Official travel guide to East Iceland

How to get there and around

Activities, interesting places, restaurants and much more

Hotels and camping places and everything between

Guides and recommendations from the locals

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Travel information

Flights

Icelandair and WOWair operate flights to Iceland from Europe and North-America. The international airport is situated in Keflavík about 40-50 minutes drive from the capital, Reykjavík.

How to get to East Iceland by plane?

The domestic airport in Reykjavik is located in the heart of the city. Air Iceland offers 3-5 flights daily from Reykjavík to Egilsstaðir in East Iceland.

Ferry

The ferry Norræna offers weekly sailings to/from Denmark to Seyðisfjörður in East Iceland with a stop at the Faroe Islands.

The ferry between Norðfjörður and Mjóifjörður sails twice a week over wintertime (Oct 1 - May 31). Mondays and Thursdays from Mjóifjörður at 10:00 and back from Norðfjörður at 12:30.

Buses

SV-Aust.

Drives in East Iceland all year. Stops at: Borgarfjörður, Seyðisfjörður, Egilsstaðir, Reyðarfjörður, Eskifjörður, Neskaupstaður, Fáskrúðsfjörður, Stöðvarfjörður, Breiðdalsvík, Djúpivogur and Höfn.

Ticket price / Schedule

Strætó BS.

Route 56 drives: Egilsstaðir - Akureyri and Akureyri - Egilsstaðir all year. In the summer they drive daily and 3-5 times a week during the winter.

Car

The drive from Reykjavik to Egilsstaðir can be made in one day. You can either drive the northern route or the southern route.

Taxi´s

Egilsstaðir:
Jón Björnsson, phone 898-2625, e-mail sputnik@simnet.is
Jón Eiður Jónsson, phone 892-9247, e-mail joneidur@gmail.com
Guttormur Kristmannsson, phone 659 4828

Eskifjörður:
Bjarni Hávarðsson, phone 893-3450

Reyðarfjörður:

Gunnar Th Gunnarsson, phone 844-9133

Tour operators in the East

Click here to see all the tour operators in the east.

Travel agents offering tours to East Iceland:

www.askjareisen.de

www.islanderlebnis.de

www.islandprotravel.ch

www.islandtours.fr

www.farmholidays.is

www.discover-the-world.co.uk

www.comptoir.fr

www.arcticexposure.is

Sitemap

East Iceland

Towns & Villages

Each town in East Iceland has its own characteristics. In some of the coastal villages the influence of North European neighbours is obvious to everyone.

The French made a strong impact in Fáskrúðsfjörður where the road signs are made out in French as well as in Icelandic. Norwegian influence is easily detected in the Eskifjörður and Seydisfjörður architecture. No such roots are to be seen in Egilsstadir which is latest addition to East Iceland agglomeration, founded in the late forties of the 20th century.

Map

East Iceland Regional Information Centre
700 Egilsstöðum, Iceland
info@east.is/(+354) 471 2320
For marketing and media
east@east.is/(+354) 470 3800

Safe travel in Iceland

To make travel in Iceland safer - for your safe return
Safetravel.is is run by ICE-SAR and is part of a bigger project, simply named Safetravel. In that project a number of companies, public institutions and individuals join hands and the goal is to lower the rate of accidents in travel and tourism in Iceland.

The 112 Iceland app can be used for two things, both for added safety on your Iceland trip.
First of all you can call for help by pressing the red Emergency button. Your location will be sent by text message to the 112 response center. Remember that even though your phone shows no signal there is a possibility that you can send text message.

The green Check In button is for you to leave your location with us so if something happens we have more information to work with. Only the 5 last locations are stored and we recommend you use this – don’t worry – you are not disturbing anyone – except for our big computer who wants to be disturbed.

On Safetravel.is you can find extensive amount of information which can help you plan your travel to and around Iceland in more safe and secure way.

Local time and weather

Aurora forecast

When to see the Northern Lights in Iceland?
The best time is between 21:00-03:00 although they can often be seen early evening or during the night. The official Northern Lights season in Iceland is from October till March. The more activity the more likely it is that you will see the northern lights but that is not all. There is never a guarantee of spotting the northern lights, but northern lights forecast by vedur.is are good. Clear skies are necessary, when we have clear skies in Iceland It is usually cold. So be sure to wear the right clothing.

Northern Lights Forecast
The Icelandic Met Office does Northern Lights Forecast which is good to use.
Visit the Icelandic Met Office www.vedur.is , for more info.

Driving in Iceland

Always check the road conditions
The weather is not the same in different regions of Iceland. Here below are good websites to use when traveling in Iceland in winter. Vedur.is is the official website for weather in Iceland. But it doesn’t always give the right picture road.is, the website for the Icelandic Road Administration, is the best website to use if you use it right. If you are unsure then you can call 1777 and ask for the conditions (open 06:30-22:00) or 1778 an automatic telephone service open all day.

Driving in Iceland can be tricky - but if you listen carefully to Elfis you should be fine.