Puffins At Hafnarhólmi, Iceland: Best Time To Visit And Viewing Guide

Iceland is well known for its wildlife, especially the puffins. In the far east of Iceland, a small colony makes the island of Hafnarhólmi its summer home. This small area was an unexpected find during one of my summer trips along the quieter roads and routes around the country.

As the road dropped down to the harbour, I was aware of the small headland. It wasn’t until I stepped out of the car that the reality of the small white dots hit me. Every single dot on the island was a puffin, kittiwake or fulmar. Birds were everywhere. Not knowing where to look or what to photograph first made it an amazing and unexpected experience. When the guidebooks said you can see puffins here, I really wasn’t expecting the sheer scale!

This guide covers identification, seasonal timing, daily rhythms, behaviour to watch for, and what else you’ll find at the harbour. Walk straight into one of Iceland’s largest accessible puffin colonies on purpose-built boardwalks, with birds nesting within arm’s reach.

Quick puffin facts

The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) is smaller than most people expect, roughly the size of a pigeon, weighing under 500 grams, and the encounter with one at close range is, in consequence, more surprising than any photograph prepares you for.

The beak is the thing: broad, triangular, laterally flattened, and, during the breeding season, banded in vivid orange, yellow, and slate blue.

Outside breeding season, the coloured outer plates are shed, and the beak becomes smaller and plainer. The full breeding plumage, including the white face and orange feet, is there for the season and fades afterwards.

Puffins spend the majority of their lives at sea, only touching land to breed. They are exceptional divers capable of reaching 60 metres depth in pursuit of sand eels, capelin, and small herring, using their wings both for flight and as underwater flippers.

A puffin returning from a fishing trip can hold ten or more fish stacked laterally across its beak, held in place by spine-like projections on the tongue and upper palate. It must do this while flying, landing, and running the gauntlet of opportunistic gulls intent on theft before reaching the burrow.

They are monogamous for the breeding season and show strong fidelity to both partner and burrow site, returning to the same location year after year.

The single egg hatches after around 40 days; the chick, a puffling, is fed in the burrow for roughly six weeks before being left to make its own way to sea. The adults depart for the winter ocean almost simultaneously at the end of the season, not returning to land until the following April.

Where to See Puffins at Hafnarhólmi

Hafnarholmi is a small peninsula behind the working fishing harbour at the very end of Route 94.

Every summer, around 10,000 pairs of Atlantic puffins nest in burrows dug into the turf of the island’s sloping banks.

What makes it exceptional is access: instead of watching from a cliff or a boat, a network of boardwalks and viewing platforms threads directly through the colony, with birds often nesting within a metre or two of the boards.

The boardwalk network

The path from the harbour car park leads to the start of the boardwalk system. Multiple connected platforms give different angles on the nesting banks. Some look directly into burrow entrances; others offer wider colony views, with the harbour and the kittiwake-packed rock faces behind.

The birds are fully habituated to the boards and to the steady presence of visitors; they continue nesting, billing, arriving, and departing without any apparent concern. Stay on the boards at all times: the turf banks are riddled with burrows and collapse easily underfoot.

The bird hide

The covered hide sits in the heart of the colony and is the most rewarding spot for extended watching and photography.

Closing windows keeps out the wind while chairs allow prolonged, still observation.

Birds approach the hide indifferently, which means close, patient, undisturbed viewing that is simply not possible on the open platforms.

The harbour approach

The harbour itself, before the boardwalk, is worth a visit. Kittiwakes and fulmars pack the harbour rock faces in considerable numbers, often with chicks visible in June and July.

Common eiders are nearly always present in the sheltered water, sometimes with ducklings. Grey seals occasionally surface. The working boats alongside give the place a texture that purely wildlife-reserve settings lack.

When to See Puffins at Hafnarhólmi

Puffins are present from mid-April to late July, with activity building gradually through May and peaking from late May to mid-July.

The departure at the end of the season is abrupt: birds raft offshore in large numbers for a few days and then go almost simultaneously. If planning a late-July visit, check current colony reports before making the journey, specifically for puffins.

Mid-April	Puffins return to Hafnarholmi. Initially spending time offshore and investigating burrows. Numbers build through the month.
May	Puffins return to Hafnarholmi. Initially, spending time offshore and investigating burrows. Numbers build through the month.
June	Peak season. Eggs hatching from mid-month. Adults are making constant fishing trips with maximum boardwalk activity. Best billing and fish-arrival sightings.
Early July	Peak continues. Chicks being fed in burrows. Pufflings are occasionally visible at burrow entrances. High adult traffic all day.
Mid to late July	Adults begin rafting offshore. Activity at the colony is decreasing. Departure can happen very quickly. Check colony status before a late-July trip.
August	Puffins gone. Kittiwakes and fulmars remain on the harbour rock faces through the month.

Best time of day

The morning window (7am to 10am) and the evening window (6pm to 10pm) are when adults are most active at the colony, arriving from and departing for their fishing grounds.

Midday is noticeably quieter as the majority of adults are at sea, though there are always birds present.

In Iceland’s summer, the evening window comes with long, angled, warm light; on a clear evening at Hafnarhólmi, it can be extraordinary.

What to Watch For

Spending time watching rather than moving between platforms is consistently more rewarding. The following behaviours are reliably visible in peak season:

• Billing – pairs rubbing beaks together, a pair-bonding display performed on and around the burrow entrance. Pairs hold position long enough to observe properly.
• Fish arrivals – returning adults with sand eels stacked laterally across the beak: up to a dozen fish at a time, carried while flying, landing, and evading gull interception. All of this happens in seconds.
• The crash landing – Icelandic puffins are not graceful on landing. They arrive in the vicinity of their burrow at speed and in a manner that suggests some uncertainty about the final few metres. The contrast with their underwater agility is striking.
• Burrow disputes – neighbouring birds argue over boundaries with a rumbling, digestive-sounding call. At Hafnarhólmi, you will hear it within minutes of arriving.
• Gull interceptions – great black-backed and herring gulls stake out positions near the colony and attempt to intercept returning adults. The evasion tactics and occasional mid-air theft are worth watching for.
• Pufflings at the entrance – in June and into July, chicks will occasionally appear briefly at the burrow mouth before retreating underground. These sightings are unpredictable but not unusual.

Photography at Hafnarhólmi

Hafnarhólmi is one of the most photographically rewarding puffin sites in Iceland, precisely because the birds’ habituation to the boardwalk removes the main constraint that makes puffin photography difficult elsewhere: distance.

In the bird hide, a 50–100mm lens is often sufficient for frame-filling portraits. On the open platforms, 100–300mm covers most situations. A 400mm or longer is useful for birds on the distant rock faces across the harbour.

The evening window (6pm to 10pm) gives the best combination of light quality and bird activity. Very early morning on a clear day, with east-facing light across the colony, can also be exceptional, but requires either an overnight stay in Bakkagerði or a very early departure from Egilsstaðir. Midday visits are rewarding for the harbour seabirds but quieter at the puffin colony itself.

Other Wildlife at Hafnarhólmi

The puffins attract attention, but the harbour at Hafnarholmi is a genuinely diverse seabird site. Kittiwakes nest on the harbour rock faces in large numbers, often with chicks visible from the boardwalk by June.

Fulmars occupy the same faces, their stiff-winged gliding flight contrasting with the kittiwakes’ buoyant flutter.

Common eiders are almost always present in the sheltered harbour water, frequently with ducklings from late May; their low, cooing calls carry across the water continuously.

Grey seals surface occasionally in the harbour. Arctic terns nest in the vicinity, but they are aggressive in defence of nesting territory and will dive-bomb without warning; be aware of them near the car park approach.

Conservation Status

The Atlantic puffin is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, having undergone significant population declines in parts of its range.

In the UK and Norway, declines are the largest, driven by climate change affecting prey fish availability, overfishing, and, in some locations, human disturbance at breeding colonies.

In Iceland, which hosts a substantial proportion of the global breeding population, numbers have been more stable, but monitoring continues.

Hafnarhólmi’s colony has benefited from the infrastructure investment that keeps visitors on the boardwalks and away from the turf where burrows are dug. This is the model that protects the birds while making close observation possible: the two are not in tension when the access is designed correctly.

Respecting the boardwalk boundaries, keeping noise low, and avoiding any attempt to interact with or feed the birds are the basics of responsible visiting that every visitor at Hafnarhólmi is expected to observe.

Visiting Hafnarhólmi – Practical Information

Hafnarholmi is freely accessible throughout the puffin season (mid-April to late July/early August). No booking is required.

There is a parking fee at the harbour car park. These are on a sliding scale depending on the size of the vehicle. You can check the costs HERE. Mobile toilet facilities available at the car park.

There is no café, shop, or food provision at the colony itself, so bring food and water from Bakkagerði village a few kilometres back, or from Egilsstaðir before setting out.

Hafnarhólmi is reached via Route 94, approximately 75 km northeast of Egilsstaðir. The drive includes the Vatnsskarð Eystri mountain pass, which is now fully paved, but check road.is before departure, especially in the early season.

Allow at least 90 minutes each way. For the recommended route taking in Vök Baths, Geirsstaðakirkja, and the other stops along the way, see my road trip guide to Borgarfjörður Eystri.

Where Else to Find Puffins in Iceland

Iceland is the summer home to puffins. From April until August, they will be found on clifftops. We spotted them in various locations, including the cliffs at Kirkjufjara Beach and just outside Stykkishólmur on the Snæfellsnes peninsula. However, three locations can almost guarantee puffins during the summer months.

Heimaey has the largest puffin colony in Iceland, and there is an observatory on the southern end of the island at Stórhöfði. This is easy to get to and is a short distance from Reykjavik on the Westman Islands.

Látrabjarg Cliffs represent the most westerly landmass in Europe and are home to stunning bird cliffs. Here you will find puffins and kittiwakes in their thousands. The cliffs here are wind-swept and have sheer drops, so not as family-friendly as Hafnarhólmi, but given the location in the Westfjords, it is not for those short on time and who see fewer visitors.

Grímsey Island in the north of Iceland is also a good place to see puffins. This again is difficult to reach, needing over two hours on a ferry from the mainland, but it is so worth the trip. Puffins are found all over the island, and this location, more than others, will provide isolation to enjoy the puffins.