About Lofoten
Lofoten is an archipelago in Northern Norway. It lies at 68 degrees N Latitude, two degrees above the Arctic Circle. As a result, it has 24 hours of sunlight for about a month around the summer solstice and 24 hours of darkness for a similar period around the winter solstice.
Among the highlights of an early summer visit to Lofoten is the opportunity to hike in the midnight sun. We visited in early August. At that time the sunset was around 10:30 pm and sunrise around 3:30 am. Due to sun dipping just below the horizon in an arctic summer, the nights remained relatively bright. More like an extended civil than true night. We did a spectacular evening hike to Reinebringen, and were able to see the trail clearly even after the sun set.
Lofoten is comprised of five main islands (from Northeast to Southwest): Austvagoya, Vestvagoya, Gimsoya, Flakstadoya and Moskenesoya. In my opinion, the terrain only gets better as you go further south. We did 2 hikes on Austvagoya, 4 on Flakstadoya and 5 on Moskenesoya. There are several hikes which look interesting on Vestvagoya, but we ran out of time to do them on this trip. Moskenesoya was our favorite island.
Getting to Lofoten takes some work. There are two primary ways to access the Archipelago. The first is to fly to Bodo and then take a ferry to Moskenes, with the option of stopping off on the island of Vaeroy. The second is to fly to Evenes, rent a car and drive to Lofoten. This is the route that we took. If you want a full tour of Lofoten, the latter is probably the better option. If you want to focus on southern Lofoten (Moskenesoya, Flakstadoya and Vaeroy), taking the ferry from Bodo makes more sense. The drive from Evenes to Reine was five hours, but was incredibly beautiful and, in our assessment, well worth the effort. The photos on this page were all taken from the side of the road on the drive from Evenes. A third option is to fly into one of the smaller airports in Svolvaer or Leknes. These airports are in the heart of Lofoten, but there are fewer daily flights, higher weather related cancellations and car rentals options are limited and more expensive.
There are several options of places to stay in Lofoten. We stayed six nights in Reine, two nights in Hennningsvaer and one night in Kabelvaag, near Svolvaer. In order to have an authentic Lofoten experience, we stayed in Rorbuers for seven nights, which I highly recommend. These traditional red fishing huts have narrow staircases and small bathrooms, but are quaint and charming, and add to an immersive experience. We stayed two nights at the Henningsvaer Bryggehotell, which was more of a luxury experience with an excellent restaurant. Also highly recommended.
If coming from Europe, I would recommend spending at least a week to explore Lofoten. If coming from outside Europe, I would recommend at least 10 days. We spent 24 hours traveling there and 26 hours on the way home. For that kind of travel commitment, you will want to be sure to allocate enough time to enjoy the islands.
