Norway’s Lofoten Islands had been on my husband’s “should go to listing” for a number of years, however I had by no means even heard of the island chain till searching Wildland journeys. The views appeared epic and neither of us had been to Scandinavia earlier than. By the point we booked, we had already traveled a handful of occasions with Wildland and determined to belief that the itinerary was good with out a lot additional thought. What’s there to do in Lofoten? We’d discover out as soon as we bought there.
We took off on a direct flight from Newark EWR on my birthday and stayed in Oslo for 3 nights. As the same old “planner” in our pair, I did minimal prep for this journey after getting overwhelmed by the formal planning course of (there was all the time, all the time, a spreadsheet). So we had nothing in any respect scheduled for our time in Oslo.
Armed with solely a brief listing of vegan eating places within the metropolis (Nordvegan was our favourite), we ventured out on foot to see the museums, fjords, gardens, and Storting constructing (the place parliament meets).
If I ever return, I’d prefer to make time to go to a floating sauna. Once we noticed them, I had not but ever executed a chilly plunge and was too scared.
Norway Mountains To Fjords Trek
The right way to Get to the Lofoten Islands
From Oslo, which I consider is the major waypoint to get to Lofoten, you might take the prepare and ferry to Svolvær, however we flew from the Oslo airport. As of winter 2025, there’s nonetheless a direct flight from OSL to SVJ operated by Wideroe, and begins routes towards the top of June.
The boarding space for the direct flight from OSL was fairly faraway from the hustle and bustle of the remainder of the airport. It was apparent at least some on our similar flight may be part of our group (you may guess by all of the gear). The airplane seated perhaps 40 and had nearly no overhead storage. Even our 30L backpacks had been checked on the gate.
The airstrip at SVJ is true alongside the water and also you get an instantaneous view of the islands and mountains within the distance as you land. We walked off the airplane onto the tarmac, accumulating our baggage because it was pulled out.
The SVJ airport has 2 fundamental rooms, so that you positively can’t get misplaced: one room for departures, and on the opposite aspect, a room for arrivals. We hung round for a bit after choosing up our backpacks. I believed there was a bus that had common departures into city, but it surely wasn’t working that day.
On the map, it’d seem like you might stroll from SVJ to Svolvær downtown, however it’s method too far and tough to do with baggage. There have been solely 2 taxis on the airport, and as we had the least quantity of bags, we grabbed one of the primary ones. There have been not many airport employees to ask, but it surely appeared taxis would hold coming since there have been so few flights in/out of that airport.
So far as the best way to get to the Lofoten Islands, Svolvaer appears to be a fundamental entry level by land and air, although there are numerous choices if you’re in a position to journey by constitution boat or ferry. For this journey, Svolvaer was the gateway city to the Lofoten Islands. And Svolvaer is part of the archipelago itself, so in case you make it this far, congrats, you’ve arrived.
Outdoors of Oslo, the subsequent largest hub to get into Svolvaer is Bodo, with many extra connecting flight choices. To get to the Lofoten Islands through Bodo (airport code BOO), you may skip Oslo altogether and fly in from Munich, Copenhagen, Helsinki, and 15 different cities, connecting from BOO to SVJ as you please. Whereas I haven’t been there, I’ve heard nice issues concerning the metropolis of Bodo and it appears it could be value at the very least a 1 evening layover as you make your method additional north to get to the Lofoten Islands. That was our unique plan, however I opted for the simpler logistics of the direct flight.
What to Do in Lofoten
In case you had been searching for what to do in Lofoten however solely made it so far as Svolvaer, you may stroll alongside the fjord, cross the Svinoy bridge, and go to some tributes to “Lofoten’s most well-known painter,” Gunnar Berg, together with the devoted Galleri Gunnar Berg. In Svolvaer, there’s a small, correct downtown with an artwork gallery, cafe, ice cream store, and some eating places. Simply in entrance of the Vacationer Data middle is a city sq., the place we occurred to catch a pop-up market with distributors promoting sweaters and snacks.
There have been loads of locals/Scandi vacationers round Lofoten, however I didn’t discover too many from farther afield. As we moved additional away from city infrastructure, extra camper vans began popping up and I really feel certain you might hire one. However I by no means noticed a vacationer bus; frankly I feel it might have a tough time navigating among the windier roads and bridges.
Transferring via extra distant areas of the island chain, climbing and watersports rapidly turn into the most effective issues to do in Lofoten. As a result of among the islands are fairly small, you nearly all the time find yourself with a water view and place to cold-plunge into the icy fjord in case you so select.
I used to be shocked to see urchins and sea stars all alongside the coast. The beachcombing, when you’ll find a seashore, is really fairly good. The seashores are typically a bit extra crowded than the climbing trails are, as a result of a lot of the Lofoten islands are surrounded by fjord. Not having executed my analysis forward of time, I had thought the fjord was a man-made entry level akin to a canal, but it surely’s really a glacially carved valley that will get flooded over time, so the edges are steep, which means there’s not the mild grade to create a sandy seashore. Even with that, we nonetheless bought to chill out on 3 separate and distinctive seashores.
Probably the most memorable factor I might suggest to do whereas you’re visiting the Lofoten Islands is to sauna after which bounce within the sea. We spent an entire afternoon going backwards and forwards from the steam to the icy waters and I usually use it as a reference level in my common life: an instance of the laborious issues that I can bodily do.
If climbing is your factor, which if you’re right here, I’m certain it’s, then you’ll have loads of choices. Although the paths should not effectively marked, there’s usually not a lot of room to get misplaced. Your basic path might be “up.” And the panorama is scrubby at finest, so you’ll have a transparent view of the place you’re going and the place you’ve been, so long as you don’t get caught within the cloud cowl.
What I like concerning the Wildland journey via the Lofoten Islands is the number of locations and actions that we had been in a position to do. There was all the time time for a seashore stroll, fast steam, chilly plunge, gallery go to, hand-knit sweater try-on, or espresso throughout the midnight solar.
Lofoten Islands Guided Mountain climbing Tour
Specifically, I preferred this journey as a result of it felt off-the-beaten path. It wasn’t overrun by vacationers and the locals appeared comfortable to have us there. I think about it might be tough to navigate between islands through public transit, and alone I definitely by no means would have made it to one in all our closing hikes alongside an remoted island accessible solely by chartered boat, which was one in all my favorites. As somebody who hit a breaking level as the non-public itinerary builder, this was an important one to only present up and be pleasantly shocked by.
