Beyond the Arctic Circle: exploring Lofoten
Beyond the Arctic Circle sounds extreme, especially as a destination for a summer vacation. Hearing that might make you picture harsh, cold areas with few inhabitants. Well, there’s an exception.
Northern Norway’s not-so-hidden gem
It’s been a good number of years since I saw pictures of Lofoten somewhere on my feed from Instagram or Pinterest — if you love mountains, admire nature’s beauty, occasionally go on hikes, and listen to Fleetwood Mac, high chances are you’ve seen them too.
To me, the Lofoten archipelago stands in the same line with gems like the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Ireland’s West Coast — and while I’ve already visited these places previously, Lofoten remained unknown until August.
The urgent need to visit this faraway land struck me in July — pretty late to say the least. My previous broad experience of travelling already made me learn that places like these might not have that many accommodations to stay, especially if I’m looking for relatively affordable options — all natural northern gems are situated in countries with exceptionally high levels of life where the price tag is even higher than in a fancy Paris. On top of that, there’s a limitation caused by weather — the best time to visit Lofoten is during the summer months or if you’re looking to hunt aurora borealis, then you might choose the winter period.
I managed to plan a trip that involved multiple flights and frequent relocations between different areas. My plan was:
- a flight from Paris to Oslo staying there for a while and visiting the much anticipated Munch museum as well as diving into locals' life (Grünerløkka district is by far the best choice for that);
- a flight from Oslo to Bodø (1,5 hours), with a few hours before the next flight offering a chance to glimpse the northern city which was chosen as the European Capital of Culture 2024;
- a flight from Bodø to Svolvær (roughly 20 minutes — the shortest flight I’ve ever had!) and a desperate attempt to catch the bus from the airport to the city which ended up in ordering the taxi;
- staying in Svolvær for 1 night and heading to Henningsvær the next day (the public bus, yay!);
- staying in Henningsvær for 1 night and moving to Olenilsøya which is located between Hamnøy and Reine (the last one is one of the most famous locations in the archipelago);
- staying in Olenilsøya for 2 nights to explore the areas around and to reach Å, the shortest geographical name as well as the southernmost traditional fishing village;
- moving to Nusfjord, another very well-preserved fishing village you can’t skip and stay there for 1 night;
- heading to Leknes (which has one more small airport on Lofoten) to relax before the journey back;
- come back to Oslo shortly and luckily have a chance to meet with my friend.
In most cases, I stayed at Airbnb renting a room in someone’s apartment (Oslo) or house (Lofoten). As a bonus, it allowed me to meet a few locals and have a chat with them — something I tend to appreciate more and more in my trips since it helps me to get a better idea of how people are living there, what’s their culture, behaviour, and daily life. When I asked my host in Henningsvær “How is it to be born and raised in Lofoten?” I probably sounded so amazed by such a possibility as if I was asking this question to an alien.
Yet to me, living in such beautiful nature all your life does look fantastic and different from my experience (I mean I can’t complain, I used to have a view of the river while living in Ukraine. This view also included the number of manufacturing plants on the horizon, not mountains).
The aesthetics of Lofoten
*designer speaking
Most people visiting the Lofoten Islands use campervans, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many of them in one place, even though the locals say there were far more back in July.
The campervans add to the special atmosphere of Lofoten together with extremely cosy bakeries, coffee shops (the strong temptation to eat a tasty kannelsnurrer, a cinnamon bun, was never missed!), and even some yoga places at least, in the most known towns and villages. In reality, vans also cause overload on the one-and-only main road that connects all the islands which doesn’t really make locals feel happy about it.
Needless to say, usually you’d see people wearing hiking clothes. I did the same even though I can’t really brag I’ve done much of the hikes. Why?
The weather is a co-author of your journey
You can make a perfect plan ahead of your next day including a hike and then, guess what? You wake up to the sound of the wind rattling the windows. On top of that, it’s pouring rain.
During my first days in Lofoten, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to see even the closest mountains next to me due to the weather but then, I started to appreciate the variety of climate conditions I managed to see. One of the most beautiful views appears after the rain, as the clouds drift away, revealing the marvellous peaks of the Lofoten skyline.
One more co-author of my trip was a public transportation I relied on. I’ve heard that if the weather isn’t good the public buses might not operate (and in my mind, I replicated Munch’s “Scream” at this moment) but luckily, it worked neatly each time. This anticipation and slight worry about whether the bus will come or not, add to the overall impression.
If you also plan to rely on buses, here are a few of my recommendations:
- Buy tickets for your trip in the Reis app beforehand, it’ll be slightly cheaper than buying them on board.
- Check Best Arctic hop-on hop-off bus — I don’t quite understand their logic behind calculating the price for your part of the trip (in one direction I paid much less than in the opposite for a shorter trip). Still, it could come in handy for some particular journeys that are hardly covered by the regular buses.
It goes without saying that whichever option you choose to move between places in Lofoten, you’ll be amazed by the changing views you’d see from your windows.
The impressions of seeing Northern Norway
It was my second time visiting Norway, a country of rich Viking heritage, stunning modern architecture, very nice people and of course, a land of natural wonders. The first time I was there exactly 2 years ago exploring Oslo, Bergen, Ålesund, and the fjords around. And I must say, I want to travel over this wonderful country again and again, there are so many more natural wonders to see!
When it comes to Lofoten, I’m sure some people will choose it to conquer as many peaks as possible, while others — to take plenty of pictures that would look cool on social media. I can’t say I’m very different from them — while I did very few hikes I took hundreds of pictures and let’s be honest, in places like these with such perfect backgrounds and light anyone would be a great photographer.
Still, my main motivation to go that far was to admire the spectacular beauty of nature in the first place and without a doubt, I managed to get this feeling from the very first minute I left the tiny plane at the Svolvær airport. I was genuinely mesmerised by the never-ending mountains on the horizon, the colour palette of dramatic heavy clouds, the variety of plants, the textures of rocks, and the charming colourful houses around.
Somehow, this kind of northern nature makes me feel truly happy, it brings me feelings of calmness and harmony which are fairly rare to meet in the hectic world we’re living in.
If you’re striving to get this feeling too, Lofoten will be a great destination to explore.
You can continue reading a few of my other travelogues from different parts of the world, here they are:
- Istanbul is one of the few cities I explored numerous times and during my latest visit, I’ve discovered something different in me as well:
- My latest travel to beloved Southeast Asia — Malaysia:
- There are no words to describe how much I love Latin America and Colombia in particular was muy maravillosa:
- My big love and the place that made me fall for hiking and exploration, the Faroe Islands in two parts:
