Akureyri (Iceland, Lake Myvatn)

Akureyri is a major cruise port and one of Iceland's oldest towns, located approx 240 km (150 mi) northeast of the country's capital city Reykjavik. Akureyri features picturesque historic houses below snowcapped peaks, several museums and botanical gardens. It is the biggest settlement outside southwest of Iceland, and one of country's largest cities. "Akureyri" means "Meadow Sandspit" in Icelandic.

You can visit the villages Hauganes and Dalvik (located at the lower end of Eyjafjordur, along fjord's shore) or the islands Grimsey and Hrisey. Go inland to explore Lake Myvatn - famous bird sanctuary, with one of world's largest breeding duck colonies. En-route to Lake Myvatn, you can see amazing lava formations, craters and Grotagja fissure (former public bath). At the Godafoss Waterfall, the Nordic gods Thor and Odin watch over Iceland. Myvatn is a lush area with abundant bird and fish life. Another must-see is Krafla area and its huge lava fields.

In 2017, the cruise port handled a total of 124 ship calls. This number grew to 138 in 2018 (around 130,000 passengers). Summer cruising season's most popular month is July. Most of the visiting vessels are on Iceland circumnavigation itineraries. In 2017 was inaugurated a tree-planting program, by which around 2000 trees are planted per cruise season.

Also from Akureyri cruise port, tourists access one of Iceland's best-known natural attractions - Hverir (Lake Myvatn, east of Mount Namafjall). Hverir (aka Hverarond) is a barren area with high-temperature geothermal activity (hot springs).

In February 2018, Port Akureyri announced an investment of EUR 5 million in building a new cruise pier (completed in 2019). The new pier has length 130 m (427 ft) and depth 9 m (20 ft). Season 2018's main highlight was the 170,000-ton cruise liner MSC Meraviglia (max passenger capacity 5386) that was scheduled for anchoring on May 24 (port stay 8 am - 7 pm). This was the largest ever ship visiting Port Akureyri. The call was part of 21-day roundtrip itinerary from homeport Hamburg Germany to ports in Norway and Iceland.

Akureyri cruise terminal