Lofoten Islands, Norway

Jagged peaks straight out of the sea, Arctic surf, and the aurora over red fishing cabins.

northern-lightshikingsurfphotographyfjords

Best time to visit

Month	High	Low	Rain	Season
Jan	2°	0°	105 mm
Feb	2°	-1°	93 mm	prime
Mar	2°	0°	86 mm	prime
Apr	4°	2°	58 mm
May	7°	5°	50 mm
Jun	11°	8°	47 mm	prime
Jul	13°	11°	50 mm	prime
Aug	13°	11°	75 mm	prime
Sep	11°	9°	98 mm	prime
Oct	8°	5°	126 mm	prime
Nov	5°	3°	130 mm
Dec	3°	1°	122 mm

30-year averages (1995–2024) from ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo. Rain is the monthly total.

Serves travellers at Backpacker→Premium level. Typically around $220 a day on the ground.

Ranges are typical costs, not quotes. Check the real price before you book.

A car. Buses exist and are infrequent, and the E10 is the single road with everything hanging off it. In winter that means studded tyres and very few hours of light to drive in.
getting around · editorial
Fly to Bodø and take the ferry across to Moskenes, or to Evenes and drive three to four hours onto the islands. Small planes also land at Leknes and Svolvær.
getting there · editorial
There is no night in summer and almost no day in winter, so decide which one you came for. Weather turns by the hour and the exposed ridge hikes are genuinely dangerous in wind.
know before · editorial
Card only, in practice. Norway has more or less stopped using cash and some places will not take it at all.
money · editorial
The dark months bring storms, closed mountain trails and cloud that hides the aurora as often as not. Midsummer is the opposite problem: no darkness at all, and full car parks at every trailhead.
when not to go · editorial
Reine and Hamnøy at the western end for the postcard peaks, Henningsvær for the harbour village, Svolvær for services and connections, Leknes as a flat practical middle. Rorbuer, the converted fishermen''s cabins, are the standard lodging throughout.
where to stay · editorial

Reine
Red fishermen's houses on the water, with granite walls behind them.
Hamnøy
The bridge with the rorbuer below it. The most reproduced photograph in the archipelago.
Henningsvær
A fishing village on islets linked by bridges, with the football pitch out on the rock.
Haukland beach
White sand and turquoise water at 68 degrees north. The temperature does not match the colour.
Nusfjord
One of the oldest preserved fishing villages in Norway.
Å i Lofoten
The end of the road, and the shortest name a town can have.

Eat northern cod — skrei, in season
Tørrfisk
Cod dried in the wind, without salt, as it has been done since the Vikings.
Creamy fish soup
Made with whatever came back on the boat that morning.
Waffle with brunost
Sweet brown cheese, on a heart-shaped waffle. Do not argue, eat it.

Stay up until midnight with the sun still high
Midnight sun
From late May to mid-July it does not set. Stay awake and check.
See the cod racks full
From February to May, kilometres of fish hanging in the open air.

Reinebringen
1,978 stone steps built by Nepalese sherpas. An hour of climbing, straight up.