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Lofoten Islands – Arctic Norway info & travel tips

Amazing Lofoten Islands by Shutterstock, Hurtigruten

Lofoten islands: one of the top highlights of Norway!

This amazing Arctic archipelago offers stunning scenery with steep mountain peaks, Arctic fjords, tiny fishing settlements, beautiful beaches as well as a rich wildlife.
The world’s largest deep water coral reef, called the Rost Reef, is located west of Rost island
• In summer you can experience the never ending days and the Midnight sun!
• Winter is the time of the spectacular Northern Lights!

Read about:
• Highlights of Norway
Exciting Lofoten tours

Here you can read about scenery, attractions as well as wildlife and travel suggestions – how you can visit Lofoten islands on round trips in Norway


About the Lofoten islands:

Winter on Lofoten Islands by Iconic Norway, Visit Norway

View of the Lofoten archipelago in winter

The Lofoten archipelago

is located north of the Arctic Circle in the county of Nordland, Norway. The Lofoten archipelago consist of 7 main islands, with fjords and narrow straits in between the islands. Between the mainland and the Lofoten lies the open Vestfjord.
From a distance the archipelago looks like one steep island – called the Lofot wall.

Due to the Gulf Stream the climate is mild, despite the latitude north of the Arctic Circle. Between May 25 and July 17 you can experience the midnight sun, and from early May the nights are bright.

Beach on Lofoten Islands by Baard Loeken, Nordnorsk Reiseliv

Experience amazing beaches! (but cold water)

The archipelago is known for its exceptional natural beauty, picturesque fishing settlements, the Rorbu (fishermen’s cottages) stockfish and an abundant wildlife.

Tiny settlements with typical Rorbus are found around the islands. Nowadays many of them are used as accommodation for visitors to the islands.

Hiking in summer & off-piste skiing down the steep mountain sides are popular activities.

Settlement on Lofoten Islands by Thomas Rasmus Skaug, Visit Norway

Enjoy tiny fishing settlements!

Fishermans Shack In Lofoten By Pete Oswald, Visit Norway

Typical Rorbu!

The Lofoten Fisheries

Even before the year 900 AD, the sagas tell about boats being equipped for the journey to the Lofoten and the winter cod fishing season, where the fishermen travelled for days and even weeks along the vaste Norwegian coast in open rowing boats and sailing boats to take part in the abundant fisheries of Lofoten, throughout the entire winter.

Rorbu: This created a need for accommodation for the visiting fishermen, setting off the building of the well known “rorbu” – now most of them refurbished into comfortable accommodations for leisure visitors.

Stockfish, produced from cod, was sold to almost all European countries, and Italy is still the most important market for the high quality stockfish from Lofoten.

Around 70% of all fish caught in the Norwegian and Barents seas use the water around the Lofoten islands as their breeding ground.

Puffins by Asgeir Helgestad, Visit Norway

See colourful puffins!

Wildlife on Lofoten islands

A high density of sea eagles and cormorants, and millions of other sea birds, like the colourful puffin, populate the islands, with mainland Europe’s largest seabird colony. You will find moose on the largest islands, while otters are common.

Viking Museum on Lofoten Islands by Thomas Behling, Hurtigruten

The Viking longhouse

Sunset on Lofoten Islands by Alex Conu, Visit Norway

Enjoy magic sunset!

Dryfish on Lofoten Islands by Pixabay

Drying fish on Lofoten Islands!

Scenery & attractions

The Lofoten Wall – the archipelago looks like a closed wall when seen from elevated points around Bodo or when arriving from the sea, some 100 km long, and 800-1000 m high.

The Moskenes maelstrom, considered to be one of the most dangerous maelstroms in the world.

The coastal Kollhellaren Cave with some 3000 year old cave paintings.

Vestvagoy with archeological finds from the Iron Age and the Viking Age.

The Viking longhouse (83 m) at Borg, the largest known longhouse. A reconstruction of the house is built at Lofotr Viking Museum.

The picturesque fishing villages of Nusfjord, Eggum and Unstad, situated at the foot of tall mountains, with the scenic pebbled beach at Eggum.

Henningsvaer – the most important fishing village on Lofoten.

Skomvaer Lighthouse – located on Skomvaer, the outermost island on Lofoten.

The scenic beaches might be some of the most spectacular beaches you will ever see!

Travel suggestions:
Majestic eagle in Norway. By Asgeir Helgestad, Visit Norway

You might experience majestic eagles!

Highlights of Lofoten Islands

This is a unique trip, showing you the most spectacular parts of the Lofoten Islands.
Experience small fishing villages, wildlife, fjords & steep mountains, an adventurous RIB boat trip along the inner seaside of Lofoten in search of the wildlife & and an exciting Crab safari in search for the crab pots set out the day before.

Read more about this tour
Ride on the Arctic Nordland Line by Oivind Haug, NSB

The Arctic Nordland line

Lofoten Islands, Helgeland & Sognefjord

An unforgettable round trip from Oslo with:
The Arctic Nordland line & Dovre line
Historic Trondheim & picturesque Bergen
Fjord cruise, Flam Railway & Bergen line
Duration: 12 nights

Read more about this tour
Midnight Sun at the Arctic Coast close to Tromso by Bjarne Riesto, Nordnorsk Reiseliv

Midnight sun on the Arctic coast

Tromso, Lofoten Islands & Fjord Norway

Extensive cruise trip from Oslo to Bergen, with:
Arctic cruise from Tromso to Lofoten
2 nights at Lofoten islands with excursions
3-nights cruise along the Norwegian coast
Fjord cruise on Unesco Naeroyfjord, Oslo & Bergen
Duration: 9 nights

Winter option

Read more about this tour
Lofoten Islands scenery By Foap, Visit Norway

Beautiful scenery on Lofoten Islands!

You can book safely

with Fjord Travel Norway  – a local, Norwegian travel company. We have been in business for more than 20 years, offering  tours based on our goal of sustainable tourism.

You will travel eco-friendly by public transport, hence you will travel like a local, with some guided excursions.
The tours are flexible and you can add nights and exciting activities.


 

Questions about these tours?

Contact us:
• Use our contact form
• By e-mail to [email protected], or
• Call us on +47 (55) 131-310
(Mon-Fri 09:00 to 15:30 local time)

What our customers say:

  • Thank you for assisting us with our trip to Norway. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Kirkenes and the Snow Hotel. The arrangements you made for us were perfect. The lodging was comfortable and the excursions were fun. Tom and I rarely use the services of a travel company when we travel; you enriched our trip and made the planning easy.

    Alison, United States

  • We just recently completed the Tromso, Northern Lights & Arctic Coast tour. I am writing to say what an amazing tour we had. Everything ran smoothly without an issue, the accommodation was fantastic and the tours were brilliant. We cannot fault the package at all. I would also like to thank Franziska and Lene, they both were fantastic in answering all my questions promptly, whilst booking the tour. Thank you for a wonderful and memorable holiday!

    Robert, Australia

  • I wanted to thank everybody. We had a wonderful trip. Everything went well and fortunately we had the chance to see the lights while on the cruise. All my friends in Turkey would like to go on a similar trip. So I will be in touch with you. Thanks again and best wishes to all of you.

    Candan, Turkey