Summary of Millie’s trip
The most beautiful place in the whole world.
Country Visited
Norway
General Tips for Norway
- Rent a campervan if you can as the flexibility to move on daily or stay longer somewhere you love makes the trip feel like proper travel.
- Rent a car if you’re staying in fixed accommodation and you can cover the whole archipelago top to bottom in about 4 hours.
- Fly London to Oslo to Bodø, then a small propeller plane to Svolvær which is stunning.
- Visit in summer if you can as the midnight sun changes what’s possible in a day, especially for the Haukland Beach sunset hike.
- Don’t skip Nusfjord which is easy to overlook but was one of the highlights.
Destinations and Tips
Lofoten Islands
- Where to Stay: We rented an Airbnb campervan from a lovely Norwegian couple based in Henningsvær – we’d absolutely do it again, though that particular couple has since stopped renting their van; other companies now offer the same setup.
- Hov Gård: a half day ride on Icelandic ponies; the route passes through the world’s most northerly golf course and stops for a picnic lunch in a beautiful spot by the beach.
- Haukland Beach: if you’re travelling in summer, this is a must because the sun never sets, you can climb the mountain for “sunset,” watch the sun come down to the horizon, kiss it, and rise again and once you’re back down, jump straight into the sea.
- Nusfjord: an old traditional fishing village – visit the bakery, simply called Bakeri, then hike up Ryten and down to Kvalvika Beach, which is only reachable on foot; finish the day with a pizza from the family run café at the start and end point of the Ryten walk.
- Skip It: the walk above Reine was, honestly, boring, and busy with tourists.
- On our last day before flying back to the mainland, we booked an eagle boat trip from Svolvær, hoping to see orcas – we didn’t see any (apparently they were around that same week, just not on our boat), but the fjords and islands from the water, and the sea eagles, made it worth doing regardless.
- Best meal: the Bakeri at Nusfjord, and the pizza at the bottom of the Ryten hike.
- Getting Around: if you’ve booked accommodation anywhere fixed, rent a car as you can travel from the top to the bottom of the archipelago in around 4 hours, which puts a huge amount within easy reach.
See my map on Google here:
Millie’s trip round Lofoten Islands