derekpw

Has anyone taken a "Grimsey Island" Tour from either Akureyri or Reykjavik? I see an eveing tour offered through the Air Iceland site that is about 4 hours, which includes a walking tour of the island and a certificate for stepping over the Artic Circle. Was it worth doing?
Thank you.

alfisol

I went to Grimsey, but not on a tour. We took a bus from Akureyri to Dalvik and then the ferry to Grimsey. The ferry ride was 3.5 hours each way, but the views were beautiful.

Grimsey was a very interesting place. We were there for about 5 hours, until the ferry went back to the mainland. We got there around noontime, but couldn't find any place to eat. The store had closed, there weren't any open restaurants, but a nice lady at the gift shop made us waffles.

We walked to the Arctic Circle sign, all the while trying frantically to protect our heads. The arctic terns were nesting on the island and they love to dive bomb human heads. A woman gave us sticks to shake at the birds, but it was a wild experience. My husband took a picture of me with my daypack over my head - and a frown on my face! Our trip was in June, so if you are on Grimsey when the birds aren't nesting, you won't have to worry about being "attacked".

The sign actually didn't say "Arctic Circle", but had the mileage to cities (such as NY). The scenery was really nice, of course no trees. There is a lovely little church at the other end of the village. And the chessboard monument is in town near the harbor. The island has an interesting chess history.

Overall, we had a great day in Grimsey. It's definitely worth a day trip to see this unique island.

We did get an Arctic certificate on the ferry ride home. I liked the Arctic experience so much that two years later we went quite a bit north of the Arctic Circle in Greenland in January!

sheila

Initially I thought you were mis-spelling Grimsay. But no-one would take a tour there. It's too small. Beautiful, but small.