Reykjavík Cruise Port Guide: Skarfabakki to the City Centre, and Where Tours Meet You

Reykjavík doesn’t have one cruise berth — it has two very different ones, and which you get changes your whole morning. Knowing in advance where your ship ties up is the difference between stepping straight into the city and spending your first half hour working out how to get there.

The two places ships dock

Skarfabakki, in the Sundahöfn harbour area east of the centre, is the main cruise quay and where most larger ships berth. It has a terminal building, and it sits a few kilometres from the downtown core — walkable for a determined walker along the shoreline path, but not a stroll, and exposed if the wind is up.

The old harbour (Miðbakki) in the middle of town takes smaller vessels — expedition ships and the like. If that’s you, congratulations: you step off into the city centre, with the whale-watching docks, museums and restaurants immediately around you.

Getting from Skarfabakki into town

• Ship shuttle — most lines run a shuttle into the centre on port days. Check the drop-off point and, more importantly, the time of the last shuttle back.
• Taxi — reliable and quick; Iceland is a card-first country, so you rarely need cash.
• Walking — the coastal path towards the centre is pleasant in good weather and passes the Sun Voyager sculpture and Harpa concert hall on the way in.
• City buses — Reykjavík’s Strætó network serves the area, best worked out with the app before you dock rather than on the quayside.

Whatever you plan, note the last shuttle time the moment you get it. Almost every port-day scramble in Reykjavík starts with someone missing it.

Where independent tours meet you

Tours booked outside the cruise line will normally meet you either at the pier itself or at a designated stop in the centre. Both work — just be specific when you book. Give the operator your ship’s name and berth, and confirm the meeting point by name rather than by a vague description of a car park. If your tour meets in town and you plan to arrive on the ship shuttle, build in a comfortable margin: the shuttle runs to the ship’s schedule, not yours.

What’s close enough for a short call

Two things sit unusually close to the port area. Whale-watching boats leave from the old harbour, so the entire excursion happens inside the city — about as safe as a port-day booking gets. And Reykjavík’s own geothermal spa on the Kársnes peninsula is a short drive away, far closer than the better-known lagoon out on the Reykjanes peninsula near the airport. If your call is short, that distance difference matters more than the name on the brochure.

One last practical note: Reykjavík is a small, safe, walkable capital, and its centre is genuinely worth an hour on foot even if you’ve booked a full excursion. Leave a little time for it.