Transfers
Reykjavik cruise terminal transfers: Skarfabakkur, Keflavík and how to get between them
Cruise ships do not dock in the Old Harbour. They berth at Skarfabakkur, four kilometres east of the centre, and the international airport is a further fifty kilometres down the peninsula at Keflavík. This page is how those three points connect, what the private transfer costs, and how much time to leave.
Quick answer
A private transfer between Keflavík airport and the Reykjavik cruise terminal at Skarfabakkur costs from $159 and takes about 45 minutes. The driver meets you with a name board and the vehicle is yours, which matters when you are joining or leaving a ship to a fixed clock. Skarfabakkur itself is four kilometres from the city centre — walkable in under an hour, a short taxi ride, or a bus.
Getting to and from the ship, at a glance
- Cruise berth
- Skarfabakkur~4 km east of the centre
- Airport
- Keflavík (KEF)~50 km south-west
- Transfer time
- ~45 minutesairport to terminal
- Private transfer
- $159meet and greet with a name board
- Rating
- 4.7across 173 reviews
- To the Old Harbour
- ~15 minutesby road from Skarfabakkur
- To the city centre
- ~4 kmbus, taxi or a 45-minute walk
- Luggage
- In the pricea private vehicle, not a shared shuttle
- Best for
- Fixed sailing timeswhen a missed bus is a missed ship
- Cancellation
- Free to 24 hlike every booking here
The three points
How Reykjavik is laid out for a cruise passenger
Ship in the east, city in the middle, airport an hour to the south-west.
Skarfabakkur is a working container and cruise quay in the Sundahöfn area, east of the city along the coast road. It is functional rather than scenic: a berth, a small terminal building and a car park. There is nothing to walk to from the gate, which is the single fact most cruise passengers wish they had known.
The city centre is four kilometres west. The waterfront path runs most of the way and it is a pleasant forty-five-minute walk in good weather, past the Sun Voyager sculpture and into Harpa. In rain, or with a ship’s clock running, it is a taxi or the bus.
Keflavík airport is fifty kilometres south-west across the lava fields of the Reykjanes peninsula, and the drive takes about forty-five minutes. There is a scheduled coach service to Reykjavík and a private transfer service; the coach is cheaper and drops at the bus terminal rather than at your ship.
The Old Harbour — where every whale, puffin and aurora sailing on this site leaves from — is about fifteen minutes by road from Skarfabakkur. If your ship is in port for the day and you want to go whale watching, that transfer is the piece to plan around.
If your ship calls at Reykjavik for a day
Five things worth knowing before you step off
The port day is short and the geography is not obvious from the deck.
- Nothing is within walking distance of the berth
Skarfabakkur is an industrial quay. Plan transport before you disembark rather than at the gate.
- The Old Harbour is fifteen minutes away by road
Which makes a three-hour whale sailing comfortably possible on a normal port day — but check your all-aboard time first.
- Book any tour with the free-cancellation window in mind
Ships change schedules. Every sailing on this site cancels free up to 24 hours before.
- Allow more time than the map says on the way back
The coast road into Sundahöfn is single carriageway and it backs up when a ship is turning round.
- A private transfer is worth it when the clock is fixed
Joining or leaving a ship is the one journey where a missed connection is expensive rather than annoying.
If you have a port day and want to spend it on the water instead, the whale sailings leave from the Old Harbour, fifteen minutes from the berth.
Whale watching from Reykjavik→A port day in Reykjavik
What fits into eight hours ashore
Whales, the centre and the harbour fit easily; the Golden Circle does not fit as well as it sounds.
Most calls here are eight to ten hours, and the geography is the constraint: the berth is four kilometres from the centre and the famous landscapes are further still.
What fits comfortably. A three-hour whale sailing from the Old Harbour, with time either side. A walk around the centre — Hallgrímskirkja, Laugavegur, Harpa — which is genuinely small and takes about two hours at a stroll. The Blue Lagoon, which is close to Keflavík rather than to the city and needs a pre-booked slot and about five hours door to door.
What does not fit as well as people hope. The Golden Circle is a full day and cuts it fine against an all-aboard time. The south coast is longer still. Both are sold as port-day excursions and both leave no margin if the road or the weather turns.
The unglamorous advice: on a port day, book things that leave from within the city and keep the transfer times short. The whale boats, the puffin islands, the harbour museums and the centre itself are all inside a fifteen-minute radius of the berth, and none of them will make you the passenger the ship waits for.
Booking around a ship’s clock
Five rules for shore excursions you book yourself
Independent bookings are cheaper and the responsibility for the clock is yours.
- Work backwards from all-aboard, not from the tour time
Add the transfer back to the berth and half an hour of margin before you decide anything fits.
- Prefer sailings that leave from the Old Harbour
Fifteen minutes from Skarfabakkur by road, and there are taxis at the gate when a ship is in.
- Book the earliest departure of the day
It leaves the most recovery time if anything runs late.
- Keep the free-cancellation window in mind
Every sailing on this site cancels free up to 24 hours before, which covers a changed itinerary.
- Have the operator’s phone number saved
Not the booking platform’s — the boat’s. It is the number that matters if you are running late.
Common questions
Reykjavik cruise transfers, answered
Where do cruise ships dock in Reykjavik?
At Skarfabakkur in the Sundahöfn area, about four kilometres east of the city centre. Smaller vessels occasionally use the old port, but the large ships berth at Skarfabakkur.
How far is the cruise terminal from the airport?
About fifty kilometres, and roughly forty-five minutes by road from Keflavík.
How much is a transfer from Keflavík to the cruise terminal?
From $159 for a private vehicle with a meet-and-greet at arrivals, rated 4.7 across 173 reviews.
Can you walk from the cruise terminal into Reykjavik?
Yes, in about forty-five minutes along the waterfront path. There is also a bus, and taxis meet the ships.
How far is the cruise terminal from the whale watching boats?
About fifteen minutes by road. The whale, puffin and aurora sailings all leave from the Old Harbour in the city centre.
Is a private transfer worth it over the bus?
When you are joining or leaving a ship to a fixed time, yes — a private vehicle takes you door to door with your luggage. For sightseeing days the bus is fine.
Go deeper
More on sailing from Reykjavik
Whale watching from Reykjavik
The three-hour cruise, what is out there and what nobody can promise.
The verdictWhich boat is best
Ten sailings ranked, and which one suits which traveller.
SeasonSeason and sightings
Month by month: what is in the bay and how likely you are to see it.
PuffinsPuffin tours
Akurey and Lundey, and the months the birds are actually there.
AuroraNorthern lights by boat
Darker than any bus tour, and cancelled more often. Both are true.
ComparedRIB or big boat
Speed and eye level against a heated saloon. Which suits you.
