Northern Norway: Introduction

Note: This post set has been written more than three years after our road trip in northern-Norway in the summer of 69 2013.

The first choice with Norway was: Which part of the coast is the best, the most spectacular, and the most representative of what we’ve been dreaming of. We only have two weeks. What can be achieved within two weeks ? Is it worth to rent a car ? Hitching ? Cycling ? Taking public transportation only ? Many questions conditioning our trip. Putting that into order:

When during the year?
That wasn’t much of a choice for us, but July is for sure the best part of the year, having still the midnight sun. We started on the 26th of July, trying to chase this midnight sun we will never see. In the northern part of Norway, the sun starts again to go down end of July. But it was still bright enough during our trip to skip the headlamp all the evening. Disturbing fact, definitely, but not as much as the opposite in winter!

Which part of the coast ?
As been the week before in Boden, Sweden, we starting from there, gathering the troops on the last day of O-Ringen in Luleå. Then was the question about going North or South of the Lofotens (unmissable part). We chose north finally with a part of Finland on the way back, attracted by he North pole, as a compass.

Public transportation or rent car ?
There are buses, but no trains up there. It is possible to make the trip with buses, but it requires much more planning than what we wanted to have. Moreover, we skipped a lot of costs bringing most of the food from Sweden where it is ironically cheaper! (sic). The questions is also linked to the kind of accommodation we wanted. Taking the bus, it’s hard to get of in the middle of nowhere to camp (plus the fact that you have to carry most of the time all your life in your backpack!). We decided for free camping, solving then the car question . Also, driving every day a couple of hundreds of kilometers, was nice but tiring, and leading to endless evenings trying to find the “best” place to crash, not too close from the road, not on the rocks, no too close from the buildings, … But camping was totally worth it! Don’t forget the mosquito repellent!

In the “not to miss!” class:

  • Reindeers everywhere up up north
  • The Lofoten Islands with the sun
  • Whale (camera-)chasing boat trip
  • Endless Norwegian fjord roads
Norway Trip
Our Norway Trip