Elding is a family owned company (est. in early 2000) that originated from personal interest in wildlife, boats and people. Running whale watching tours was the perfect way to unite these interests while giving locals and tourists the chance to experience Iceland’s marine life. We truly put great care into the business, and whale watching has become a lifestyle for us!
Our team is brought together by family ties and friendship, and having three generations of family working together with many great employees over the years has made Elding what it is today. We put great effort into recruiting and training new employees as knowledge, experience and respect for nature and wildlife are the most important qualities we look for in employees, to offer the best possible experience for our passengers. As our tours are authentic wildlife tours, no two tours are the same.
We offer the most talked about sea adventure tours in Iceland! Our products and services have developed a great deal since the beginning; from small-scale seasonal tours to year-round products, and whale watching is now one of the top three tourist activities in Iceland.
Our other tours include puffin watching, sea angling, northern lights cruise, imagine peace tower tour, private and incentive tours, and at last, the ferry to Viðey island. In early 2016 we began operating out of the heart of Akureyri, North-Iceland, where we now have two types of vessels and thus different experiences to choose from.
As an additional service to our passengers we offer a genuine and truthful description of each whale watching tour and northern lights cruise in our daily online diaries. Read up on the latest sightings, see if your tour is still running or check weather and sea conditions before joining us.
Our Boats
Our bigger vessels have both inside and outside areas and are equipped with restrooms, on board cafés where you can relax indoors and enjoy a warm cup of coffee or light refreshments. Step outside the saloon and enjoy the view from our multi level outdoor viewing platforms. To make the tour even more comfortable we provide warm, buoyant overalls, rain coats or blankets.
On our RIB’s you are limited to your seat and will stay outside in our warm, cozy overalls and life jackets for the duration of the tour, so you can enjoy the views ahead in comfort.
Safety On Board
Safety is a top priority for us and we take every possible precaution to guarantee a safe and enjoyable tour. All crew members have gone through STCW training from the Maritime Safety and Survival Training Centre and regularly attend courses in maritime safety and life saving.
Our boats undergo strict inspections in compliance with rules and regulations of the Icelandic Maritime Administration on a regular basis. Safety vests / life jackets are naturally available for all passengers to wear, but we require that children 12 years and younger wear them at all times during the tour and that they are accompanied by a parent or guardian at all times while on Elding premises.
Sustainable Tourism
We follow IceWhale’s code of conduct for responsible whale watching as well as following our own stricter guidelines. We take part in international cooperation on the future of whale watching, e.g. IWC and Planet Whale and to advance our knowledge we participate and support marine biologists research on wildlife in our area.
We try to offer the best quality services and facilities out there and are proud to be the first environmentally certified whale watching company in Iceland and the only whale watching company in the world to hold the Gold certificate of EarthCheck (advisory group for travel and tourism). We are also recognised by Vakinn (quality and environmental system) and Blue Flag (world renowned eco-label).
Our team works hard on implementing our environmental policy and making it as efficient as possible. We ask all our passengers to take part in our environmental work as we believe their contribution to be very important. We seek to maintain an essential ecological balance and help conserve natural heritage and biodiversity. Our goal is to operate on sustainability principles which is a suitable balance of the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development.
Thank You For Choosing Elding
We are proud to be the original whale tour operator in Reykjavík and strive to continue to offer a wide range of sustainable, enjoyable and safe adventures at sea for years to come.
Welcome on board!
![The first MINKE WHALE of the year - a true sign of spring! 🌱 "[...] within 10 minutes we spotted a minke whale! This was...](https://img4.travelagents10.com/280/664/793475632806649.jpg)
!["We were still coming close to it [a third humpback whale] and suddenly this one started to breach! We saw 3 breaches in...](https://img5.travelagents10.com/059/009/782307870590092.jpg)
