Surtsey is sometimes called the newest place on earth since it only rose up out of the sea in 1963.

As mentioned below, the island is off limits to tourists and only a handful of scientists are allowed to stay there, which makes it very hard to visit Surtsey. Nevertheless, we gave it a try starting with the tips provided in other reviews, i.e. we contacted SACA to sail to Surtsey in a small Rib boat.

The people at SACA were very helpful, answered all of our questions and even provided us with an overview of the route. However, the price was above our budget/what we wanted to spend so we asked SACA if there were other interested parties willing to share a boat and the cost. There was indeed a fellow WHS enthousiast wanting to go to Surtsey but unfortunately our travel dates did not match.

So we had another look online to see if other options were available and this lead us to air company Atlantsflug (www.flightseeing.is). The price offer we received was more or less the same as the one we received from SACA, so also over our budget.

With only three days left in Iceland and back on the south coast we contacted Atlantsflug again to check if we could share a flight in the coming days, but this was not the case. However, they provided us with the phone number of a private pilot (Gunnar, +354 8986124, gudnastadir@gmail.com) flying from Bakki airport (close to the ferry port to the Westman islands) who might take on private flights.

We contacted Gunnar who immediately confirmed that a flight to Surtsey would be possible under the condition that the weather would be ok. He contacted us again the next day confirming that this would be the case one day later. We agreed on the price and met at Bakki airport around noon to set off to Surtsey.

Gunnar’s plane is a small Cessna which can take two or maybe three people (next to the pilot). On one side of the plane there is a hatch in the window which can be opened which is helpful to take pictures. The flight to Surtsey and over the other Westman island took about 45 minutes (including the way back). Gunnar made sure we had a good look at Surtsey by circling the island five or six times at different heights including fly-overs, … Consequently, we had an excellent look at the craters, the cave, the small scientists building, … On the way back we also circled Heimaey. Since the weather was good, it was a calm flight with a pilot knowing his way around the Westman islands (Gunnar told us that the ferry to the Westman islands only exists for about a decade and before this time he used to operate a scheduled flight to the Westman islands). The price will of course to be agreed upon with Gunnar, but in our case it came down to half of the SACA/Atlantsflug price (only payable in cash) which seems logical since the small Cessna can transport less people than the SACA boat or larger Atlantsflug plains.

So it seems there are three options to visit Surtsey depending on group size and preferences: (i) SACA boat which we understand from Els’ review can take up to 6 people and/or for people who don’t like/dare to fly (small) airplanes/prefer a boat ride, (ii) Atlantsflug plane for more than 2 people, or (iii) Gunnar’s plane. A potential benefit of the plane is also that it departs from the mainland (for those who don’t have the Westman islands on their Iceland itinerary).