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NORWAY | Nordland, Norway Travel Guide
Thursday, November 21, 2024
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Lofoten Orientation
Lofoten Orientation
There are six main islands that make up Lofoten. Four of them can be reached by car or bus from the mainland, while the outer two are reachable only by boat. Austvågøy is the nearest one to the mainland where Solvær, the biggest city on Lofoten, is located. Of the 25,000 full-time residents on Lofoten, about 4,000 of them live in Solvær, which is also the administrative center for the archipelago.
Kabelvåg
Kabelvåg is the village just across the bay from Solvær and was one of the first inhabited places on the islands. Until a few hundred years ago, Kabelvåg was actually the main city on Lofoten, but it’s now a quiet little village.
Henningsvær
Henningsvær, at Austvågøy’s southern tip, is probably the most characteristic fishing village on Lofoten. Despite a smaller population than both Solvær and Kabelvåg, it is by far the busiest of the three today.
Because of the scenery at Lofoten, the archipelago is also an artists’ paradise and you’ll see quite a few art galleries around the islands, especially in and around Solvær.
Vestvågøy
The next island you get to is Vestvågøy, where you have the option of continuing on the E10 Highway or taking Road 815, which goes along the coastline on the “inner side.” There you find Stamsund, the biggest village on the island. Right in the middle of Vestvågøy, not far from the E10, is the Viking museum at Borg.
Flakstad and Moskenesøy
Flakstad and Moskenesøy are the next two islands. The latter is many people’s favorite, with all the picturesque little fishing villages lined up along the “inner coastline” and steep mountains rising up immediately behind them. The island is quite narrow and the E10 takes you past most of these villages, ending with the little town simply named Å, which coincidently also is the last letter in the Norwegian alphabet.
Værøy and Røst
Although the islands that are connected to the mainland by bridges end with Moskenesøy, there are two more that technically belong to Lofoten, Værøy and Røst. These are much smaller and flatter than the other four so most hiking and all climbing is done on the northern islands. Værøy and Røst are still well worth visiting, especially for birdwatchers. On the Fuglefjellen (the bird rocks), a group of islands west of Røst, there are an estimated one million birds every year, half of them puffins.
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