Hey! I have been home from my dream trip for a couple of days now and I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been up to! This trip to the Lofoten Islands has been on my bucket list for ages and I decided it was finally time to book those tickets and see it all with my own eyes.
I will post two blog post about this trip and this one will be about my first couple days here exploring the northern bit of the Islands.
Where I stayed
I arrived at Svolvær Airport and picked up a rental car there. It was only a 40 minutes drive to where I would be staying for the next few days: a tiny place called Hov on the island Gimsøya.
The place I stayed was Lofoten Links <gifted stay>. The lodges are all close to the ocean and all with huge windows facing north so you can have an amazing view of the northern lights. I was super lucky to see the lights on two of the nights I was there. it was the first time seeing them so it was kind of a big deal! Go to the end of this post to see them!
One thing you need to know about the lodges is that they are shared with other people. You will have your own private room with bathroom but the kitchen and living area is shared, If you don’t want this it’s possible to book the whole lodge. Some even have a sauna or jacuzzi! Imagine watching the northern lights from that…
Activities and places I visited
Horse riding
One of the things I read about and really wanted to do was a horse riding tour on Icelandic horses. You can do this at Hov Gård which is only a couple of meters from the lodges. There are a bunch of different tours you can book like the northern lights tour but I did the Lofoten on horse tour. The horses are so sweet and also really good taken care of. I feel that’s important to mention cause I would never ride them if that wasn’t the case. The tour I did went along the beach, the fish racks, the harbor and back again and they will tell you a bunch of cool Viking stories along the way.
Cool fact: the horse I rode is called Lundi. This was the same horse Alexander Ludwig rode while he was here. If you watch the show Vikings you know 😉
Hoven
This is the mountain right behind the Lodges. It looks huge standing so close to the lodges and it has a pretty cool story as well. Back in the Viking days they would run up the mountain and light fires on top when they saw enemies coming from the ocean. That way they could alert the villages around them.
The start of the trail is at the horse farm or the golf course. It’s a fun walk that takes around 45 min to one hour. The view is amazing so it’s definitely worth taking this hike. This was the first thing I did when I arrived actually. Nothing nicer when you’ve been travelling all day to wind down on top of a mountain. It was around sunset so this made the view even more epic!
Henningsvær
Only a 30 minute drive away from the Lodges is the fishing village Henningsvær known for those soccer field photos. The town looks nice but to be honest I was expecting a bit more from it. I guess this is due to normally seeing photos taken with a drone instead of on the ground. It’s still a nice village to walk around though with the harbor and old fishing houses.
Haukland beach
This was one of the places that was on my list to visit and it didn’t disappoint! The water is crystal clear and the turquoise color looks stunning! From here you can also drive to the tunnel and go to Uttakleiv beach. There’s also a walk way to the other beach around the mountain that separates the two beaches and this is what I did. I didn’t take any photos of that other beach though. By the time I was there it was completely in shade and didn’t look nearly as nice as Haukland beach.
Nusfjord
After checking out of the amazing lodge from Lofoten Links I was heading south on my way to a new place. On the way I decided to stop at Nusfjord, one of the oldest and best preserved fishing villages in Norway. This place is actually quite south but I though I would add it to this post since it was on the way and otherwise my other blog post will be waaay to long.
Nusfjord is really worth visiting. It looks so special and you really get the vibes of what this place must have been like in the old days. If I’m correct no one really lives here anymore since its more of a museum town nowadays but it is possible to sleep in one of the old Rorbue (fisherman houses).
And that was it for my first half exploring the Lofoten islands. In my next blog I’ll tell you what I was up to while I stayed in the more southern part of the islands.
Links
The place I stayed at: Lofoten Links
Horse riding place: Hov Gård
