We love bird watching. One of our favorite things to do when we visit a new place is see how many new species of birds we can spot. And one thing on our bird must-see list was spotting puffins in Iceland. After much research, we decided the best place to see puffins in Iceland was in Borgarfjörður Eystri. We’ve put together this post to help you plan your bird watching trip to this village in eastern Iceland to the famous “puffin marina”.
Why Visit Borgarfjörður Eystri For Puffin Watching?
Borgarfjörður Eystri is one of the safest places to see puffins in Iceland. This is because one of the main draws for tourism in the small coastal town is puffins watching. So they’ve done an incredible job of making a safe space for you to view the puffins without harming the puffin habitat. There are multiple viewing platforms built into a hill so you can watch them for hours without any danger of you harming their burrows.
Another reason that Borgarfjörður Eystri is a great place to see puffins in Iceland is because it makes a great side trip from the Ring Road. The Ring Road is the most popular road trip in Iceland. It circles the entire island and is the most popular thing to do if you are visiting the island for 5 or more days. And a trip to Borgarfjörður Eystri is a great detour from the ring road that only takes half a day.
This half day detour will give you the best opportunity to see puffins in Iceland because it is easy, fast, safe, close to a main tourist route, and there are so many puffins your chances of seeing at least one are pretty good. Plus, we think the drive to Borgarfjörður Eystri is absolutely beautiful! A trip through these beautiful fjords is enjoyable in itself.
Fun Facts About Puffins in Iceland
The puffins in Iceland are the Atlantic puffins. They are seabirds that live on land but fish and eat from the ocean. The most common place to see puffins is actually in Iceland! So if you want to see puffins, an Iceland vacation should be in your future.
Puffins live large potions of their life at sea but return to mate and breed on land. When it is time for breeding, their beaks become brighter in color. So the puffins in Iceland will have those beautiful clown faces they are famous for.
Puffins nest in burrows. They can dig their own burrows or move into the burrows already dug by other animals. This makes Borgarfjörður Eystri a great place to see puffins. Because the seaside here is covered in burrows and nesting ground is plentiful for the puffins.
Puffins pairs are monogamous and they mate for life. After they mate, they both share responsibilities caring for the young. As you watch nesting puffins in Iceland, you’ll see that one puffin will fly out to sea and return with food which they will take into the burrow to the chick. This burrow is often guarded by the other puffin.
Puffins are wild animals! You should not try to touch them, hold them, crawl in their burrows, etc. Be respectful of puffins and their habitat so other tourists can enjoy them too. Also, puffins tend to nest of cliffs. Puffins can fly, humans cannot. Don’t fall off a cliff trying to spot of puffins. It really shouldn’t be that hard to see one if you go to the correct spot.
The Best Time to See Puffins in Iceland
You can see puffins in Iceland from mid-April through mid-August. They come to the island each year to nest. So, as long as you visit a nesting area, you’re likely to see puffins coming and going as they care for their young.
Puffins will go back and forth between their burrow during the daytime but sleep at night. So you can see puffins throughout the day. However, the most active time to see them is supposed to be right before dusk.
Getting There and Around
We visited Borgarfjörður Eystri as a side trip from our epic Ring Road tour. We think this is a great side trip for seeing puffins in Iceland. You may also consider seeing Borgarfjörður Eystri as a day trip from Egilsstaðir. Borgarfjörður Eystri does seem to be a popular place for Icelandic people to visit while they are on vacation as we saw lots of people here on camping vacations.
Borgarfjörður Eystri is about 2 hours from Egilsstaðir. The GPS will tell you it will take less time to drive there. However, I will never feel comfortable driving 50 mph on a dirt road over huge hills so I drove well below the speed limit and enjoyed the views.
You’ll drive along well maintained dirt roads and paved roads. The road is flat and easy to drive for a large portion. Then you get to the coast and drive into the mountains. This is where the driving becomes fun/terrifying. Hairpin turns and slow speeds are what will lead you over this mountain. However, you’ll find several turnouts to help calm your nerves and give you time to enjoy the views. There is even a dedicated viewing area at the tippy top of the mountain. If it’s a clear day, you can see for miles. We had a beautiful clear day driving there and zero visibility on our way back. So make sure to stop for the views if the weather is clear.
Seeing Puffins at Borgarfjörður Eystri
To see the puffins at Borgarfjörður Eystri, you have to drive through Borgarfjörður Eystri to the end of the road. You’ll then find yourself at the Hafnarhólmi marina. You’ll see fishing boats and an area for the fisherpeople to park. Don’t park here. Instead park in the small parking lot at the top of the hill before the marina. You’ll then have to walk down the hill to the marina and the puffin nesting site.
Here you’ll find board walks that will take you to a few different nesting areas. Visiting is free, though make sure to bring some cash for the donation box.
With the aid of the boardwalks, you can walk right through the puffin nesting area and see these little guys up close. We really appreciated the seats and camera perches on one of the viewing platforms. We hung out here for a long time taking photos. It was so much fun watching these birds bring in food, take off and land. They looked so funny landing – they are definitely not graceful land birds.
We spent a good hour watching puffins here. We really like puffins. However, if you aren’t really into birds, you probably would only need to spend 30 minutes here. Here is just a fraction of the cute puffins photos that we took.
Other Things to do in Borgarfjörður Eystri
Consider stopping in Borgarfjörður Eystri and explore town before you leave. You’ll find the beautiful turf house of Lindarbakki here along with some amazing fish at the local restaurants. Exploring the downtown area only takes a few minutes.
If you want to spend more time in Borgarfjörður Eystri, consider staying overnight and relaxing at the Vök baths. If you have even more time, there are plenty of hiking opportunities in the Dyrfjöll Mountains nearby.
What to Budget
The best part of seeing puffins in Borgarfjörður Eystri is that it is free. But don’t forget a bit of cash for the donation bucket. If you just going for a day trip, you don’t need anything more than gas money.
However, if you’re staying the night, you’ll want to make reservations if you’re visiting during puffin season. There are very few places to stay in this small town. However, prices here were below average for other places in Iceland. You’ll likely pay about $140 USD to stay one night in a guesthouse here.
Food here was also less expensive than other places we visited in Iceland. We paid $40 USD/person for a three course meal at our guesthouse. Also, we found that reservations for dinner are needed during prime puffins watching season. We were thankfully able to get squeezed into our guesthouse for dinner after learning that the restaurants in town were completely booked for the evening. Our host told us that a majority of reservations in town are taken by puffin watching day tours during puffin nesting season.
Other Places to See Puffins in Iceland
If you’re interested in seeing puffins in Iceland but Borgarfjörður Eystri doesn’t fit the bill, consider some of these other puffins spotting areas. While this fit into our itinerary the best, we did plenty of research on where to see puffins in Iceland before choosing to visit Borgarfjörður Eystri so we may as well share that with you here.
Rekjavík
Rekjavík harbor has several puffin spotting tours that will take you to nearby islands. This is a great option for people who are not leaving Rekjavík on their Iceland visit. However, you will need to take a tour to see the puffins.
Westman Islands
The largest puffin colony in the world is located in the Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar). There are tons of other nesting sea birds here as well. You’ll need to take a boat tour or a ferry to spot puffins here as the island is off the mainland. If you choose to spot puffins from land here, you can do a guided tour or a self-guided tour after arriving on the ferry.
Dyrhólaey
Dyrhólaey is a beautiful stone arch near Iceland’s most famous black sand beach. This was actually the first spot we saw puffins in Iceland. And Scott lost his cool! While there weren’t as many puffins here, this is a really great place to spot them as it is close to other top tourist destinations that you may already be visiting. So if you just want to see a puffin and don’t care about seeing a bunch of puffins, this is a good option as it is a common stop along the Ring Road.
Ingólfshöfði Nature Reserve
Ingólfshöfði Nature Reserve is a popular place to see puffins in Iceland that is away from the main hustle and bustle – quite like Borgarfjörður Eystri. This is private property, however, and does require that you take a guided tour. This Nature Reserve is just a few minutes off of the Ring Road so this is a great way to see puffins if you are short on time in your ring road trip and don’t want to take a long detour.
Tjörnes Peninsula
While the Tjörnes Peninsula is not loacated along the popular Ring Road, it is just 15 minutes from the popular Húsavík. So if you are going whale watching in Húsavík, consider doing a combo whale and puffin spotting tour or visiting the Tjörnes Peninsula after you do a whale watching tour.
Grímsey Island
Grímsey Island provides you with the opportunity to see puffins and cross the Arctic Circle. This small island is located off the north coast of Akureyri. You have to take a ferry to get here and spot the puffins yourself, but you’ll get the added bonus of getting to put one foot on either side of the Arctic Circle.
The Látrabjarg Cliffs
The Látrabjarg Cliffs are located in the much less visited Westfjords. They are the largest bird cliffs in Europe and host millions of nesting birds each year. This is an amazing spot to see puffins in Iceland if your a serious bird fan because you’ll get to see puffins and plenty more species. However, this is out of the way of most Iceland road trip itineraries.
We had such a fun time seeing puffins in Iceland. We came, we gigged, we took hundreds of photos, we ate, we left. What better day could there be for an amateur ornithological enthusiast! We hope this has helped you to plan your own trip to see puffins in Iceland or inspire you to take up bird watching on your upcoming Iceland vacation. If you have any questions or comments please leave them below.
