Puffins East Iceland: Borgarfjordur eystri – Iceland

Borgarfjordur Eystri is the best spot for puffin viewing in East Iceland — and I’ll tell you why in this guide. Borgarfjordur Eystri is an area in East Iceland that offers a unique opportunity to view one of nature’s most beloved creatures: the puffin! Puffins come to Iceland from May to mid-August to nest and there are a few places in Iceland where you can see these cute birds. Each summer, thousands of puffins flock to the cliffs of Borgarfjordur Eystri to breed and raise their young. These adorable seabirds, with their distinctive orange beaks and comical waddling gait, create a spectacle that’s amazing to witness! Here is how you can see puffins east Iceland!

Unlike other areas of Iceland to view puffins, Borgarfjordur eystri has the tourist infrastructure to view the puffins safely in the form of boardwalks, viewing platforms and a rain shelter hut. Not only does this allow visitors to view the puffins, it protects the puffin burrows.

I visited both Latrabjarg in the Westfjords and Borgarfjordur eystri during my Iceland trip and with overwhelming confidence, I can say that viewing puffins at Borgarfjordur eystri is a much more pleasant and safe experience! And I’ll take this a step further: Borgarfjordur eystri is the best place to view puffins in Iceland!

Not that Latrabjarg is bad; it’s not! You can read all about my experience here.

Where is Borgarfjörður eystri?

Borgarfjörður eystri is located in East Iceland. The puffin viewing site is located about an hour and 15 minutes from the town of Egilsstaðir, Iceland, which is off Rte 1. So in other words, this is about a 75 minute detour, one way, from the Ring Road.

The drive out here is a nice, paved road all the way out to the puffins. This does go through some mountains, so the road gets curvy in spots, with no guardrails. We didn’t find it scary at all, but you do need to be aware that fog/low hanging clouds are common in this area, and can make this fairly easy drive a bit harrowing as you pass through the mountains. When we drove it, we had cloudy conditions and had a bit of low visibility as we were going through the pass.

When you come down from the pass, you’ll drive along the coast for a bit and go through the town of Borgarfjörður eystri. This is a very tiny town, and you won’t find much in the way of amenities (there are a few guesthouses here). Keep your eye out for a public restroom as you pass through town, just in case you need to go! (It’s free and was very clean!).

After you pass through the town, keep going. The road dead ends at a marina. This is where you will park to view the puffins.

RELATED: Planning an Iceland Trip? View my Iceland travel guide!

Parking at the marina is free, as is viewing the puffins. Once parked, it’s a short walk to the boardwalk stairs and platforms to see the puffins.

Viewing the Puffins at Borgarfjodur eystri

This is an absolutely amazing experience! The boardwalks take you right up to the puffins — they get extremely close to you. You are right there with them and can watch all their silly antics, especially as they fly in from out at sea with a beak full of fish, and stumble their way into their burrow.

RELATED: Official site of Borgarfjodur eystri

There were thousands of puffins when we were here. We visited in early July (July 5th to be exact) at around 6pm.

Our Experience at Borgarfjörður eystri to see Puffins

When we visited Borgarfjodur eystri, we were staying one night in Seydisfjordur – if you’re coming from Seydisfjordur, it is an hour and 25 minute drive to Borgarfjodur eystri.

Our route at this point in our trip had us leaving our hotel in Myvatn and traveling to Seydisfjordur. We had planned to make a few stops along the way, but we ran into a snowstorm — in JULY. It was windy and cold so we didn’t feel like doing any of the hiking we had planned so we stopped in Egilsstadir for lunch and then made our way to Seydisfjordur. We hung out in Seydisfjordur for the afternoon, checked into our hotel, and left for the puffin viewing around 5pm. You definitely want to visit Borgarfjodur eystri during the morning and late afternoon/evening hours, as the puffins are out fishing at sea during the afternoons.

We stayed here for about an hour and a half — we had a blast! I took over 1,200 photos of puffins. We had misty weather conditions but it wasn’t a driving rain, so it was pleasant enough to be out here. We didn’t go into the hut, so I don’t know what that was like to go inside there and take photos.

RELATED: Looking for puffins in West Iceland? Check this post out: Photographing Puffins at Latrabjarg Cliffs – Westfjords Iceland

How Long Do I Need to See the Puffins?

You definitely don’t need to spend as much time here as we did! Again, we were here for well over an hour viewing the puffins, but you could spend about 20 minutes and get the jist of it, if you need to get back on the road. If you’re a photographer though, you’re definitely going to want to spend some extra time here like I did — it’s a ton of fun!

But make sure to account for the total travel time — as Borgarfjodur eystri is a dead end, you have to go all the way back the same way you came to get back on the Ring Road. Drive time out here alone will be about 3 hours, plus the time you spend viewing the puffins.

What Kind of Camera do I need to Photograph Puffins?

I used my Sony Full Frame Mirrorless cameras (yes, I brought two!) — one with a 100-400mm lens and one with a 200-600mm lens. My husband took one camera and I used the other.

That said, you don’t necessarily need a big fancy telephoto lens setup to get great photos — the puffins are so close to you here that you can get some pretty epic shots just with your phone. But if you do have a DSLR or mirrorless camera, definitely bring it — you won’t regret it.

Is going to Borgarfjodur eystri to see the puffins worth it?

Absolutely 100% YES. This was one of the best things we did on our Iceland ring road trip — and one of the best things I’ve done in my travels! While yes, it’s quite a detour from the ring road — round trip, this will eat up 3 hours, just of travel time — this experience is totally worth it. Just make sure you time this correctly with both the time of year (May to mid August) and time of day (mornings and late afternoons/evenings). I don’t know how many puffins are in Borgarfjodur eystri during mid-day as we visited around 6pm, but we visited Latrabjarg (another puffin viewing site in Iceland) at 1pm and there were less than 5(!!) puffins there.

Have you visited the puffins in Borgarfjodur eystri? Or do you have any questions? Leave them in the comments and I’ll answer!