Goðafoss tours from Akureyri, and the five that reach Dettifoss
20 tours from under 120 to more than 250 EUR, typically 120 to 250 EUR. Twelve leave from the cruise port, and only five include Dettifoss.
Only 5 of the 20 tours on this page reach Dettifoss. The other fifteen are Goðafoss tours from Akureyri, with Lake Mývatn, a turf house or a spa added to fill the day. The page title lists both falls and the prices do not: a Goðafoss-only trip costs 60 to 120 EUR and takes two to three hours, while a day that includes Dettifoss typically costs 120 to 250 EUR and takes seven to ten. Twelve of the 20 pick you up at the cruise port, so this is a cruise-day page first. Below you will find what each fall asks of you, six kinds of day in a table, the walking routes at Dettifoss, and why none of the listings says which side of the canyon it uses. The wider comparison is on the Iceland page.
The numbers come from the 20 listings read on 22 October 2026, so they describe this catalog and not every tour that runs out of Akureyri. As of that date none of the 20 is private, which means every price here is per person. Goðafoss is only 12 m high. Dettifoss is the one that asks for a day. The other place this site sells waterfall tours is the South Coast, where a shared day out of Reykjavík typically costs 120 to 250 EUR. If a ship is your base, start with the cruise-day section; if you drive, start with the Dettifoss roads.
10-Hour Small Group Tour from Akureyri: Godafoss, Dettifoss, Selfoss and Nature Baths
Ten hours and three waterfalls, with hotel or airport pickup in Akureyri. Groups of up to 14, guided in English; Nature Baths entry is paid separately.
30-Minute Icelandic Horse Ride to Reykjafoss Waterfall from Hestasport in Varmahlid
Photos beside Reykjafoss on a 30-minute ride, with helmet, thermal overalls or rain gear and coffee or tea included. Starts at the Hestasport reception.
6-Hour Shore Excursion from Akureyri: Ljosvatn, Godafoss, Myvatn Craters and Lava Fields
A Ljosvatn lake stop, Godafoss and the Dark Castles lava field of Dimmuborgir, finishing at Hverir, with a guaranteed return to port before the ship sails.
7-Hour Small Group from Akureyri Port: Godafoss, Hverfjall Crater Hike and Dettifoss
Hike the Hverfjall rim, see Godafoss and Dettifoss and stop for lunch in Reykjahlid, in a small group from the Saga Travel hut at the main port in Akureyri.
Cruise Small Group from Akureyri: Godafoss, Myvatn Craters, Hverir and Dettifoss Hike
Dettifoss on a short hike, Dimmuborgir's old lake bed and the Hverir mud pots, in a small group that starts from the cruise terminal car park in Akureyri.
Dettifoss, Selfoss and Hafragilsfoss Super Jeep Tour from Myvatn, 4 Hours, Hotel Pickup
Super Jeep tour with hotel pickup that walks to Dettifoss and Selfoss and drives down to Hafragilsfoss when conditions allow. Up to 10 travelers per booking.
Diamond Circle from Akureyri: Godafoss, Dettifoss, Asbyrgi and Husavik with Lunch Pack
A lunch pack comes with this one-day loop past five North Iceland natural sights and a Husavik harbor stop, with drop-off back at the Akureyri cruise port.
Godafoss and Forest Lagoon Small Group from Akureyri, 4 Hours with Lagoon Entry
Waterfall and geothermal spa in four hours, with Forest Lagoon entry included. A booking holds up to 10 travelers, guided in English by a licensed driver.
Godafoss and Grenjadarstadur Turf House Tour from Akureyri Port with Coffee and Kleina
Coffee, a kleina and a guided turf house visit, with 50 minutes at Godafoss. The tour can end at Akureyri Botanical Garden, a 15-minute downhill walk to port.
Godafoss and Lake Myvatn Shore Excursion from Akureyri Cruise Terminal, About 6 Hours
About six hours from the Akureyri cruise terminal, with free time at Hverarond for the steam baths, a massage or a meal, then Dimmuborgir on the way back.
Godafoss Cruise Ship Excursion from Akureyri Port via Fnjoskadalur Valley and Viewpoint
Godafoss in 45 minutes, then home through Fnjoskadalur valley and a stop at the Akureyri Viewpoint. Leaves from Tangabryggja harbor with Soleil de Minuit.
Godafoss Express Shuttle from Akureyri with Botanical Garden or Downtown Drop-Off
A Godafoss round trip with a choice of drop-offs on the way back, from the Botanical Garden to the Forest Lagoon, which has a free shuttle back to port.
Godafoss Shore Excursion from Akureyri Pier, 2 Hours with Imagine Iceland Travel
Two hours from the cruise pier with one hour at Godafoss and a guaranteed return to the ship. Groups of up to 15, guided in English by Imagine Iceland Travel.
Godafoss, Turf House Museum and Forest Lagoon Soak from Akureyri Cruise Port
Turf house museum, Godafoss and a Forest Lagoon soak, with museum entry, lagoon admission and a towel included. Leaves from a Saga Travel hut at the port.
Godafoss Waterfall Shore Excursion from Akureyri Port with Return-to-Ship Guarantee
Cruise passengers get an hour or more at Godafoss, about 40 minutes each way on Ring Road 1, with a return-to-ship guarantee and coffee or tea at the hotel.
Half-Day Godafoss, Laufas Turf House and Christmas House Tour by The Traveling Viking
Godafoss, a Laufas turf house and the Christmas House in four hours, with museum entrance included and pickup at the Hof centre or at your cruise ship.
Half-Day Small Group from Akureyri: Godafoss, Hverir, Grjotagja Cave and Dimmuborgir
Five stops in half a day, from Godafoss to the Skutustadir pseudocraters, with Dimmuborgir's elf folklore along the way. Meets at the Special Tours office.
Small-Group Cruise Excursion to Godafoss, Lake Myvatn and Nature Baths from Akureyri
Small group from the Akureyri cruise port to Godafoss, the Skutustadagigar pseudocraters, Dimmuborgir, Hverir and the Nature Baths, on flexible times.
Small-Group Godafoss and Geitafoss Tour from Akureyri Cruise Terminal with Fjord Viewpoint
Geitafoss as well as Godafoss, a story of the year 1000 and a fjord viewpoint on the way back, in a small group that leaves from the Akureyri cruise port.
Winter Combo from Akureyri: Godafoss, Christmas House and Forest Lagoon Soak
Waterfall hike, a Christmas house with Gryla in her cave and an hour in the Forest Lagoon, on a winter day trip with The Traveling Viking from Akureyri.
Ratings collected by Viator, Tripadvisor and Civitatis
Six kinds of day, from under 120 to more than 250 EUR
The title promises two waterfalls, and the listings sell six products. Sorting the 20 by what they actually visit gives the table below. The price steps follow what is added to the day, not the falls: a spa entry, a second museum, three more hours of road.
| Kind of day | Tours | Length | Price band | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goðafoss only, from the port or by shuttle | 5 | 2 to 3 hours | 60 to 120 EUR | An hour or so at the fall, with 30 to 45 minutes of driving each way |
| Goðafoss plus a museum, garden or spa | 5 | 3.5 to 5 hours | 120 to 250 EUR | A turf house, the Christmas House or the Forest Lagoon; lagoon entry is included in two listings |
| Goðafoss and Lake Mývatn | 4 | 6 to 7 hours | roughly 60 to 250 EUR | Dimmuborgir, pseudo craters, Hverir and Grjótagjá; the Mývatn baths cost extra |
| Goðafoss, Mývatn and Dettifoss | 4 | 7 to 10 hours | roughly 120 to 500 EUR | Dettifoss and Selfoss, with a hike from the car park; one adds Ásbyrgi and Húsavík |
| Dettifoss only, by Super Jeep | 1 | 4 hours | 250 to 500 EUR | Two to three hours at the fall and a look at Selfoss; meets at Mývatn, not Akureyri |
| A horse ride at Reykjafoss | 1 | 30 minutes | 60 to 120 EUR | A different waterfall; meets in Varmahlíð, not Akureyri |
Two prices deserve a second look. The cheapest, in the 60 to 120 EUR band, is a port tour for cruise passengers with two and a half hours. The dearest, above 250 EUR, is a 10-hour small-group day with Dettifoss, Selfoss and a stop at the Mývatn Nature Baths, and the baths are not in the price.
Goðafoss: 12 m high, 30 m wide, and free to look at
A stop built for an hour
The Skjálfandafljót river falls 12 m over a width of 30 m. Visit North Iceland lists parking on both sides of the river and paved paths to viewing platforms, and the Ring Road passes the falls, so the stop is easy: one listing puts the fall under five minutes from the parking lot. Two listings are built around that ease. The port tour is accessible for travelers with mobility issues and prams, and the Goðafoss Express shuttle carries foldable wheelchairs and usually drops you at the Botanical Garden in town. We found no entrance fee at the fall.
The name means waterfall of the gods, and several listings tell you why: the law speaker Þorgeir is said to have thrown his idols into the water when Iceland adopted Christianity. Treat that as a story. Wikipedia says Íslendingabók, the oldest account of the conversion, never mentions the idols, that the tale was published in Denmark between 1879 and 1882, and that it appears to be a nineteenth-century fabrication.
Tell the idol story as a story.
The fall itself was granted protected status in 2020, according to Wikipedia.
Dettifoss: five tours, and none says which side
Dettifoss is 44 to 45 m high and about 100 m wide, fed by the glacial river Jökulsá á Fjöllum and falling into the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon in Vatnajökull National Park. The park says it is cutting back toward the south by about half a meter a year. Two roads reach it: the paved route 862 on the west side, with limited winter service, and the gravel route 864 on the east, which closes when snow begins in autumn and reopens in spring. Visit North Iceland puts that reopening around the end of May.
Dettifoss from the canyon edge
One listing says it walks from the car park and sees Selfoss on the way. Another, the 4-hour Super Jeep trip, describes 2 to 3 hours at the fall and a walk of about 2.5 km. A third mentions several vantage points. None names a road. Ask before you book, especially outside summer, because the answer decides whether your day depends on a gravel road.
| Route | Distance | Time | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| D1, Dettifoss viewpoint | 1.5 km out and back | 0.5 to 1 hour | Easy |
| D2, Dettifoss and Selfoss | 2.5 km | 1 hour | Easy |
| D3, Hafragil lowland | 9 km | 4 hours | Difficult, steep, with a risk of falling rocks |
| L1 to L3, Ásbyrgi to the Dettifoss canyon | 32 km | About 2 days | Challenging, no cabins |
A bus day gives you D1 or D2 at best. D1 is 1.5 km out and back, about half an hour to an hour. The Diamond Circle listing is the clearest on what else the day holds: Goðafoss, Mývatn, Dettifoss, Ásbyrgi and a 20-minute stop in Húsavík, with a drive of about an hour back to Akureyri. The time at the fall is not stated.
A cruise day: how much time you really have
Twelve of the 20 listings meet you at the Akureyri cruise port, and four spell out a return-to-ship guarantee. The shortest port tour is 2.5 hours: about 40 minutes of driving each way and an hour or more at Goðafoss. The 4-hour combo drives 35 minutes to Goðafoss, another 30 to the Laufás turf museum and 30 more to the Christmas House. The Mývatn and Dettifoss days run 6 to 8 hours. Check your all-aboard time against the length of the tour, not the price.
The return-to-ship guarantee is what you are really buying.
Where Akureyri, Mývatn and the falls sit
Goðafoss is the dot closest to Akureyri. Dettifoss and Selfoss sit far to the east, with Mývatn on the way. Aldeyjarfoss, at the bottom, has no tour here.
The driving figures are the ones to remember. Akureyri to Goðafoss is 35 km, 30 to 45 minutes. Akureyri to Dettifoss is 135 km. The loop through Mývatn, Ásbyrgi and Húsavík is 310 km and more than four hours at the wheel, which fits the 8-hour Diamond Circle listing: 30 minutes to Goðafoss, about 40 minutes from Hverir to Dettifoss, and an hour back from Húsavík.
What moves the price
The left side is crowded and cheap: six dots at 3 hours or less sit in the 60 to 120 EUR band. Price climbs with length, but unevenly. The 4-hour dots run from roughly 120 to 500 EUR, and the top one is the Super Jeep to Dettifoss. Saga Travel runs four of the 20 and holds 39% of the 1,422 reviews. Among the five Dettifoss tours, the 30-seat Diamond Circle bus is rated 4.2 on 105 reviews, and the groups of 15 or fewer are rated 4.8 to 5.0 on 4 to 41 reviews. Those are small samples, so read them as a prompt to ask about group size, not as a verdict.
When it runs
Goðafoss is a year-round stop, and one listing here is a winter combo, 120 to 250 EUR for 4.3 hours. Dettifoss is a summer stop for most people. The Super Jeep listing includes snow shoes or crampons if needed, which tells you what its operator expects from the ground outside summer.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
What the tour titles leave out
The title reads as two falls, but fifteen of the 20 listings never go further than Goðafoss and Mývatn. The Mývatn baths were not included in any of the three listings that stop there, so budget for them. Group size runs from the Diamond Circle's 30 seats to the Super Jeep's 10, and it changes the day. The Goðafoss Express is a shuttle, not a tour: it usually ends at the Botanical Garden, with the port a downhill walk away.
Questions about Goðafoss and Dettifoss tours
Can you see Goðafoss in winter?
Yes. It sits on the Ring Road, and one listing here is a winter combo, 120 to 250 EUR for 4.3 hours, with the Christmas House and the Forest Lagoon. Expect ice and snow around the viewing paths. Dettifoss is a different matter: ask the operator what the road allows.
Is Dettifoss the most powerful waterfall in Europe?
It is often called that, and one listing here puts it in its title, but the claim depends on how you count. Wikipedia says Dettifoss is reputed to be the second most powerful after the Rhine Falls, and that the superlative rests on flow times height. It gives Dettifoss an average flow of 193 m³/s, against 250 in winter and 600 in summer for the Rhine Falls.
Which side of Dettifoss do tours use, east or west?
None of the five listings says. The west side is reached by the paved road 862 and the east side by the gravel road 864, which closes with the first snow. Both have marked trails. Ask the operator before booking, especially outside summer.
Can I do Goðafoss and Dettifoss in one day from Akureyri?
Yes, on a long day. The four bus and van tours that do it take 7 to 10 hours and cost roughly 120 to 500 EUR. Dettifoss is 135 km away, and the Diamond Circle loop is 310 km, more than four hours of driving. A Goðafoss-only trip does not reach Dettifoss at all.
How long do you get at Goðafoss?
One port tour gives an hour or more at the fall, with about 40 minutes of driving each way, for 2.5 hours in all. From the car park to the viewing platforms is a short walk: one listing puts the fall under five minutes away.
Do these tours include entrance fees?
The falls have no entrance fee that we found. Fees appear on the extras: the Forest Lagoon entry is included in two listings, while the Mývatn Nature Baths are not included in the three that stop there. Check the inclusions on each listing.
Looking at the other region?
The South Coast page compares four kinds of day out of Reykjavík, from the 120 to 250 EUR band to more than 1,000 EUR.
Data verified on . Prices, ratings and counts from the 20 tours read on 22 Oct 2026. Dettifoss routes and roads from Vatnajökull National Park, Goðafoss from Visit North Iceland.