Cruise the North: Iceland, Faroe Islands and British Isles

Sprawling Reykjavík, the nation's nerve center and government seat, is home to half the island's population. On a bay overlooked by proud Mt. Esja (pronounced eh-shyuh), with its ever-changing hues, Reykjavík presents a colorful sight, its concrete houses painted in light colors and topped by vibrant red, blue, and green roofs. In contrast to the almost treeless countryside, Reykjavík has many tall, native birches, rowans, and willows, as well as imported aspen, pines, and spruces.Reykjavík's name comes from the Icelandic words for smoke, reykur, and bay, vík. In AD 874, Norseman Ingólfur Arnarson saw Iceland rising out of the misty sea and came ashore at a bay eerily shrouded with plumes of steam from nearby hot springs. Today most of the houses in Reykjavík are heated by near-boiling water from the hot springs. Natural heating avoids air pollution; there's no smoke around. You may notice, however, that the hot water brings a slight sulfur smell to the bathroom.Prices are easily on a par with other major European cities. A practical option is to purchase a Reykjavík City Card at the Tourist Information Center or at the Reykjavík Youth Hostel. This card permits unlimited bus usage and admission to any of the city's seven pools, the Family Park and Zoo, and city museums. The cards are valid for one (ISK 3,300), two (ISK 4,400), or three days (ISK 4,900), and they pay for themselves after three or four uses a day. Even lacking the City Card, paying admission (ISK 500, or ISK 250 for seniors and people with disabilities) to one of the city art museums (Hafnarhús, Kjarvalsstaðir, or Ásmundarsafn) gets you free same-day admission to the other two.

Ten million Atlantic puffins make Heimaey, a 13-square-km island in the Westman Islands off southern Iceland, the largest puffin colony in the world from mid-April until the beginning of August. Despite a population of 4,000 people, puffins have even been spotted in the town of Vestmannaeyjar. The fascinating Eldheimar museum charts the story of the town’s devastation by lava from the Eldfell volcano in 1973. Nearby is Vestmannaeyjar Bird Cliff

With Viking-era origins, Djupivogur, a tranquil fishing village with fewer than 500 residents, is renowned for its unhurried pace of life and the art installation 'The Eggs at Merry Bay,' featuring 34 granite eggs representing local bird species. Nearby, Vatnajökull National Park, covering 14 percent of Iceland, offers a wild expanse with Europe's largest ice cap, Vatnajökull Glacier, thundering glacial rivers and active volcanoes

Cloaked in Faroese legend as the site where the first Viking settler, Grímur Kamban, made landfall over 1,200 years ago, Funningur is one of the archipelago's most ancient and atmospheric villages. Just seventy souls live here, nestled between cascading streams and the deep waters of Funningsfjørður, beneath the shadow of Slættaratindur — the highest peak in the Faroe Islands. A turf-roofed church, colourful houses, and a profound sense of stillness make it one of the most quietly unforgettable corners of these islands

Cut adrift in the Atlantic, between Scotland and Iceland, the Faroes are a self-governing archipelago in the Kingdom of Denmark. On the southern tip of Streymoy, the largest of the 18 islands, the lively little capital of Tórshavn (Thor’s Harbour) charms with its rainbow-hued clapboard warehouses, grass-roofed wooden churches and the quaint old quarter, Tinganes. Off the radar for many, the Faroes are fast becoming known for their scenery

Lerwick is the capital of Shetland, shaped by sea routes, Norse heritage, and a coastline that always pulls your eye outward. The town's stone streets and natural harbour speak to centuries of seafaring, while the moorland, inlets, and wildlife beyond its edge make even the simplest outing feel like an expedition. Archaeological sites, sea cliffs, and seabird colonies define this far-northern corner of Britain — remote, elemental, and quietly compelling

The ancient capital of Orkney, Kirkwall is a compact and characterful town dominated by the magnificent red sandstone St Magnus Cathedral — one of the finest medieval buildings in northern Europe, founded in 1137. The Orkney Islands sit at a remarkable crossroads of Viking and Pictish history, and nowhere is that layered past more tangible than here, where Norse street names run alongside world-class museums and the extraordinary Neolithic landscape of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney — a UNESCO World Heritage site — lies just minutes away

One of Europe's most dramatic capital cities, Edinburgh rises around a volcanic crag crowned by its medieval castle, its skyline unchanged in centuries. The Royal Mile connects two royal palaces through a dense layering of history, while the Georgian elegance of the New Town and the panoramic views from Calton Hill reveal a city of extraordinary contrasts. Beyond the city, Scotland's landscape and deep past continue to unfold — castles, battlefields, and royal estates that bring the country's story vividly to life

Spend your day at sea enjoying the facilities available onboard. Head to the sauna, get in a workout in the state-of-the-art gym or relax in the hot tub while taking in incredible views along the way. If you prefer to learn a little more about your surroundings, listen to an informative talk or have a chat with one of our knowledgeable experts

Amsterdam combines the unrivaled beauty of the 17th-century Golden Age city center with plenty of museums and art of the highest order, not to mention a remarkably laid-back atmosphere. It all comes together to make this one of the world's most appealing and offbeat metropolises in the world. Built on a latticework of concentric canals like an aquatic rainbow, Amsterdam is known as the City of Canals—but it's no Venice, content to live on moonlight serenades and former glory. Quite the contrary: on nearly every street here you'll find old and new side by side—quiet corners where time seems to be holding its breath next to streets like neon-lit Kalverstraat, and Red Light ladies strutting by the city's oldest church. Indeed, Amsterdam has as many lovely facets as a 40-carat diamond polished by one of the city's gem cutters. It's certainly a metropolis, but a rather small and very accessible one. Locals tend to refer to it as a big village, albeit one that happens to pack the cultural wallop of a major world destination. There are scores of concerts every day, numerous museums, summertime festivals, and, of course, a legendary year-round party scene. It's pretty much impossible to resist Amsterdam's charms. With 7,000 registered monuments, most of which began as the residences and warehouses of humble merchants, set on 160 man-made canals, and traversed by 1,500 or so bridges, Amsterdam has the largest historical inner city in Europe. Its famous circle of waterways, the grachtengordel, was a 17th-century urban expansion plan for the rich and is a lasting testament to the city’s Golden Age. This town is endearing because of its kinder, gentler nature—but a reputation for championing sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll does not alone account for Amsterdam's being one of the most popular destinations in Europe: consider that within a single square mile the city harbors some of the greatest achievements in Western art, from Rembrandt to Van Gogh. Not to mention that this is one of Europe's great walking cities, with so many of its treasures in the untouted details: tiny alleyways barely visible on the map, hidden garden courtyards, shop windows, floating houseboats, hidden hofjes(courtyards with almshouses), sudden vistas of church spires, and gabled roofs that look like so many unframed paintings. And don’t forget that the joy lies in details: elaborate gables and witty gable stones denoting the trade of a previous owner. Keep in mind that those XXX symbols you see all over town are not a mark of the city's triple-X reputation. They're part of Amsterdam's official coat of arms—three St. Andrew's crosses, believed to represent the three dangers that have traditionally plagued the city: flood, fire, and pestilence. The coat's motto ("Valiant, determined, compassionate") was introduced in 1947 by Queen Wilhelmina in remembrance of the 1941 February Strike in Amsterdam—the first time in Europe that non-Jewish people protested against the persecution of Jews by the Nazi regime.