free parking on Ingólfshöfði Parking.

Be careful to bring good outdoor clothing for this trip, the area is exposed to winds and rain, and sometimes sand storms. Perfect trip to try out your waterproof outfit and gloves and hats in those conditions, but on the other hand, sometimes it is possible to wear shorts and t-shirts on the trip. The Icelandic weather is included in the Ingólfshöfði Puffin Tour. We do not provide protective cloths, so if you book in advance be careful to be equipped for any kind of weather, since we will not cancel the tour unless there are extremely strong winds. Rain and some wind is fine, and the puffins like that kind of weather anyway.

If you are not sure that you are equipped for any kind of weather Iceland throws at you on your travels, we recommend that you wait until you see the next days weather forecast and book the trip on short notice. Please note, the weather can be very different at Fagurhólsmýri and Hofsnes and Ingólfshöfði, compared to Skaftafell National Park or Jökulsárlón ice lagoon, even though those places are only 30 minutes drive from us. So study the weather in for example Fagurhólsmýri weather station, or on the weather station on Ingólfshöfði, not Skaftafell or Kirkjubæjarklaustur or Höfn for example.
Don't hesitate to bring camera gear, binoculars or spotting scope. But be careful if the dry wind is blowing sand or volcanic ash, to keep the equipment in your bag on the way to the cape.

Meeting point for the tour is Ingólfshöfði Check In Hut just south of the Ingólfshöfði Parking. The parking is 2 km south of the main road between farms Hofsnes and Fagurhólsmýri. The road is marked Ingólfshöfði and there is also a big puffin picture on a sign saying Puffin Tour, next to the main road. GPS position (in Hd.d° WGS 84) is 63.879167, -16.659000. Please check in 15 minutes before departure. GSM: +354 8940894 - More info on www.puffintour.is 

For all bookings of day tours, a minimum of 24 hours' notice prior to your scheduled departure is required in order to receive a full refund. If a cancellation is made with less than 24 hours notice, no refund is given.

For all bookings of multi-day and custom private tours, a minimum of 72 hours' notice prior to your scheduled departure is required in order to receive a full refund. If a cancellation is made with less than 72 hours' notice, no refund is given*

*Note that in the event the client requests a refund for any reason, Tour Desk reserves the right to charge a 3% administration fee to cover costs incurred.

Cancellation and refund requests need to be sent in writing to info@tourdesk.io