Lofoten Islands, Norway

When I first discovered the Lofoten islands, I tried to plan it as a weekend trip for Austin as a christmas present in 2019. They looked so beautiful and I wanted to go so badly and we were doing weekend trips for Christmas gifts (something we’ve done for years). I really tried to find a way to make it work but the islands are so remote in the Arctic circle that its really not quick to travel to them. We decided instead to go to Austria and that we’d go to Norway later. Finally this summer for our anniversary we made it happen.

Day 1

Getting to the Lofoten islands is not easy. It is very far north (Norway is huge) and pretty remote. We decided to take a road trip and start by flying into Tromso. To do this we had a layover in Helsinki and then a 2 hour flight to Tromso. Schiphol airport in Amsterdam is a hot mess due to everyone traveling in these post Corona days + all of the layoffs during Corona, so we arrived there at 8 AM and arrived to Tromso around 7 PM. It was a very long day.

When we arrived we were very hungry so we put on all of our rain gear and walked in search of food. We ended up at a spot called Burgr which was a very small burger bar that was video game themed. To our surprise the burgers were amazing, maybe the best we’ve had in Europe. They also had onion rings and jalapeno poppers which were also surprisingly excellent. Sadly I took a terrible photo because I was starving.

Day 2

The next morning we went back to the airport to pick up our rental car (we didn’t want to pay to park it an extra day since it was expensive). Then we immediately set out for the Husky Cafe at Villmarkssenter which was about a 15 minute drive from Tromsø. This is a husky kennel that offers sled dog tours in the winter and in the summer you can hike with the huskies or just visit them. There is also a small cafe.

We walked around and pet all of the huskies (there are some who are unleashed, apparently this privilege rotates among the dogs, I think they are also taken for quite a lot of exercise) and then got to hang out with some puppies as well.

When we were done we went and got a snack and a drink from the cafe/gift shop. The woman at the counter told us we could go into this small hut nearby to sit since it was raining outside. We were shocked when we went into this amazing cozy little space with a big fire in the middle. I could have stayed there all day.

After the huskies we had wanted to hike but the weather was very cold and rainy so we decided to drive and check out some view points.

After that we explored the city and checked out the aquarium (which turned out to be pretty small and disappointing besides watching the seals). The city is small but pretty cute, though since it was a Sunday most things were closed (somehow we always manage to forget this about Europe).

While we explored we stumbled on this little hot dog stand. I asked the person working what toppings a local would get and he gave me beets, honey mustard and a little bit of cloudberry jam. It was amazing!

We also got a good tip about the chocolate in Norway and stopped at 7-11 (we were surprised to find these everywhere) to buy some chocolate. This began an addiction for the rest of the trip!!

Day 3

The next morning I wanted to get a real breakfast since we had a few hours drive ahead of us. We went to a little spot called Riso that was known for their cinnamon rolls and their walnut honey omelette. Both were delicious and they also had really nice coffee.

Then we headed out to our next stop on an island called Senja. It took us about 3 hours to get there but the drive was nice.

We were staying in a little town called Hamn at a hotel called Hamn i Senja. When we were booking we had the choice between a very tiny outdated room and a really beautiful aurora suite. We are suckers and decided to splurge on the fancy room. The hotel had a few weird things about it but it was in a really gorgeous location and the view from our room was beautiful.

After we settled in we had dinner at the hotel restaurant (this area is pretty remote so restaurants outside of hotels are not common. In this case this was the only place to eat within like a 30 minute drive.) and then went to explore some view points since the weather was pretty nice (aka not raining).

We also stayed up to see the midnight sun. This picture was taken at 1 AM.

Day 4

The next day we decided to go hiking on Sukkertoppen which was a mountain right by our hotel (we walked about 10 minutes to the trailhead.) It was pretty steep but extremely beautiful. I definitely panicked at a few points but pushed myself to keep going pretty far! We didn’t go all the way to the top but definitely got pretty far. Going back down was definitely interesting as we had climbed up pretty far on a rocky slope!

After our hike we were exhausted! The weather was pretty nice so we had a drink at the restaurant and then had dinner with some tasty fish soup.

Day 5

On day 5 we had a choice: drive ~6 hours to Svolvaer, or wake up early to catch a 2 hour ferry and then a 3 hour drive from there. We decided we wanted the ferry option so we woke up early to get there 2.5 hours before. When we arrived the ferry line was already SO LONG and people were waiting for the next one which was 3 hours later (so waiting 6 hours!). You cannot book this ferry ahead unfortunately and we weren’t willing to wait so we decided to just tough out the long drive rather than wait all day for a ferry (and then still have to drive). Luckily it was a really beautiful day that we woke up to!

We stopped for a very exciting gas station lunch complete with some Norweigan sweets - basically chocolate covered bugles.

We arrived in Svolvaer finally (with some rainier weather). We stayed in a super cute little fishing cabin on the water.

After our long drive we had dinner in our fancy hotel restaurant Børsen Spiseri where I tried monkfish for the first time!

Day 6

The next morning we went on a cruise to Trollfjord in an electric boat. It was a bit cold but very beautiful! We did get a lovely sun break though as we got into the fjord.

After our cruise we decided to drive over To Henningsvaer, a nearby little town that we heard was quite “hipster” with lots of little shops. We bought some art and some souvenirs and then had a really excellent cinnamon roll at Henningsvær Lysstøperi and Cafe.

Day 7

Finally it was time to head to our last island stop in Hamnøy. This was luckily only a 2 hour drive. On the way we noticed a sign for Lofotr viking museum and decided to stop. It was a very immersive museum and very nicely done!

We also stopped at some very beautiful rest stops and view points on the way too.

Finally we arrived at our very beautiful hotel, Eliassen Rorbeur. The photo of the hotel from the bridge is probably the most iconic photo of the Lofoten islands so we immediately walked to take one as well! It was pretty stormy but we were lucky enough to catch a rainbow!

For dinner that night we ate at our hotel restaurant Gadus (we actually ate there all 3 nights), as there is not much nearby. The restaurant was Italian but of course had a Norweigan influence that it was a lot of seafood. It turned out to be fantastic! I had “Frutti di Mare”, a seafood pasta with shrimp and mussels.

Day 8

On our first full day at Eliassen Rorbuer we decided to start off with a trip to the sauna. They had a small sauna with a nice view of the harbor and Austin loves saunas so we booked a spot at noon. They give you two hours which is way too long for me (my sauna limit is like, 10-15 minutes cumulatively) but they had chairs and stuff to relax on outside and you could also jump in the ARCTIC water. Austin opted to do this but I did not.

When they set us up with the sauna they also mentioned that we could take the stand up paddle boards if we wanted to. I have always wanted to try so I decided to get on but quickly realized I was out of my element. This felt very high stakes because the water is EXTREMELY COLD and I could get back in the sauna but first I’d have to get out of the water and make my way back to the sauna and I was just too intimidated. I ended up cruising around on my knees because it felt much less scary :)

After our adventurous morning we headed to Anita’s Saskeroy nearby for a lunch of fish burgers. The place was super cute with locally made products for sale and the food was excellent.

After this we decided to drive to the literal end of the road in the Lofoten islands to a town called Å. The town is quite small as most of them are in this area but we went to a viewpoint and admired the stunning scenery.

We of course had dinner at Gadus again which was amazing for a second day. This time I got cod which was really excellent.

Finally to round out the day we had a sunset kayak tour in nearby Reinefjord which I was very excited about. We booked through a company called Reine Paddling. It did not disappoint! The weather ended up being lovely for kayaking and the tour had very nice kayaks which kept us stable along with equipment to keep us dry. The views were absolutely incredible from the water. Since it doesn’t get dark until very late, you are also able to kayak quite late so our tour started at 8 and finished around 11. It was honestly breathtaking. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

On our way home from kayaking we also saw this really gorgeous sunset from Reine.

Day 9

On our last full day in the Lofoten islands we decided we needed to do one more hike. The weather was really lovely and I did a lot of research about which hike would have nice views but not kill us. There’s a popular hike in Reine but it looks pretty dangerous and we didn’t feel equipped for that (plus there’s so many people trying to do it that its now starting to erode and cause issues for the nearby village). We decided instead to do a hike of Ryten which takes you up to a view over Kvalvika beach.

This hike was sold to me by the internet as “relatively easy and good for the whole family” which is a classification I disagree with personally, but I guess I am not Norweigan. There were a few parts which felt quite treacherous, though once you get up high enough the path really flattens out and its not so bad. It was extremely windy while we were hiking too, and as we started to get to the top we noticed a lot of fog and low visibility. We decided it wasn’t worth it to go all the way to the top and skipped the last half kilometer as we didn’t think we’d be able to see anyway. My legs were quite thankful for this on the way back as the 6 or so kilometers that we did do was plenty.

After the hike we decided to drive over and check out a nearby beach (Rambergstranda) for a few minutes but didn’t stay long as we were worn out.

When we got back to our hotel it was very sunny and lovely at our hotel so we sat out on the deck and soaked up the sun until it was time for dinner.

We rounded out our last night with another feast at the amazing Gadus restaurant where I had round 2 of frutti de mare.

As a not-that-fun bonus, at 2 AM that night the fire alarm in the whole resort went off (I guess it was a false alarm as it just sort of stopped and everyone went back to bed?) but I got a chance to take this lovely 2 AM sunrise photo.

Day 10

On our second to last day in Norway we had to catch a ferry from Moskenes to Bodo, back to the mainland. Luckily you can book this ferry ahead of time, as the alternative is many many hours of driving. The ferry is quite long at a little more than 3 hours. We didn’t have much to do earlier in the day so we got some coffee and then sat in line for the ferry for a long time. The ferry itself was not too bad and they had a decent little cafe on board.

Finally in Bodø we checked into our hotel and went to find dinner. We decided to eat at another burger place called Burgasm which turned out to also be pretty fantastic (the Nordic countries seem to be great at making burgers.) On the way bcack to our hotel we stopped at a supermarket and bought ourselves a ridiculous amount of Norweigan chocolate to take home with us.

The next day we flew home (with a layover in Oslo). It was not an easy place to get to but it was so beautiful and so worth going to. I am so glad we had the chance to spend so much time in such a magical place. I would love to go back in the winter to see the Northern lights someday!