Alps kneeling in the ocean
Europe’s oldest mountains, dark violet in colour and sculpted and polished by the glaciers during multiple ice ages, jet up from the ocean and form a wall that is 100 kilometres long and 800 to 1,000 metres high. In between them are green valleys, white sandy beaches and a windblown archipelago.
The world’s greatest cod fishing
The cod return from the Barents Sea during the winter as “skrei” or winter cod on a journey of love; they are on a mission to spawn. For a thousand years, the fishermen have come here from all along the Norwegian coast to take part in this enormous fishing season – a living history that is evident in the sculptural drying racks for fish, the simple red-painted fishermen’s cabins or “rorbu”, the grand manors of the owners of the fishing villages and the magnificence of the Lofoten Cathedral.
A landscape for inspiration
The Lofoten landscape is awe-inspiring. Painters, sculptors, art metalworkers and glassblowers along with surfers, kayakers, anglers, cyclists, climbers, off-pisters and Northern Lights gazers thrive in a diverse but compact island realm.
5 popular sights in Lofoten
- The bird mountains of Værøy and Røst
- The galleries in Storvågan and Svolvær
- The fishing village of Henningsvær with handicrafts, shops and coastal culture
- Lofotr Viking Museum with Viking houses built following exciting archeological finds
- Nusfjord, a picturesque, well-preserved and historical fishing village
3 popular summer activities
- Boat trips to the 2-kilometre-long, monumental Trollfjord
- Kayaking in the archipelago
- Golf on the unique links course on the north shore
3 popular winter activities
- Surfing at Unstad in fantastic waves
- Northern Lights gazing in Laukvik on the north shore with wide-open ocean views
- Off-piste skiing from the steep Lofoten mountains
5 Lofoten surprises
- Cod tongues are a delicacy you can enjoy during the Lofoten fishing season
- The church on Værøy dating from 1799 is the oldest in Lofoten
- The “Svolværgeita” mountain formation is a well-known landmark high above Svolvær
- The Moskenstraumen or Moskstraumen maelstrom was made famous by its depiction in Jules Verne’s novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”
- Highway E10 through Lofoten has been designated a national tourist route.
www.lofoten.info, the website of the tourist board Destination Lofoten, is full of Lofoten information.