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.