Featuring a wealth and wide variety of incredible photography opportunities, northeast Iceland is one of the best places on Earth to photograph cliff-dwelling birds such as colorful and comedic Atlantic puffins, razorbills, murres, gannets, fulmars, and many other seabirds.
At Grímsey we will be right on the Arctic Circle, spending time searching for and photographing nesting Arctic species and vagrants. As your group works east and northward from your starting point in Reykjavík, you will marvel at the beautiful sights at every turn. Only our Iceland photography tour shows you the best of Iceland’s birds with other marvelous sights such as volcanos and waterfalls.
There are a few companies that offer tours to the Grímsey Island portion of the trip, but this is just one of the many places you will visit with us so you won’t feel as though you are missing out on anything. Since your group will take a ferry to Grímsey Island, it would be a lot of effort to travel all that way to only visit there and not spend any time photographing the birds and locations of Iceland’s mainland too.
During this time of year in Iceland it never gets dark, thus we will have 21–22 hours of daylight which means many potential hours of sweet light! Your days will be scheduled to avoid crowds and take advantage of amazing locations during the best light, often shooting late into the night after dinner or even before breakfast. Then we will balance our down time with the remaining hours of daylight.
An Iceland photography tour focused on birds wouldn’t be complete without world-class leaders by your side helping you locate species. This exciting adventure will be led by renowned bird photographer Alan Murphy, NatureScapes Founder and photographer Greg Downing, and lifelong Iceland resident, ornithologist, and photographer Jóhann Óli Hilmarsson.
“Grímsey Island was wonderful. To have all those birds just seconds from the front door was a big plus.”
Dawn O.On the first day of your Iceland photography tour, you will arrive at Keflavík International Airport and transfer to your hotel in Reykjavík. After getting settled in you may opt for a self-guided city tour or some rest and relaxation. Vehicle rentals are available close by or instead you may opt to take a taxi to the center city and back. It’s very safe to walk around Reykjavík, exploring at your leisure with or without a camera and small lens. You’re also welcome to just relax at the hotel and energize yourself for the next day’s journey northward.
In the early evening you and your group will attend a meet-and-greet to get to know one another and discuss the plans for the following morning’s departure. Afterward, you will enjoy a group dinner to close the evening.
Overnight at hotel in Reykjavík.
After breakfast you will depart Reykjavík in our private tour bus and drive east along some majestic mountains and other sights, such as the infamous Eyjafjallajökull volcano. You will also pass beautiful waterfalls and spend time photographing them as time allows, arriving at your next hotel by dinner.
After dinner you will have your first extended outing to explore the world-famous Jökulsárlón iceberg lagoon while photographing Arctic terns on ice. You will also photograph the famous black sand beach to capture ice that has calved off glaciers, washed out to sea, and then deposited itself back on the beach at low tide. The ice here has an sculptural beauty that dazzles in the light, offering beautiful landscape photography opportunities.
During your time in this area, you will also visit some glacial sand flats which are the domain of the great skua, where you should be able to enjoy close encounters with this impressive bird.
We will spend the night at a hotel near Skaftafell National Park.
On this day we continue north and east, stopping at a few selected sites along the way. We do have a long drive today and we will most likely have dinner en route, arriving to Ytra-Lón by late evening and getting settled into our hotel for the night. We will have a couple of days to explore this area at our leisure.
Our destination, Ytra-Lón on Langanes peninsula, is located as far from the Keflavík International Airport as you can possibly go on land.
Overnight at a hotel in the middle of the Langanes peninsula where we base for 3 nights
Langanes is an extremely remote, narrow peninsula located between Þistilfjörður and Bakkaflói that’s shaped like a goose with a very large head. This area is about as wild as coastal Iceland gets, making it perfect for exploring off the beaten path for birds like rock ptarmigan, snow bunting, and purple sandpipers, which are among the many breeders here.
On the northern and southern tip of the peninsula we will ascend two steep sea cliffs, Skoruvíkurbjarg and Skálavíkurbjarg, which offer excellent views where it is possible to photograph northern gannet and other seabird species.
Other breeds of birds that are common to see are thick-billed murre, common murre, razorbill, black-legged kittiwake, puffin, and others. The shores here are full of beautiful Siberian driftwood, adding an interesting element to your landscape photography.
Overnight at a hotel in the middle of the Langanes peninsula.
This day brings us exploration of Iceland’s far northeastern peninsula, Melrakkaslétta. This wildand remote area has an arctic feel and is a superb location for photographing many birds in the summer, with good numbers of red-throated loon, snow bunting, and purple sandpiper as well as a very healthy population of gyrfalcon, the largest of all falcons.
The beaches here may still be hosting some lingering Arctic shorebirds, with other rarities regularly seen. This area is abundant with a variety of breeding waders, including whimbrel, black-tailed godwit, and European golden plover.
During our time here you will also visit the stunning horseshoe canyon of ásbyrgi. The horseshoe shaped canyon formation of ásbyrgi likely started between 8,000–10,000 years ago after the last Ice Age, followed by further changes about 3,000 years ago. The geography here makes it a fantastic location for landscape photography.
Overnight at a hotel in Mývatn where we base for the next 2 nights.
Lake Mývatn (Midge Lake) is one of Europe’s greatest birding destinations. The midges, which are harmless chironomids, are the mainstay of life at this lake plentiful with birds and is home to thousands of breeding wildfowl with 15 species of ducks.
Barrow’s goldeneye is a common sight here at its only European breeding site. It shares the lake with other ducks such as common scoter, gadwall, Eurasian wigeon, long-tailed duck, greater scaup, and tufted duck, while American vagrants such as ring-necked duck and American wigeon are recorded regularly at this superb site. The drakes are molting and in eclipse plumage during this time of the year. Harlequin ducks are common on the Laxá river which flows out of the lake, while horned grebes are highly photogenic on the lake itself with possible chicks to be seen. Common and red-throated loons provide natural background noise to set the scene, while arguably the main attraction at the lake, the gyrfalcon, can possibly be seen anywhere in the area. Several pairs of breeding gyrfalcons—the world’s largest and most powerful falcon—take advantage of the great numbers of rock ptarmigan, wildfowl, and waders. Its smaller cousin the merlin also breeds in the area, and if we are lucky we might see short-eared owl hunting in the 24-hour daylight.
With fascinating geology and geothermal sites around the lake Mývatn is like no other place in Iceland. Depending on weather and preferences we may also have the option to also visit Dettifoss waterfall, the most powerful one in Europe.
Overnight at a hotel in Mývatn.
You will leave Mývatn early to catch the 9:00 AM ferry to Grímsey Island, to which we will arrive around noon. Due to the ferry schedule we will likely have to wait a few hours to fully move into our accomodations in our private guesthouse. After getting settled in we will begin to explore the island and all it has to offer.
For four nights we will have free reign of this amazing location, which will be ample time to get great shots of puffins and basically all the other species that inhabit this unique island along the Arctic Circle. While we will have transport for you and your gear between the main photography locations on the southern and northern tip of the island, if you do not want to walk, there are puffins literally right outside our front door.
Overnight at a private guesthouse on Grímsey Island where we base for the next 4 nights.
Grímsey Island is a small location bisected by the Arctic Circle, and is the finest location in Iceland for photographing Atlantic puffins, especially in flight as they soar near their nesting cliffs.
There are a lot of puffins in Grímsey and at times the grass slopes are filled with them. It’s also a great place to photograph razorbill, Arctic terns, breeding common and thick-billed murre, black guillemot, black-legged kittiwake, and northern fulmar. You can also expect to see and photograph common eider, red-necked phalarope, ringed and European golden plover, purple sandpiper, and snow bunting among others. Grímsey Island also offers unique opportunities for landscape photography, featuring structural basalt columns and rock formations.
Overnight at a private guesthouse on Grímsey Island.
After a full morning of photography, we will leave Grímsey Island in the afternoon and overnight about 30 minutes south in the town of Akureyri
Overnight at a hotel in Akureyri.
On the final day of your Iceland photography tour, you will drive back to Reykjavík while stopping at some nice photo opportunities en route. You will enjoy a final dinner with your group and stay overnight in Reykjavík.
Overnight at hotel in Reykjavík.
This morning you will enjoy breakfast at your hotel before transferring for your flight home. If you would like, you may opt to spend extra days in Iceland on your own or continue onward with our Iceland Highlands Tour for landscape photography.
Single supplement fees reflect our actual cost and are subject to availability. If you're a single traveler and we're unable to place you with a roommate, we will need to place you in a single room and charge a single supplement.
You may also be interested in our Iceland Highlands Tour with Nikhil Bahl the following week.
Greg has been traveling the world teaching professional and amateur photographers for more than 15 years hosting his instructional workshops and...Continue reading
Jóhann Óli Hilmarsson, is a leading authority on the birds of Iceland and one of the country’s most experienced bird photographers. He has written...Continue reading
Alan Murphy, an award winning photographer, grew up in England and is an avid birder. Upon immigrating to the States Alan picked up a camera and...Continue reading
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