Lofoten came on are radar quite natural, given our growing passion for Norway. After two years in a row in Northern Norway, now it came the third. I didn’t name this by accident “Discover Lofoten”, as this company shaped in the best way possible our trip, and not only that, but our whole view about Norway, and about the way in which we should plan our trips for future trips. Of course, I will start with the beginning, more precise with our landing in Svolvær, capital of Lofoten, on 28th of December 2024. Five nights at Thon hotel, maybe the best / well ranked in the region. An amazing apartment with a great breakfast included with only slightly less than 230 EUR / night. I was amused to see the prices in our home country, Romania, for the same period. Absolutely ridiculous.
First full day in Lofoten, first adventures
In any case, the only plan for the first day was a short walk to see the town and a sauna session with cold plunging in the Norwegian See, in 4.5ºC water, booked in advance. I have rediscovered the pleasure of going into very cold water, which is not too hard, when you exit from a steaming room and when you are not afraid you have… polar bears, maybe, around. For 29th of December we have planned a trip with Odd Krane, a hike near Kabelvåg, on snow shoes. Very interesting perspective of the place, some moose tracks were discovered – however no moose – but a lot of stories and valuable information, in a scenery, that brought us back, a bit, one year, when we did a somehow similar, but very different, tracking in Sarkofagen, Svalbard. If you want to check out the activity, you should do that and the link is here, on Get Your Guide.
Discover Lofoten, the perfect guide
On 30th of December we had a trip to Reine scheduled, but it got cancelled 30 minutes before the departure, because of allegedly bad weather conditions. I won’t give too many details about this experience, because is not worth it, considering they have cancelled our reindeer excursion from 31st of December as well. No hard feelings, but this was our first lesson: never book this kind of trips, in this kind of region, if you cannot rely on a local. You can organize a company everywhere in the world, but if you don’t know the place, you can’t offer good experience. Anyway, this opened our path to one of the best New Year ever, only saying this while thinking of the one spent in Svalbard, one year behind. Odd-Petter, the owner of Discover Lofoten, because this is the name of the company was our guide on 31st of December and 1st of January, and considering he basically worked – including aurora hunting – almost non-stop for this period, reshaped a bit, in my mind, the idea of passion and love for what you do.
Kabelvåg and Henningsvær, first two stops
On 31st of December, the last day of the year, before 09:00 AM sharp, Discover Lofoten van was there to pick us up. The initial stop was at the nearby Kabelvåg town, former capital of Lofoten and home of Odd-Peter, where we have seen a very beautiful church, that can host up to 1.300 souls at a procession, quite impressive since the settlement has only 2.800 people living there, or so. After we have enjoyed some beautiful views here, we started heading to famous Henningsvær, so called Venice of Lofoten, a charming fishing village, home of 500 souls, with a rich history, wonderful landscapes, and, above all, belonging of one of the most famous football pitches in the world, carved on a rock. OK, it was covered in snow, we couldn’t catch there the images which circulate on the internet, but still we’ve experienced the unique location. And for sure it will be a must see for a future summer trip in Lofoten, for better visibility.
Checking out the… beach!
After that, we went for a walk down to the village center and we discovered a charming quiet place – not like the movie with the same name! :))) – and we entered into the small shops in the center, for a glance. From there, Gimsøya was the next and final stop of the day. A significant sized island, known for being a great place to spot the Northern Lights, here we saw a beautiful beach – you can imagine the view of a beach covered with snow, while the waves smash on the shore! Hov Gård is the name, and here you can ride Icelandic horses, and actually seen people doing that. On a very cold weather and some blizzard, on top! Travelling to this place, we have learned that the island is the home of one of the most famous golf fields in the world, and also that is one of the best places in Lofoten to see the rapid changes of the weather and of the colors from the sky. It really is amazing!
Preparing to end 2024 in style
Even if this was the last stop, the road back to Svolvær takes some time, and we enjoy more outstanding sceneries, and great stories from Odd-Petter. One other thing that stood up was the way in which our guide enjoyed every second of the trip himself, and stated constantly what beauties are around and how lucky he is that he lives there. Wow, this is the type of guide everybody would want! With a last view of the burning sky in our way back, we stopped for some pictures. In Lofoten there is no sunrise, so then no sunset in that period, but still some hours of light are available just enough to see the wonders of the winter in this part of Norway. The 2024 year ends in style, and we make sure to have this wrapped properly by having a festive dinner at Bacalao, a restaurant booked way in advance – even though it didn’t prove to be necessary. For a portion of bacalao each, a great dessert each, and a bottle of sparkling South African wine (destiny!) we have paid 1800 NOK, tips included. A good deal!
The run from the midnight
Unfortunately, in Svolvær no restaurant was opened after 22:30, including in the New Year’s Evening, which was pretty strange, but we have adapted to the matter, especially since we knew this way in advance. So what to do? Anca came up with the idea to run! I cannot lie and tell this isn’t an idea I have for years, but never actually happened for me to spend the pass between two years running. We did it this time! 5 kilometers and tons of pictures while enjoying the white of the snow, and the fireworks launched by tourists – the municipality cancelled its planes, because of strong winds! – remain, up to know, maybe my best New Year memory ever. But, oh! We can’t stay up too late, guys. Another adventure with Discover Lofoten is awaiting us. Actually, while running on the Svinøy Bridge, we encounter Odd-Petter’s car, few minutes before the midnight, while we was bringing back tourists from the aurora hunt.
Ending 2024 with Discover Lofoten, starting 2025 with Discover Lofoten!
1st of January 2025! Again, few minutes before 09:00 AM we exit Thon hotel and meet up. This time, we are talking about a broader tour, that will last up to 9 hours, because we are going all the way to Reine, the initial place where we wanted to stay, and luckily we changed our mind just in time! The trip to Reine is long, but amazingly beautiful, and here, the essence of Lofoten is the most alive: exactly here you can take some of the most famous pictures in the world, from Hamnøy bridge. But we will get to that, and more, because the start of this wonderful excursion was not without… anxiety. The weather looked worse than the one on 30th of December, when our initial trip to Reine was cancelled, but Odd-Petter decided there is no serious threat we should not go, because on top of everything he has live cams installed on the islands, to check constantly the real weather. What a well-prepared guy he is!
Snow everywhere
We had two initial stops until the far west of the islands, and the blizzard, wind, and snow were getting richer and richer, so our guide said that we might not be able to reach our final destination – “safety first!” Couldn’t agree more! After one stomp near the beaches or Ramberg, where we took some wonderful pictures and also used the very clean toilet, Discover Lofoten expedition continued, because we got the clearance: “the weather in the west is far better, so we will continue our ride”. Great news! The winter looked to be in full shape here, but our guide was an excellent driver, and explained to us what kind of driving school you should follow in Norway to get your license: driving on ice, at 130 km / hour, and full-breaking, among fake people and houses. On top of this, the speed limit followed strictly, and spikes on the tires conferred a huge comfort. I know some of you might wonder why I am surprised of this, but when you come from Romania, a country with almost 0 driving quality on the roads, this things look outstanding.
Lunch at Anita’s Seafood
Now, getting back to our wonderful trip, the weather did improve, but visibility was not sufficient to see the famous peaks from the West… We stop to eat at Anita’s Seafood and Odd-Petter tells us: “take your time, the weather should clear up in around 1 hour and a half”. Perfect! We order great fish burgers, and chocolate cake, with plenty of coffee, and enjoy them. The food here is really tasty, so highly recommend to check it out! Here we would have eaten if we got accommodated in Reine, but it was a couple of kilometers away, so most likely not a great idea. We eat, go outside and then it happened! The weather cleared, and the mountains revealed. So I could take the famous picture, you can see in the article header, but also the famous pyramid shape mountain with the yellow cabin next to it. Th most famous sceneries in Lofoten, captured by my phone camera, and shared here for posteriority! There are dozens of people looking for same memories, so we finish this, and up we go back to Svolvær! Still, we are almost 90 kilometers away, so it won’t be a short road.
Wonderful views in Western Lofoten, Reine region
Especially that Odd-Petter identifies a great nearby place to take a stunning picture with the peaks’ reflection in the water. Wow! It is so good to go with a professional photographer on tour! You might ask what happened to Reine itself… Well, we didn’t make it there, because we didn’t have to. Reine, itself it’s famous for the surroundings, and we have captured the surroundings more than perfect. Discover Lotofen is heading back now. We hope to see a moose, Odd-Petter manages to spot one at a moment, but only him sees it. They look to be scared and uneasy because of the harsh winter weather, so they don’t walk around, like they would be doing in the summer time. However, our guide states that seeing an elk can open the path for also seeing the Northern Lights. Since he is a very experienced guide, who actually does Aurora hunt all evening, I am confident that this will happen. Before anything, we discover another spot where we can stop and witness the stunning surroundings.
Beautiful sky, but wait to see the Northern Lights!
The sky has all the colors, all the shapes, and the reflection into the water amplifies the beauty of the nature. We spend there some time, take pictures, breath the clear air, and hit the road. Some cars are exited on the side of the road, into snow, because many tourists rent cars, and they have no clue how to drive these pretentious roads. Fortunately, they look OK, but still waiting to be pulled out. While thinking about how irresponsible can people be, we are struck: Odd-Petter shouts that a huge Aurora is to appear any time soon. I rarely have seen a human with so much enthusiasm. Of course, we pick that enthusiasm up very quickly ourselves. Then we found the perfect place to stop and witness the wonder, for, maybe 20-30 minutes. We were frozen, but what a memory! “The best Aurora I see in my 11 years of doing this!!!” shouts our guide! Indeed, there she is! Pink, purple, red, green! What symphony of colors! You can see it far better thru the lens of the camera, but not only that, with the naked eye at moments.
All colors this time, not only green
We have seen a lot of Northern Lights in Tromsø and even Svalbard, but only the “classic” green. Now, we see all its colors and shapes. We are so fortunate! The sky is fully covered, the sensation is unique. We are lucky! So lucky! The witnessing of this, and more on the remaining road back, indeed added a great sprinkle of happiness to our overall experience. The Lofoten discovering, by winter, it is complete! The only missing element was to see a moose, crossing the road, but apart from that, we had the perfect sceneries. Two full days, at the year passing, so outstanding memories. Now we can prepare, in peace, for our departure, which is settled for 2nd of January. And since things got very different comparing to planned here, I will touch this in a separate article, because there are significant components you need to look after, when booking a trip to Lofoten, by winter. It might be very risky and you need to be prepared.
Wandering around Svolvær
We are now in 2025, but the epilogue of this amazing double experience guided by Discover Lofoten, will bring us quickly in 2024. On 30th of December, to be more specific, when, because of our trip cancellation, we have reshaped our plan and visited in depth our host town for five days, Svolvær. Now, about the great decision of locating here, I will be talking in the separate article I have mentioning, but until then, I will drop here some thoughts. Comparing to the whole archipelago of Lofoten, Svolvær is not outstanding, but if you have the luck to go for a walk and have snow fall, and good visibility, you can access the beauty of the place from here as easy as from Reine. The thing with Svolvær is that being the biggest settlement and the capital of the region, you can have access here to almost everything you need. And on top of this, while walking, you can get the impression that you are as well in an Alpine village from Switzerland or France.
The landscape looks stunning
The heights in Lofoten are slightly higher than 1000 meters, but since they are at sea level, with snow on top of them, they can be “mistaken” to any 3000+ meter peaks, that are at 1500 – 2000 meters altitude, so that is one of the beauties of Svolvær. The church in the middle of the town is a perfect match as well, and the bridge I was talking earlier help you access more silands where you can even see fishes left to dry – of course one of the main occupations in Lofoten is fishing, and a quite well-paid job, especially for salmon fishing! – you can see the famous cabins, mostly red ones, where you can even accommodate if you want to have the ultimate local experience. Staying at a five star Thon hotel made more sense for us, and indeed it paid of. Still, seeing the red small houses and the surroundings worth it for us to give this walking full tour. More talking, apart from what I’ve wrote here, will do the pictures.
Some quick tips to… discover Lofoten!
It is a pretty long story, but I’ve shortened it as much as possible, because the importance is for you to be aware which is your best option of getting guided thru Lofoten, where to stay, and what to see when you are there. The pictures and the links shared where relevant tell a far better story, and you should, for sure, have this experience. Just not to forget, in Svolvær you have also three big markets: Kiwi, Rema 1000, and Coop, but also a rather big mall, where you can find pretty much of everything. Just be careful with their schedule, as in some days it might be shorter. You cannot buy alcohol from shops after 18:00 on Saturdays, and at all on Sundays – applies across whole Norway, by law, but you still can enjoy a great beer in Svolvær at sports pub a highly recommend: Telegrafen Pub, in the main square of the town. Enjoy some simple food here, a couple of beers, and then you can cross the road and get a souvenir. 🙂 As well, next to it, you have a Narvesen market, where you can buy some famous Norwegian sausages.
Stay posted for the next article, about the traveling experience to Lofoten, and especially back from Lofoten! 🙂
